Key Education Foundation is Hiring for Director - Programs.
About KEF
Key Education Foundation (KEF) is a Bangalore-based, not-for-profit company working to improve the quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE) for children from low-income communities.
Research indicates that more than 90 percent of brain development occurs before the age of six, yet most children in India begin formal learning only at Grade 1. KEF exists to change this reality.
Our mission is to empower institutions, educators, and parents to drive systemic transformation in Early Childhood Education. We work through direct program implementation in schools and Anganwadis, as well as through partnerships with government systems at the state and district levels.
In 2026–27, KEF works across Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Nagaland, reaching over 100,000 children through 3,000+ schools and Anganwadis.
About the role
The Director, Programs; Content will provide overall leadership to the organisation’s program strategy, implementation and content/technical approach. The role will be responsible for ensuring that Early Childhood Education programs are designed well, implemented with quality, generate meaningful outcomes and are continuously strengthened based on evidence and field learning.
The role brings together program leadership and content leadership, ensuring that what is designed is practical for the field and that what is implemented consistently reflects the organisation’s program intent, evidence and learning. The Director-Programs will work closely with state and district teams, leadership, government stakeholders, partners, and internal design, MEL, and operations teams to build strong, scalable and sustainable programs.
Role Details
- Position: Director- Programs
- Reporting to: CEO
- Commitment: Full-time
- Location: Bengaluru (Hybrid)
- Remuneration Range: 16,00,000 - 22.00,000 INR per annum
- Joining Date: Immediate
- Travel Requirement: Travel to partner districts and states to support program delivery
Key Responsibilities
1. Program Strategy and Direction
- Own the development and execution of program strategy in line with organisational priorities.
- Translate organisational priorities into clear program goals, approaches, outcomes and implementation plans.
- Identify opportunities for program expansion, strengthening and scale across states and districts.
- Guide teams in developing district/state proposals, implementation plans, budgets and expansion strategies.
- Ensure that program plans are realistic, context-responsive and aligned with government priorities.
- Ensure that programs are designed with scale and sustainability in mind from the outset.
2. Program Design and Implementation
- Build the end-to-end program cycle: from design and planning to implementation, review, adaptation and scale.
- Establish clear implementation approaches, processes, roles and quality standards.
- Ensure that program models are translated effectively into field practice.
- Review implementation progress and identify areas requiring course correction or additional support.
- Work with program teams to strengthen implementation quality across districts and states.
- Develop and institutionalise processes, SOPs and implementation frameworks that enable consistent program delivery.
- Ensure that program learnings are documented and used to improve the model.
3. Content and Technical Leadership
- Provide overall direction to the development and strengthening of program content, tools, curricula, training materials and other technical resources.
- Ensure that content is grounded in evidence, relevant to the context and practical for implementation.
- Work closely with content/design teams to translate program objectives into effective content and field resources.
- Review content for quality, coherence, usability and alignment with the intended outcomes.
- Ensure that content evolves based on field experience, stakeholder feedback and evidence.
- Build common content principles and quality standards that can be applied across programs and geographies.
- Ensure that content is not developed in isolation but is closely connected to implementation realities.
4. Connecting Content with Practice
- Bridge the gap between what is designed and what happens in classrooms, communities and government systems.
- Ensure that program teams understand the intent behind content and are able to use it effectively.
- Work with implementation teams to identify where content is working, where it is not and why.
- Facilitate iterative improvements to content based on field feedback and implementation evidence.
- Ensure that training and capacity-building approaches enable practitioners to apply the content rather than simply understand it.
- Support teams in adapting content where required while maintaining the core principles of the model.
5. Government and External Stakeholder Engagement
- Build and maintain strategic relationships with government stakeholders at state, district and other relevant levels.
- Represent the organisation in strategic discussions with government, partners and other external stakeholders.
- Support teams in positioning the program and articulating its value proposition to the government.
- Identify opportunities to institutionalise program approaches within government systems.
