Manager, Program Operations: Nagaland

1. Government Partnerships & State Leadership

• Lead strategic engagement with the Directorate of School Education SCERT, Samagra Shiksha, District Education Offices, and other key government stakeholders, building trusted and sustained relationships.
• Represent SArC in government reviews, consultations, planning meetings, and relevant state forums, ensuring effective follow-through on commitments and decisions.
• Understand government priorities, systems, decision-making processes, and leadership changes to strengthen partnership continuity and identify strategic opportunities.
• Serve as the primary bridge between the Nagaland government ecosystem, the state team, and SArC’s central team.

2. State Strategy, Advocacy & Institutionalisation

• Set the state-level strategic direction for strengthening the role of Arts within Nagaland’s education system, identifying priorities, opportunities, and pathways for long-term change.
• Lead advocacy and influence efforts to build the case for Arts and shape how government stakeholders understand and prioritise its role within education.
• Drive the transition from SArC-led programs to sustainable government ownership, identifying opportunities to embed Arts within existing policies, programmes, curricula, teacher development, and systems.
• Anticipate changes and risks in the state ecosystem and adapt the strategy to protect and advance long-term institutionalisation.

3. Program Leadership, Monitoring, Learning & Knowledge Building

• Provide overall leadership for SArC’s programs across Nagaland, ensuring quality, consistency, timely delivery, and alignment with the state strategy.
• Oversee implementation across educator training, schools, exhibitions, and district and state-level engagements, using field visits to assess quality and understand on-ground realities.
• Work with M&E to analyse implementation data, stakeholder feedback, and field insights and translate these into program and strategic improvements.
• Ensure key implementation learnings, evidence, case studies, and partnership insights are documented and used to strengthen future programming, advocacy, and scale.

4. Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Set clear priorities and delegate effectively, enabling the team to take increasing ownership of implementation and stakeholder engagement.
• Work closely with Curriculum, Training, Partnerships, M&E, Finance, Operations, and Communications to align state priorities with organisational capabilities.
• Bring state-level insights and learning into wider organisational strategy and decision-making.

• 5–7 years of experience in program management, government partnerships, education programs, or development sector implementation.
• Strong understanding of Nagaland's education ecosystem and government systems is highly desirable.
• Graduate or postgraduate degree in Education, Public Policy, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Management, or a related field.
• Proven ability to independently manage multiple projects, stakeholders, and competing priorities.

• Strategic Leadership & Execution: Ability to translate vision into strategy and effective implementation, with strong planning, prioritisation, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Government & Stakeholder Leadership: Strong relationship-building and communication skills, with the confidence to engage, influence, and build trust with senior government and institutional stakeholders.
• People Leadership & Collaboration: Strong people management skills with the ability to develop high-performing teams, delegate effectively, foster ownership, and collaborate across functions.
• Adaptability & Ownership: High ownership, resilience, and adaptability, with the ability to navigate ambiguity, anticipate risks, respond to changing contexts, and continuously improve. Willingness to travel extensively across Nagaland.