Program Manager

About The Convergence Foundation:

Ashish Dhawan is a leading Indian philanthropist, who in his earlier avatar founded and ran ChrysCapital, one of the first private equity funds in India. In the last decade, he has played a pivotal role in building successful institutions, such as Ashoka University, and strategic foundations, such as the Central Square Foundation, which works on ensuring quality school education for all children in India.

He set up The Convergence Foundation (TCF) in 2021 to tackle the most important challenges facing India by building pioneering institutions and supporting bold leaders. The Convergence Foundation seeks to identify the Archimedean levers for Indias growth & development high-leverage opportunities that can catalyse pivotal outcomes. We currently support fourteen organisations through their seed stage across two pillars (direct engines of growth & human capital development).

The organisations work on diverse areas, such as labour-intensive manufacturing, science & technology, effective governance and acceleration of Indian philanthropy. In the next phase of our journey, we aim to exercise our strengths as a philanthropic foundation to drive economic growth in India. While we will continue building institutions, we also aim to drive strategic projects around economic growth and development.

Background:

Indias demographic dividend presents a transformative opportunity, but only if the youth transition to industry relevant employment. A widening skill gap, especially in high-demand areas like automation, data analytics, and smart manufacturing, poses a significant challenge to Indias workforce competitiveness.

The skilling initiative at TCF aims to address this challenge through scalable, industry-aligned skilling interventions. Our approach focuses on building systemic pathways that bridge the demand-supply mismatch.

To drive sustainable and scalable outcomes, our approach is anchored in four key enablers:

1. Systemic and scalable Government frameworks of training: Providing thought leadership and policy advocacy for creating robust, self-sustaining, high-quality skilling programs at central and state levels
2. Industry-Aligned Education & Training: Ensuring curriculum, pedagogy, and delivery mechanisms reflect current and future industry needs
3. Enabling Employment through Industry Mobilization: Partnering with industry to ensure placement pathways and on-the-job learning opportunities
4. Creating an economic case for investment in skilling: Creating evidence to show that investing in skilling will lead to lower attrition and better performance, unlocking profitability for organizations

Way of Work:

The Government of India is pursuing a transformation of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to enhance vocational education and align it with industry needs. This initiative aims to modernize ITIs, improve training quality, and increase employability among ITI graduates. The hub-and-spoke model approach entails that high-potential ITIs get developed into regional centers of excellence that support surrounding spoke ITIs. At TCF we see a here and now opportunity for systemic change in this domain.

Uttar Pradesh is one of the states with the highest number of ITIs in the country. Therefore, at a state level, our aim is to enable transformation of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) into modern, demand-driven training hubs, and in parallel mobilize industry to create robust talent absorption pipelines for the youth in Uttar Pradesh.

Our Objective:

• State level ITI landscape study - Assessing ITI performance, state ITI ecosystem maturity and key gaps
• Industry assessment and identification - Identification of prominent industry clusters within the state to understand Industry talent pipelines, recruitment sources and skill needs
• Curriculum and pedagogy design - Studying key skill gaps within industries and designing courses to fill those with industry support
• Model ITI upgradation at state level - ITI upgradation pilot in a hub and spoke format, with performance management and administrative frameworks Industry Mobilization - Unlocking industry support and commitment to enable meaningful employment opportunities for the youth in line with industry demand

Job Profile Program Manager, UP:

The Convergence Foundation is looking for a proactive and execution-focused Program Manager to support our skilling work in UP. Based in UP, this person will work closely with Invest UP, the State Skills and Labor Departments to make sure our skilling / ITI upgradation programs are implemented smoothly on the ground.

We are looking for someone who is quick on their feet, can manage day-to-day operations confidently, and is comfortable working closely with government partners. The Program Manager will report to the UP State Lead and will be responsible for coordinating with government officials, preparing clear and high-quality materials, and ensuring things get done on time.

This role is a good fit for someone with 3-5 years of experience in government-facing roles,implementation, or consulting someone who has strong program management skills, can dive deep into challenges, find solutions, and keep things moving. You should be analytical, agile, and focused on outcomes, with a strong sense of ownership and attention to detail.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Support the UP State Lead in the end-to-end implementation of TCFs skilling / ITI upgradation initiatives within the state
• Liaise with government departments, especially Invest UP, the Skills and Labor department, to coordinate activities, manage timelines, and troubleshoot implementation issues
• Prepare high-quality decks, briefs, and documentation for internal and external stakeholders
• Track progress against milestones, flag bottlenecks early, and support effective problem-solving on the ground
• Ensure seamless communication between the central team and state partners, translating insights into actionable plans
• Participate in stakeholder meetings, workshops, and field visits as required

Skills Required:

• 3-5 years of experience in consulting, government programs, or public policy implementation at the state level
• Strong coordination and execution skills, with the ability to work across multiple stakeholders and priorities
• Excellent communication skills, including experience preparing decks, reports, and briefs for senior audiences
• Experience engaging with government stakeholders and navigating bureaucratic structures with professionalism and tact
• Self-driven, adaptable, and committed to delivering results in a mission-driven environment
• UP based and comfortable working from government offices, with occasional travel as needed