Language and Learning Foundation
Job Description: Lead / Senior Program Manager — Middledle-Tier Leadership Strengthening
Own and shape a national field: build India's most credible voice on strengthening the middledle tier of the education system.
|
Location
|
New Delhi
|
|
Grade
|
Senior Manager / Lead (commensurate with experience)
|
|
Nature
|
Full-time
|
A Flagship National Priority for LLF:
India's foundational learning mission stands or falls on the strength of the "middle tier" — the Block and District Education Officers, and Teacher Mentors (Academic Resource Persons, Cluster Resource Persons, etc.) who translate policy into classroom practice. This layer is chronically under-studied, under-resourced, and under-represented in national discourse.
LLF is positioning itself as India's leading voice on middle-tier system strengthening — building the evidence base, the models, and the national and global narrative that this field currently lacks. This is one of LLF's most strategic and fastest-growing bodies of work, and the organization is now investing in senior leadership to own it end-to-end.
About LLF:
Language and Learning Foundation (
www.languageandlearningfoundation.org) is a New Delhi-based non-profit working at scale to strengthen Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) — language, literacy, numeracy, thinking, and reasoning skills — for children in the early grades. LLF partners with multiple state governments across India, working across the continuum from Balvatika (the pre-primary school-readiness year) through the foundational grades, and is now also exploring an extension of its work to Grades 4 and 5.
LLF works through a three-pronged approach: Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for teachers, teacher educators, and academic and administrative functionaries; District Demonstration Programmes that test and prove replicable, cost-effective models for improving learning outcomes in close partnership with government; and Systems Strengthening — building the institutional capacity and processes that allow state governments to sustain and scale these gains on their own. Alongside this, LLF works closely with the wider education ecosystem — donors, research institutions, and fellow implementation partners — to extend the reach and rigor of this work.
About the Middle-Tier Leadership Initiative:
LLF's Middle-Tier Leadership work strengthens the full administrative and academic leadership layer of the education system — spanning District and Block Education Officers and other administrative cadres, as well as the academic cadre of Teacher Mentors at the block and cluster level. This is a deliberate expansion beyond earlier capacity-building work with Teacher Mentors alone: LLF is now designing new ways of working with the administrative cadre — a largely uncharted space in Indian education reform.
This middle-tier layer is the vital bridge between policy and classroom practice: it mentors teachers, observes classrooms, provides feedback, facilitates training, and ensures foundational learning priorities are translated into everyday practice.
Over the past year, a small unit led by the Associate Director and a Program Manager has built the foundation for this work — research, diagnostic studies, and pilots across states. LLF is now scaling this into a multi-state, multi-year national initiative that integrates research, innovation, and implementation, and that positions LLF prominently in national and international conversations on system leadership.
The Senior Program Manager / Lead — Middledle-Tier Leadership Strengthening will own and drive LLF's entire body of middle-tier work — from strategy and research to implementation, government partnership, and public representation. This is a high-visibility, high-ownership senior role for someone who wants to build a national field, not just run a program.
The person will:
- Own and scale LLF's national middle-tier agenda — across the administrative cadre (BEOs/DEOs) and the academic cadre (Teacher Mentors) — as a single, coherent body of work.
- Lead high-quality research on middle-tier roles, systems, and practice, and translate it into reports, policy briefs, and publications that shape national conversation.
- Represent LLFs middle-tier work at national and international forums, conferences, and government platforms — with polished written and oral communication.
- Scan and adapt global evidence — studying how middle-tier / instructional-leadership systems work in other countries, and rigorously translating relevant lessons into the Indian government context.
- Design new models of engagement that go beyond capacity-building alone — academic partnerships, research collaborations, communities of practice, and continuous, non-training forms of support for middle-tier functionaries.
- Guide differentiated capacity-building programs for both the administrative and academic middle-tier cadres, and institutionalize these within public systems.
- This role requires a rare combination of strategic vision, hands-on delivery, research rigor, and the communication range to move fluently between a government secretariat, a national conference stage, and an international panel.
Strategic Ownership & Vision:
- Own the comprehensive roadmap for LLF's middle-tier work, aligned to the organization's long-term strategy and 2030 vision.
- Set direction for strengthening both administrative (BEO/DEO) and academic (Teacher Mentor) cadres as one integrated agenda.
- Identify and pursue new state partnerships, research collaborations, academic tie-ups, and programmatic innovations.
- Conceptualize and secure buy-in for multi-year initiatives that integrate capacity building, research, and systems reform.
