Deputy Director - Programmes
Nature of employment: Full-time
Reporting to: Director - Programmes
Location: Delhi & Madhya Pradesh
About Peepul
Peepul is an education-focused non-profit organization committed to transforming India's education system and enabling every child to reach their full potential. We work closely with national, state, and local governments to strengthen government schools and education systems at scale. Currently, we partner with governments in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, impacting over 6.6 million students, 273,000+ teachers, and 2,400+ school leaders across 90,000+ government schools.
At Peepul, we collaborate with school systems to build the capacity of leaders, teachers, and institutions. We advocate policy improvements, support mentoring and monitoring mechanisms, and enhance student-teacher engagement in classrooms. Through our work, we have directly supported 5.94 million students, 254,000 teachers, and 1,644 school leaders across 88,711 schools in Madhya Pradesh, and 658,000 students, 19,000 teachers, and 821 school leaders across 1,500 schools in Delhi.
Our work has been recognized internationally, including receiving the Commonwealth Education Awards for Innovation and being featured in reports by respected organizations such as the United Nations and the Ministry of Education, Government of India. We are supported by leading Indian CSR partners and prominent international foundations that share our vision of ensuring excellent education for the most disadvantaged children.
Driven by our core values of impact, excellence, and leadership, we are a restless, resilient, and reflective organization. Our team of 200+ employees is passionate about creating lasting change and is rewarded competitively for their dedication. Join us in our mission to create a world where every child has equal access to high-quality education.
Learn more about our transformative work at http://peepulindia.org.
The Opportunity
Peepul works at the heart of government systems to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the public schools. We partner closely with state and national governments not as implementers, but as long-term collaborators, co-designing programmes, building capacity, and strengthening the systems that enable changes at scale. Today, our work reaches ~6.5 million students, ~300,000 teachers, and 90,000+ schools across Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. Our next phase focuses on deepening impact in existing states while building approaches that can scale across grades and contexts within the public system.
We are hiring two Deputy Directors of Programmes- one in Delhi and one in Madhya Pradesh. These are not interchangeable roles — each carries a distinct mandate, and we are looking for leaders with the conviction, intellectual rigour, and ambition to reshape systems at scale.
In Madhya Pradesh, you will own Peepul's most complex portfolio: multiple large programmes running simultaneously, embedded deep in government systems, with full accountability for driving consistent, high-quality execution at scale while navigating complexity within the system. This role requires operating through ambiguity, managing multiple moving parts, and ensuring delivery holds under pressure.
In Delhi, you will lead equally rigorous programmes while operating at the intersection of state delivery and national ambition — close to the Government of India, close to the institutions that shape education policy, and positioned to strengthen how Peepul’s work is codified, communicated and contributes to broader education thinking and practice. This role requires strong judgement on what to codify, what to scale, and how to translate programme learning into broader influence.
While both roles require strong programme leadership, they differ in context- one is anchored in scale and delivery complexity, the other in influence and visibility. Both need a leader who doesn't need to be convinced it's possible — just given the room to prove it.
Tune in to Kruti Bharucha, our CEO, as she shares insights on Scaling Education Reform Across India in the latest episode of The Impact Equation.
What You Will Own
1. Ownership of a Large, Complex Public Education System Transformation
Responsible for Peepul's entire state portfolio. This means setting up the multi-year vision, making high-stakes strategic calls, and being accountable for outcomes at scale.
- Define and own the long-term strategy for the state, aligning Peepul's ambitions to state priorities and ensuring every initiative is built to embed and endure.
- Hold accountability to achieve our audacious goal of system- level measurable improvements in teaching practice, student learning, and the effectiveness of system-level processes (such as training, coaching, and academic monitoring).
- Make consequential decisions across programme design, resource allocation, and strategic direction, with the autonomy to move fast and the discipline to build for permanence.
- Keep the theory of change live, stress-testing assumptions against impact data, course-correcting fast, and holding the team to the highest evidential standards.
- Identify and convert new opportunities to deepen Peepul's presence, designing programmes that open new chapters in the state's education reform story.
- Ensure programmes are embedded within government systems, building ownership, capability, and continuity beyond Peepul’s direct involvement.
2. Influencing and Shaping Government Priorities at the Highest Levels
Peepul's lead strategic voice in the state, operating with authority at the intersection of civil society and government to shape how the state thinks about, invests in, and delivers education reform.
- Lead high-stakes policy dialogues, inter-departmental forums, and strategic negotiations with the credibility to challenge, influence, and align senior government stakeholders.
- Shape the state's policy agenda in education through strategic negotiations and programme expansion frameworks that embed Peepul's approach into the architecture of the state system.
- Build an influential external network across academia, civil society, funders, and peer organisations to amplify Peepul's thought leadership and position the state as a national model.
- In Delhi, play a more active role in contributing to cross-state and national conversations, leveraging proximity to key institutions and networks.
