About EMBRACE

EMBRACE (Empowering Mothers with Birth Readiness, Agency, and Care) is a five-year programme by AVPN that aims to improve Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Nutrition Health (MNCHN) outcomes by reducing the incidence of low birth weight across 10 high-burden states in India. The programme supports state and district governments, as well as government agencies, by providing technical assistance to improve the quality and coverage of maternal nutrition, home-based newborn and child care (HBNCC), and technological innovations

The EMBRACE Secretariat plays a central role in coordinating partners, managing sub-grants, ensuring alignment with government priorities, and maintaining effective engagement with the programme funder.

Job Description

The Team Lead, EMBRACE Secretariat will provide overall leadership and strategic direction to the Secretariat, ensuring the effective delivery of programme objectives. The role serves as the primary point of contact between AVPN, project sponsor(s), government stakeholders, and grantee partners, and is responsible for overseeing sub-grants, partner coordination, and programme alignment with policy priorities and scalability goals.

This role requires strong programme leadership, stakeholder management, and the ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels in a complex, multi-partner environment.

Key Responsibilities:

Provide overall leadership and strategic direction for the Secretariat

Provide leadership to the EMBRACE Secretariat to ensure effective coordination, prioritisation, and delivery of programme activities
Translate programme objectives into clear Secretariat workplans, timelines, and internal coordination mechanisms.
Identify programme-level risks, bottlenecks, and emerging issues, and proactively recommend mitigation or course-correction strategies.
Ensure effective collaboration across Secretariat staff, consultants, and partners to maintain delivery quality and momentum.

Serve as primary liaison with project sponsor(s), AVPN, and grantee partners

Act as the primary point of contact with project sponsor(s), AVPN internal teams, and grantee partners on programme-related matters.
Manage high-level communications, ensuring timely, accurate, and consistent information sharing across stakeholders.
Ensure accountability for end-to-end coordination and delivery of real-time data and information requests from sponsor, including consolidating inputs across partners.
Build and maintain strong working relationships to support alignment, trust, and effective collaboration throughout programme implementation.

Oversee sub-grants, partner coordination, and lead engagement with project sponsor(s)

Oversee sub-grant implementation, including monitoring progress against agreed milestones, deliverables, and risk mitigation & compliance requirements.
Provide strategic guidance and problem-solving support to grantee partners to strengthen implementation quality and address operational challenges.
Lead regular engagement with project sponsor(s) on programme progress, risks, learning, and reporting requirements.
Ensure effective coordination among partners to manage interdependencies, minimise duplication, and maximise collective impact.

Ensure alignment with government priorities and scalability goals

Ensure programme activities are aligned with state and district government priorities, policies, and implementation realities.
Support engagement with relevant government stakeholders to strengthen adoption, integration, and institutionalisation of programme interventions.
Embed considerations of scalability, sustainability, and long-term systems impact into programme planning and implementation decisions.

Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in public policy, public health, development studies, social sciences, or a related field; a postgraduate degree is an advantage.
10-15 years of relevant experience in programme management, secretariat functions, or partnership management within the development, philanthropy, or public sector ecosystem.
Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder programmes involving funders, implementing partners, and government stakeholders.
Strong understanding of MNCHN or related social sector programmes in India is highly desirable.
Experience overseeing grants or sub-grants, including partner performance monitoring and compliance.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage senior funders, government counterparts, and implementing partners.
Strong organisational and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage ambiguity and competing priorities.
High attention to detail, professionalism, and accountability.
Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively within a small, dynamic team.

Application Proce

ssPlease apply through our application form. Due to the high volume of applications, we will only notify candidates who have been shortliste

d.