Executive Assistant - Chennai / Hyderabad / Delhi

About CEGIS

The Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS) was co-founded by private equity investor turned philanthropist Ashish Dhawan and economist Karthik Muralidharan in 2019 to improve millions of lives by helping Indian state governments work be er. CEGIS believes that improving the effectiveness of public expenditure is the most powerful way of achieving improved development outcomes at scale and will support Indian states by identifying and implementing evidence-based governance and public expenditure reforms.

We will do this through a dedicated state office co-created with the state and integrated with the Finance and Planning Departments of the state. The staffing model will include CEGIS personnel as well as staff seconded by the state. We aim to build the organization in a “state- led” way, where we focus on deep partnerships with states with an iterative cycle of “thinking” and “doing”. The central CEGIS office will aim to curate ideas based on both evidence and experience, support state-level experimentation, and accelerate adoption of successful practices across states.

CEGIS Model of Functioning

Weaknesses in state capacity hurt both development and service delivery (and disproportionately affect the poor). CEGIS believes that state capacity ultimately boils down to four key fundamentals, which therefore become the four verticals of our work. These are Outcome Measurement, Personnel Management, Public Finance and State and Market. High performing organisations measure the outcomes that matter and use this for goal setting and progress tracking. They ensure adequate and appropriately skilled staff are hired and given autonomy on processes but held accountable for outcomes. They allocate their resources in the most cost-effective manner and finally they support Governments in improving capacities on public procurement, regulation and policy margins thereby improving service delivery. These principles of allocative efficiency and capacity augmentation are equally applicable to governments.

CEGIS believes that states are the most important unit for addressing these issues. Therefore, we work with state governments to generate actionable insights, formulate effective solutions and facilitate measurable impact in terms of developmental outcomes. Currently, CEGIS is working in Telangana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and the Bodoland Territorial Region. At the state level, CEGIS identifies sectoral priorities jointly with the state government, and then aims to integrate the four verticals (Outcome Measurement, Personnel Management, Public Finance and State and Market) into specific projects to improve governance, service delivery, and development outcomes.

Position Summary

We are looking for an Executive Assistant (EA) to perform a variety of administrative tasks and support the Co-founder and the Senior Management team.

The EA will provide executive, administrative, and project management support to one of the Co founders and the Senior Management team. The EA serves as the primary point of contact for the team and will use excellent communication skills, a solid understanding of the team’s needs and preferences, and a sound sense of judgment. The EA will also serve as a liaison to the Board of Directors and Senior Management teams, organize and coordinate external partner meetings.

She/He will contribute to organizational efficiency by providing personalized and timely support to the leaders in CEGIS who are based across multiple locations.

Role and Responsibilities

With a primary responsibility of supporting the senior leaders of the organization, you will ensure that organizational goals and objectives are accomplished, and day to day operations run efficiently.

Assist the Co-founder and Senior Management team with a variety of daily administrative tasks
Manage calendars, schedule meetings, collate and publish agenda for the meetings, draft and share minutes of the meetings and keep track of the assigned actions needed of the team
Act as the point of contact for the Co-founder, Senior Management team, the extended CEGIS team, and other external partners, including the state government officials that CEGIS works with across multiple locations
Communicate on behalf of the Senior Management Team with Board members and donors on matters related to meetings and programmatic initiatives as directed
Draft letters, emails and prepare presentations for the team
Maintain confidential documents and information
Coordinate events, including onsite and offsite team meetings and conferences
Partner with the Senior Management team to build a strong organizational culture
Manage, coordinate, and arrange travel and travel-related activities (domestic and international), including hotel booking, transportation, and meal coordination for the Co founder and Senior Management team

Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities

Bachelor’s degree plus at least 8 to 9 years of administrative experience supporting senior leaders, preferably with experience in a non-profit setting, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
Advanced Microsoft Office skills, with experience in MS-Word, MS-Excel and MS-Powerpoint
Familiarity with digital tools and virtual meeting platforms to stay connected with teams dispersed across multiple locations where CEGIS operates
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, to draft minutes of meetings and other documents
Must be able to communicate with multiple stakeholders and have the confidence to handle conversations in a calm and professional manner

Personal Characteristics and Desired Qualities

Strong alignment with CEGIS’s mission of “improving lives by helping Indian state governments deliver better development outcomes”
Ability to work collaboratively with all team members and create a positive team culture
Very strong organizational skills
Strong problem solving and decision-making skills
Enthusiastic to do whatever it takes, be responsive and willing to take personal accountability for delivery
Ability to multitask and prioritize competing demands in an evolving organization
Excellent interpersonal and problem solving skills
A self starter with high personal integrity and trustworthiness

Location and Compensation

Candidates with home base in Chennai are preferred. However, we welcome applications from

those based in other other metros like Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai too.

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy and social sector pay scales and

will depend on the candidate’s experience levels.

Interested candidates are requested to submit their application here.

Pre-reads for the application process

Please go through the following materials before sending in your application:

Concept note on CEGIS

Podcast episodes with Prof. Karthik Muralidharan – one each on education and healthcare in India.
You are also encouraged to read more of Prof. Karthik Muralidharan’s work here.