3. Building and Leading a High-Calibre Leadership Team
You will build, shape, and inspire the leadership team that delivers this mission and grow the next generation of exceptional education leaders in India.
- Lead and develop a multi-layered programme team across verticals, ensuring clarity, accountability, and strong execution. Build a strong second line of leadership capable of independently owning large programme verticals.
- Coach direct reports through honest feedback, structured development, and career-shaping conversations that accelerate their trajectory.
- Build a culture where the bar is high and people are proud to clear it — where stretch and support coexist, and psychological safety enables bold thinking.
- Shape what Peepul becomes — contributing to the senior leadership team with the same rigour, ambition, and strategic clarity expected of the role itself
What Success Looks Like in This Role
In three to five years, you will have left a mark on the state’s education system that is visible, measurable, and irreversible.
- Peepul is embedded in the state system as a co-architect whose models, tools, and approaches are owned, driven, and sustained by government stakeholders with decreasing reliance on Peepul over time. .
- A high-performing state leadership team that can independently drive large programme verticals with clarity and rigour.
- State programme model becomes a national reference point — other states, the central government, and global practitioners look to our state reform models as an example worth replicating.
- Peepul's footprint across the state expands significantly through new programmes, partnerships, and funding opportunities that were identified and acted upon swiftly.
Where You Sit in the Organisation
This role reports directly to the Director – Programmes and sits within Peepul's senior leadership team. Direct line management spans the programme teams and Project Management Unit (PMU). Close coordination with Peepul's central functions — including the Director of Strategy and Impact, Chief Academic Officer, and the Technology Enablement Lead — ensuring the state's programme strategy is evidence-driven, operationally excellent, and technically enabled. Deeply embedded in the state system yet connected to Peepul's national leadership, this is a role that cuts across programme design, government relations, team development, donor engagement, and policy influence. That breadth defines both the responsibility and the opportunity. You will operate at the intersection of execution and influence—holding both delivery on the ground and alignment at the system level.
What we are looking for
- A systems thinker - You see the connection between a single teacher's classroom behavior and a multi-million-dollar state policy. You can move between the detail and the big picture without losing rigor.
- Comfortable with complexity — You do not simplify what is hard or default to what is easy. You stay with the difficult, high-stakes problems, building alignment and momentum across diverse stakeholders.
- Operationally credible - You have a track record of making complex things work in difficult environments. You combine strategic thinking with strong execution, and people trust you to deliver.
- Data-literate and intellectually rigorous - You treat data as a tool for decision-making, not a reporting exercise. You are comfortable working with imperfect data and using it to make sound decisions.
- A connector - You can hold relationships with government secretaries, academic leaders, international donors, and field staff — and you know how to communicate differently in each room without losing consistency.
- Committed to the mission - You are drawn to the complexity of working inside government systems, not put off by it. You understand that change in public education is slow, contested, and worth it.
Qualifications and Role Requirements:
At Peepul, we seek talented professionals passionate about driving educational transformation and making a positive impact. We are looking for individuals who possess the following qualifications and meet the role requirements:
- Educational Background: Master's or PhD in Education Policy, Education Leadership, or Comparative Education with deep understanding of how systems are designed, reformed, and assessed.
- Work Experience: We value both professional and personal experience. The candidate should have 15-18 years of experience, with a proven track record of delivering robust strategic and operational leadership and the ability to manage large teams with excellence and high expectations.
- Other Skills: Outstanding interpersonal skills, leadership, communication and collaborating skills with internal and external stakeholders. Demonstrated ability to influence strategic decisions and adapt quickly to changing environments. Solid understanding of the education landscape, with a knack for bringing innovative ideas. Enthusiastic about the opportunity to expand their influence and take on more significant challenges nationally and internationally.
- Language Proficiency: English and Hindi
- Compensation: INR 35L-45L per annum. The offer made to selected candidates shall be commensurate with qualifications, experience, and salary history.
How to apply
To apply for a position, please share the below documents to Nitasha.shridhar@peepulindia.org
You will be required to share:
- Your CV: Please ensure that your CV provides relevant information about your professional and personal experience and details of your academic qualifications. CVs can be one to two pages in length.
- A cover letter: We highly encourage you to use your cover letter to showcase your specific interest in working for Peepul and demonstrate how your qualifications align with the role you are applying for. A tailored cover letter holds significant importance in Peepul's recruitment process as it enables us to comprehend your motivations for the position, your relevant skills, and the clarity of your writing.
About Peepul
Peepul is an education non-profit that partners with state governments in India to improve learning outcomes in public schools. We embed experienced teams within government systems, building local capacity while driving measurable change. Our work spans strengthening teaching practice, school systems, and academic support structures — all oriented toward a single goal: better outcomes for children in the schools that need the most support. We are a growing organisation with an ambitious strategy and a strong evidence base.
Join us in our mission to create a world where every child has equal access to high-quality education. Learn more about our transformative work at http://peepulindia.org.
For any further queries related to our hiring process and timelines, please contact us at recruitment@peepulindia.org.