- Work with stakeholders to build ownership, sustainability and pathways for scale.
- Ensure that program and content decisions take into account government priorities, policies and system realities.
6. Team and Organisational Leadership and Capability Building
- Provide organisational leadership on program priorities, resource allocation and strategic decision-making, working closely with the CEO and leadership team to ensure that program ambitions are aligned with organisational capacity, financial sustainability and long-term impact.
- Build a strong culture of ownership, collaboration, learning and accountability.
- Define roles, responsibilities and ways of working across program and content functions.
- Coach and mentor program and content leads and strengthen their strategic and technical capabilities.
- Create mechanisms for teams across states and programs to share lessons learned and best practices.
- Ensure that teams have the clarity, resources and support required to deliver effectively.
7. Monitoring, Learning and Adaptation
- Work closely with MEL teams to define meaningful program outcomes and indicators.
- Ensure that program data and evidence are used for decision-making rather than for reporting only.
- Establish regular program review mechanisms to assess progress, quality and outcomes.
- Identify emerging challenges and opportunities through data, field feedback and stakeholder inputs.
- Ensure that learning is systematically captured and translated into program and content improvements.
- Support the development of evidence and documentation that can inform scale and external engagement.
8. Quality Assurance
- Establish clear quality standards for both program implementation and content.
- Periodically review program quality across states/districts.
- Ensure consistency in the core program model while allowing appropriate contextual adaptation.
- Review key program deliverables, proposals, implementation plans, content and strategic documents.
- Identify systemic gaps and work with teams to address them.
9. Program Scale and Sustainability
- Develop pathways to scale successful program models.
- Assess readiness for expansion based on evidence, implementation capacity, government demand and resource requirements.
- Ensure that expansion is not driven only by geography but by the organisation’s ability to maintain program quality.
- Build models that can increasingly be owned and sustained by government and local systems.
- Identify opportunities for institutionalisation, partnerships and resource mobilisation.
Key Deliverables
- The Director-Programs will be accountable for:
- Strong and coherent program strategy across geographies.
- High-quality program design and implementation.
- A clear and evolving content/technical framework linked to program outcomes.
- Consistent quality of implementation across states and districts.
- Effective integration between program, content, MEL and design functions.
- Strong government relationships and opportunities for institutionalisation.
- Evidence-based program adaptation and improvement.
- Effective expansion and scale-up of successful models.
- Strong program and content teams with clear ownership and capabilities.
- Documentation of learning, evidence and program outcomes.
Essential Mindsets
We are looking for someone who:
- Demonstrates empathy and a learner’s mindset
- Values collaboration and inclusive decision-making
- Leads and manages teams with a balance of assertiveness and sensitivity
- Embraces feedback and fosters a culture of continuous learning
- Demonstrates ownership and accountability toward team and organisational goals is action-driven and solution-oriented
Essential Knowledge and Skills
- Strong written and verbal communication skills in English
- Proven ability in strategic planning, program design, and execution
- Strong understanding of the education and non-profit ecosystem in India
Qualifications and Experience
- Graduate degree in any discipline (Master’s degree preferred)
- Minimum of 8 years of professional experience, with at least 5 years in a leadership or managerial role in operations or programs
What We Offer
- Impact Visibility: Help shape the narrative of transformational work in Early Childhood Education.
- Opportunity: Experiment, innovate, and grow in communications and storytelling.
- Community: Work with a passionate and mission-driven team.
- Agency: Bring your ideas, creativity, and voice into KEF’s public presence.
Next Steps:
If you are interested in this role, please express your interest by filling out application form
.
Process of Interview 4 Rounds:
- 1st Round: Verification and Hygiene check call (20 minutes)
- 2nd Round: Call with Hiring Manager: Culture and Alignment to cause fit (1 hour)
- 3rd Round: Pre-work Assignment
- 4th Round: and Discussion: Skill, Mindset, Attitude fit (1 hour)
Total time to complete all rounds: 25-30 days from the date of application
Warmly,
Team KEF!