JOB DESCRIPTION
Position - Innovation & Design Associate
Job Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka
CTC: Upto INR 10.08 Lakhs per annum
Last Date of Application -21st august 2026
ABOUT PHIA FOUNDATION:
Partnering Hope Into Action Foundation (PHIA) is a Charitable Trust registered in Delhi in 2005. It works across multiple geographies on addressing issues which act as barriers for communities to thrive. PHIA’s focus has been on the disadvantaged and vulnerable communities who are left behind in the development interventions.
PHIA works in partnership with multiple stakeholders including government, private sector, philanthropy institutions, civil society organisations, academic institutions and community-based organisations with this focus. Its interventions and programs are spread in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi NCR, Ladakh and Punjab. PHIA’s community centric work is on a range of issues including education, WASH, strengthening local governance, climate change adaptation, sustainable livelihoods through strengthening value chains benefiting communities, and food and nutrition security for communities.
Central to PHIA’s vision is the belief that real transformation begins at the community level. By nurturing leadership, building capacities, and advocating for systemic change, PHIA turns hope into actionable solutions. Its evidence-driven programs have touched the lives of countless individuals, inspiring them to overcome challenges and thrive.
ABOUT THE ROLE:
The India Health and Climate Resilience Fellowship (IHCRF) Programme supports healthcare and public-system actors to identify, frame, prototype, test, and support adoption of human-centred solutions to climate-health and primary healthcare challenges.
IHCRF operates through a structured delivery architecture spanning Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver phases, with explicit requirements for evidence synthesis, equity integration, stakeholder validation, design criteria, prototyping, readiness assessment, government co-ownership, and implementation learning.
IHCRF works to strengthen health systems, partnerships, and implementation pathways so that evidence-informed solutions can move from design to adoption in real district settings. Its work requires strong district engagement, careful coordination with public systems, disciplined follow-through, and the ability to convert field realities into actionable programme decisions.
The Innovation & Design Associate executes design research, synthesis, prototype development, user testing, and adaptation work across the Discover / Define / Develop / Deliver phases under the technical leadership of the Lead – Innovation & Design and in close partnership with the district Health Innovation Fellow.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
The following responsibilities are indicative and not exhaustive. Given the adaptive and emergent nature of the programme, the role holder is expected to remain flexible and responsive to evolving organisational and programmatic priorities.
Primary Duties and Deliverables would include:
Discover-phase research execution under approved protocol
- Execute approved discovery methods (KIIs, FGDs, observation, co-design, provider-facing inquiry) in the primary district under the IEC-approved protocol; prepare local-language field instruments; maintain same-day field notes, consent registers, safety logs, and 24-hour issue triage records.
- Synthesis, problem framing, and design challenge support
- Apply the approved coding and analysis framework; triangulate across methods; document disconfirming evidence; contribute to problem statements, How-Might-We development, design challenge formulation, and concept selection under the Lead – Innovation & Design's direction.
- Prototype development, user testing, and adaptation cycles
- Develop prototype materials, test instruments, and facilitator-observer protocols; co-run user testing sessions with the district Innovation Fellow; capture behaviour, quotes, completion success, friction points, and dignity flags; contribute to structured adaptation cycles.
- Design-evidence documentation and repository discipline
- Maintain a complete design-evidence trail in the approved repository: instrument versions, consent logs, session notes, prototype iterations, adaptation decisions, gate-relevant artefacts; operate version control and retention discipline under DPDP Act 2023 and ICAI NPO Technical Guide 2024
District-Fellow partnership and field-method co-design
- Operate as a design partner to the district Innovation Fellow: co-plan field sessions, share facilitator-observer roles, debrief jointly, and surface field-method issues to the Lead – Innovation & Design same-day where they cross safety, ethics, or design-integrity lines.
- DaaS engagement support on rotation
- Contribute to DaaS engagements on rotation per the rolling 12-week DaaS load plan while preserving primary district anchoring; transfer design learnings between Core 4 and DaaS districts without compromising design discipline in either.
Operationalisation of the donor's biomedical and healthtech innovation agenda
- Support the operationalisation of the donor's biomedical and health technology innovation agenda at the district level, including field coordination, stakeholder facilitation, and evidence generation across medtech and healthtech, under the design-method discipline set by the Lead – Innovation & Design.
ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTSL:
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree, or equivalent demonstrated experience, in human-centred design, design research, social anthropology, public health, behavioural science, communication design, or a related discipline; the 'equivalent demonstrated experience' allowance applies in full.
- Demonstrated design-research execution track record on at least one project involving structured qualitative inquiry, synthesis, and prototype development.
- Has run KIIs / FGDs / observation sessions to audit-grade documentation standards in field settings.
- Has contributed to a synthesis cycle that named disconfirming evidence and influenced a programme decision.
- Has co-developed and tested prototypes with frontline users in low-resource settings.
- Prior design work in NHM-linked, primary-care, climate-health, or rural settings.
- Working proficiency in one or more languages relevant to the programme districts.
- Familiarity with biomedical or healthtech innovation contexts (medtech, digital health, point-of-care diagnostics).
- Familiarity with IEC protocol amendment cycles and ICMR ethical guidelines
Core & Behavioural Competencies:
- Field-method discipline - Operates approved methods accurately, with same-day documentation and no shortcuts on consent, dignity, or safety.
- Synthesis and analytical judgement - Triangulates evidence; surfaces disconfirming evidence rather than suppressing it.
- Prototype craft - Builds, tests, and adapts prototypes that respect frontline workflows, dignity, and equity constraints.
- Repository and evidence discipline - Maintains a complete design-evidence trail under version control.
- Partnership with Fellows - Operates as a partner — not a contractor — to the district Innovation Fellow.
- Outcome orientation - Drives method work to decision-relevant deliverables. ? Documentation discipline-Same-day field notes; auditable repository entries.
- Collaboration -Works with Fellows, other Associates, KM, M&E, and Communications without dropping coherence.
- Learning mindset - Captures method and adaptation lessons; updates the design playbook with the Lead – I&D.
- Equity sensitivity - Flags equity gaps in sampling, prototype reach, and adaptation decisions.
- Stewardship and dignity -Holds dignity as a method standard in every field session.
Tools & System
Required:
- Microsoft Office or Google Workspace at the level of a careful document author and reviewer.
- Design tools (Miro / FigJam / equivalent) at the level of an active session designer and synthesiser.
- Qualitative data capture tools (Kobo, ODK or equivalent) at the level of an active operator.
- Desirable
- Familiarity with qualitative analysis tools (NVivo, Atlas.ti, Dedoose).
- Familiarity with design-research repositories (Dovetail) or version-control tools (Git / Notion).
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Eligible candidates interested in this position are requested to apply through this link:
Apply with an updated resume including the names of two referees, one of whom should be your present or last Reporting Manager, by or before the last date of application. The interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis as we keep on receiving applications till a suitable candidate is found, so the applicants are advised to apply as early as possible.
Last date to apply: 21 August 2026
PHIA Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team, and we strongly encourage applications from individuals belonging to marginalized and underrepresented communities, including Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and other gender identities.
Please note that due to the high volume of applications we anticipate receiving, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
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