Project Manager - Early Childhood Education

Job Title: Project Manager

Team: Early Childhood Education (ECE)

Reports to : Project Lead, ECE

Location: New Delhi (with ~30–40% travel to states)

Experience Range: 2–4 years

About Central Square Foundation

Founded in 2012, Central Square Foundation (CSF) is a non-profit philanthropic foundation working on the vision of ensuring quality school education for all children in India. We are driven by our mission to transform the school education system with a focus on improving children's learning outcomes, especially in low-income communities.

Learn more at the website.

About the position

Early Childhood Education (ECE) refers to the pre-primary years, between the ages of 3 and 6, before a child enters Grade 1. Research across economics, neuroscience and education has shown that 90% of brain development happens before the age of 5, and that the quality of these years shapes a child’s schooling, health and income for life. The National Education Policy 2020 calls for three years of pre-primary education for every child.

CSF partners with state governments and academic bodies to support the institutionalisation of developmentally appropriate pre-primary education within government school systems through curriculum, teacher preparation, classroom resources and implementation support.

We work at scale in states including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Telangana, and our work aims to create evidence and implementation playbooks to make quality pre-primary a regular part of the school system everywhere.

The Project Manager supports the Project Lead across the ECE workstream and owns defined pieces of work within it. The role offers early exposure to the full spectrum of the work, from policy-level engagement to what actually happens in classrooms, and involves working with state teams, partner organisations, government counterparts, and CSF’s research and fundraising teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Review on-ground implementation: Spend regular time in schools, teacher trainings, district meeting and reviews to assess how pre-primary classes are being set up and run against the programme design. Document what is working, what is not, and why.

• Create and improve the playbooks: Turn field learning into playbooks, setup guidelines and resource packages that a state can adopt, and keep them current as states adapt them.

• Run diagnostics and handhold states: Design and run diagnostic tools for states setting up pre-primary classes, and provide hands-on support to state teams and officials through rollout.

• Build the evidence base: Maintain structured field notes, case studies and implementation data that feed the research team, policy notes and funder proposals, and support pilots and studies on the ground.

• Coordinate partners and state teams: Run the day-to-day working rhythm with partner organisations and CSF’s state teams, including joint workplans, reviews and follow-through.

• Manage delivery: Own workplans and trackers for central ECE workstreams, manage consultants and vendors, and flag risks to ensure high quality delivery

Required Qualifications, Skills, and Abilities

• Relevant Experience (2–4 years) - Two to four years of strong performance in public policy, consulting, education or development, including through a structured fellowship. A Master’s in Education, Public Policy, Social Sciences or Management preferred.

• Synthesis and Communication - The ability to turn research, field observation and stakeholder input into clear, well-structured written drafts and presentations

• Fluency in English and Hindi - Both spoken and written, at a standard that supports drafting for government audiences and working with state teams.

• Exposure to Government - Some experience of working with government officials or department processes, through a fellowship, a PMU or a government-facing role will be an advantage

• Execution Discipline - A record of running workplans, tracking several pieces of work at once and coordinating people without losing detail.

• A Hands-On Temperament - Suited to a small organisation with shifting priorities and frequent travel, and comfortable operating without a settled plan.

Candidates with prior experience of teaching young children are encouraged to apply.