Research & Knowledge Leadership:
- Lead a strong pipeline of research and diagnostic studies on middle-tier leadership, mentoring, and administrative practice.
- Systematically study global middle-tier / instructional-leadership models and assess their relevance and adaptability to the Indian context.
- Author and oversee high-quality reports, policy briefs, and case studies that build LLF's credibility as a knowledge leader in this space.
- Design and manage implementation pilots that test leadership and mentoring models across states, with rigorous documentation for replication.
Program Design & Innovation — Beyond Capacity Building:
- Lead the design of differentiated capacity-building frameworks for middle-tier leaders across both cadres.
- Build new, non-training modalities of continuous support — academic partnerships, communities of practice, digital microlearning, peer networks, and behavioral nudges.
- Translate research evidence into training frameworks, leadership toolkits, and mentoring protocols tailored to middle-tier roles.
- Continuously enhance and evolve LLF's middle-tier engagement model as the field matures.
National & International Representation:
- Serve as LLF's primary spokesperson and thought leader for middle-tier work at national and international conferences, dialogues, and platforms.
- Represent LLF in cross-country and comparative forums on middle-tier system strengthening, building LLF's global visibility and network.
- Deliver high-quality presentations, papers, and talks to government, donor, and academic audiences.
- Contribute to knowledge-sharing through publications, research dissemination, and practitioner networks.
Government & Stakeholder Engagement:
- Serve as LLF's key representative for middle-tier work with government officials, donors, and institutional partners.
- Strengthen collaborations with SCERTs, DIETs, and SPMUs to embed middle-tier frameworks within state systems.
- Support state teams in aligning middle-tier work with ongoing FLN and teacher development initiatives.
- Contribute to policy-level advocacy on professional standards, job descriptions, and CPD frameworks for middle-tier roles.
Team & Resource Management:
- Build and lead a growing team, ensuring alignment, quality, and mentorship as the initiative scales.
- Oversee budgets, timelines, and work plans across multi-state implementation.
- Ensure effective use of resources and compliance with donor and organizational requirements.
Education:
- Master's degree in Education, Public Policy, Management, or a related field; a doctoral or research background is a plus.
Experience:
- Minimum 12–15 years of experience in education reform, leadership development, or system strengthening, with demonstrated seniority.
- A strong track record of leading research and publications on school or system leadership, ideally including peer-reviewed or widely cited work.
- Substantial experience working closely with government education systems, preferably at state or district level.
- Prior engagement with teacher mentoring, administrative cadres, capacity building, or academic coordination structures.
- Demonstrated experience representing work at national and international platforms — this is a core requirement of the role, not merely desirable.
- Exposure to global education systems or comparative policy work is a strong advantage.
Skills and Attributes:
- Strategic, systems-thinking approach with the ability to hold both the big picture and the operational detail.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the confidence and polish to present to government, donor, and international audiences.
- Strong research orientation and comfort with data-driven planning.
- Intellectual curiosity about global middle-tier models, with the judgment to adapt — not just import — ideas into the Indian context.
- Experience managing teams and multi-stakeholder projects.
- Ability to work effectively and diplomatically within government structures.
- Commitment to LLF's mission of equitable foundational learning.
This is a rare opportunity to build and lead a national field from a position of genuine ownership — shaping how India understands and strengthens its middle tier, spanning both the administrative and academic cadres. The person in this role will set LLF's strategy, drive multi-state programs, lead original research, and become a recognized national and international voice on system leadership and educational reform.
Ownership, not oversight:
you will build this field for LLF, not simply administer an existing program.
- A seat close to the top: close working partnership with LLF's Founder & Executive Director and Associate Director, with direct visibility into organizational strategy.
- A public platform: regular, high-profile representation of LLF at national policy tables and international forums — this role will define LLF's external voice on the middle tier.
- A field still being written: India has no established playbook for administrative-cadre strengthening — you will help write it, backed by LLF's credibility with multiple state governments across India.
- A clear growth trajectory: this position is designed to grow in scope and seniority as the initiative scales into a multi-state, multi-year national program.
Compensation and Benefits:
Competitive, senior-level salary and benefits package — at par with leading Indian education non-profits.
A high-ownership leadership role influencing both policy and practice at national scale, with direct access to LLF's senior leadership.
Sustained professional growth through exposure to national and international education networks, conferences, and government platforms.
The opportunity to build a public profile and thought-leadership track record in a field that is only now gaining national attention.
Language and Learning Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.