Program Manager

About The Role

As Program Manager (Head of Implementation), you are responsible for everything that happens between a signed government contract and a live, data-generating node on a farm. You will build and manage the field deployment machine — technician networks, installation quality, supply logistics, government liaison for farm access, and post-installation service. You will also lead the technical team that handles hardware troubleshooting, OTA firmware updates, and field escalations. At our deployment targets, this role requires both the operational discipline to manage 200+ field technicians across multiple states and the technical fluency to understand what is happening inside the device when something goes wrong.

What You Will Own

End-to-End Deployment Operations

• Plan and execute all field deployments — farm scheduling, technician assignment, transport logistics, and district-level government coordination to secure farm access
• Own the deployment timeline against contracted milestones; track daily node commissioning count by state and district; escalate blockers to COO within 24 hours
• Reduce per-node installation time to under 30 minutes through standardised provisioning workflow, pre-configured device staging, and technician training — currently 2–3 hours
• Design and enforce installation quality standards: 30-point commissioning checklist, mandatory photo documentation at each step, signal strength verification, and 48-hour post-installation QA audit
• Manage relationships with BAO officers, district agriculture officials, and FPO managers to facilitate farm access and resolve local resistance before it delays deployment

Technical Service & Field Support

• Lead the technical service team that handles all post-installation hardware issues — device offline, sensor reading failures, OTA update failures, relay faults, and connectivity problems
• Own the field service SLA: P1 issues (device offline, safety relay failed) resolved within 4 hours; P2 issues (sensor malfunction, incorrect readings) within 48 hours; P3 (configuration queries) within 5 working days
• Maintain a regional spare parts and replacement unit inventory — 5% of deployed fleet as buffer stock at regional hubs for same-day dispatch on hardware failures
• Coordinate with the engineering team on firmware OTA rollouts: plan device targeting, monitor rollout progress, manage rollback if failure rate exceeds threshold, document field failures for hardware team
• Build and maintain field failure knowledge base: failure mode taxonomy, root cause per device generation, field fix procedures — reduces repeat escalations and technician call-in rate

Programme Management & Reporting

• Own the implementation programme plan for all active state contracts — milestone schedule, resource plan, risk register, and weekly status report to government counterpart and COO
• Track and report the key operations dashboard weekly: nodes commissioned (cumulative and daily rate), fleet online percentage, installation quality pass rate, service ticket SLA compliance, spare inventory cover
• Build the managed operations playbook — the documented standard operating procedure for wattr.ai to run water infrastructure operations as a service on behalf of government clients
• Coordinate with supply chain on 12-week component buffer, hardware staging, and logistics to ensure field teams never wait for devices

Technician Network — Build & Manage

• Build and manage a network of 200+ certified field technicians through ITI institute partnerships — design 2-day certification curriculum, run training batches, issue certification and track quality scores per technician
• Maintain the on-demand technician model: certified technicians dispatched by district based on deployment pipeline; track deployment per technician per week, quality pass rate, and issue frequency
• Run technician performance reviews monthly: installation quality score, time-on-site, escalation rate, and farmer feedback — suspend and retrain technicians below threshold
• Build a WhatsApp-based technician community for real-time support, firmware update communications, and field issue reporting

What We Are Looking For

Required

• 6–10 years in field operations, implementation management, or programme management with a technology hardware product — solar pump installation, smart metering, telecom infrastructure, banking correspondent networks, or similar
• Experience managing 50+ field technicians or contractors across multiple districts simultaneously with GPS-tracked productivity, quality scoring, and performance management
• Technical fluency with hardware products: can read a device diagnostic log, understand what a CT sensor misreading implies, troubleshoot a connectivity issue — does not need to write code but must understand the system
• Demonstrated experience reducing installation time or improving first-time quality rate through process redesign and technician training
• Strong programme management: milestone planning, risk management, stakeholder reporting — has run a multi-state technology deployment with a government client
• Willing and able to travel multiple times per month to deployment states — Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, UP and others
• Hindi fluency; regional language ability (Punjabi, Marathi, or Telugu) is a strong plus

Good to Have

• Experience in agricultural technology deployment: solar pumps (PM-KUSUM), soil sensors, precision irrigation, or agricultural IoT — understanding of farm-level access logistics and farmer behaviour
• ITI partnership or vocational training programme experience — has designed a technician certification programme and managed its delivery at scale
• IoT device operations: OTA firmware update management, device fleet health monitoring, hardware failure mode analysis
• Government programme implementation: has worked within JJM, PM-KUSUM, RKVY, or any centrally sponsored scheme at the field execution level
• SLA-driven service operations: has owned a field service SLA with defined response times and run a team accountable to them
• Experience with FPO (Farmer Producer Organisation) coordination for multi-farm deployment access and consent management