Human Resource Manager - 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 better. CEGIS believes that improving the effectiveness of public expenditure is the most powerful way of achieving improved development outcomes at scale and supports Indian states by identifying and implementing evidence-based governance and public expenditure reforms.

We do this through a dedicated state office co-created with the State Government and integrated with the Finance and Planning Departments of the state. The staffing model includes CEGIS personnel as well as staff seconded by the state. The organisation is built 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 curates ideas based on both evidence and experience, supports state-level experimentation, and accelerates 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 four key fundamentals of strengthening state capacity are to improve Outcome Measurement, Personnel Management, Public Finance (Revenue and Expenditure), and the ability of the state to leverage markets for the public good (State and Market).

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, Tamil Nadu, the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) in Assam, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Karnataka.. 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

As the HR Manager, you will support the people function to execute the talent strategy for the organisation and help the Head of HR in implementing a transformational people plan that will shape the future for CEGIS. This role reports to the Head of HR.

The HR Manager is the go-to person for all employee-related issues and will collaborate with the Leadership Team, comprising the Vertical and State Leads, to execute impactful HR practices to enable a culture of outcomes based excellence. CEGIS is being incubated by The Convergence Foundation (TCF), and you will also collaborate with the Shared Services team at TCF comprising the Finance, Accounts, Legal, Compliance and IT support teams to enable these support functions to deliver effectively in the context of CEGIS operations.

Role and Responsibilities

The role includes talent acquisition, management and development. Given the ambitious growth plans for CEGIS, the HR processes and systems will need to be defined in keeping with the Employee Value Proposition and designed for scale. Here are some key responsibilities that include, but are not limited to -

Talent acquisition

Attracting top-notch talent is a strategic priority for CEGIS. In this role. You will be work closely with the Talent Acquisition team in identifying the right talent pools to hire from and promote the CEGIS brand among the audience.You will work with the Hiring Managers in forecasting hiring needs, determining job requirements and selection criteria, and hiring profiles to ensure proper sourcing of ideal candidates.

Talent Management and Engagement

CEGIS aims to build a pan-India presence with teams working from various locations in a remote working, dispersed model, but strongly tied to a common vision and culture. The hybrid mode of working, initially necessitated by the Covid pandemic, requires strong cultural connectedness of teams and investing in initiatives that encourage and reward collaboration. You will drive key organisation improvement initiatives by developing best practices policies including a cohesive performance management system, compensation and best practices in talent management.

Talent development

As a knowledge driven organisation, learning and development is a strategic priority and a critical function to prepare CEGIS for the future. You will help assess the training needs for the various teams to apply and monitor delivery of training and learning programs. Integrating the new hires through thoughtfully designed onboarding and orientation programs is a key focus area of the role.

Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities

Master’s degree in Management with specialisation in Human Resources Management / Organisational Development
5 to 7 years of work experience with exposure to Learning and Development is preferred
Technical/functional HR expertise across the broad spectrum of HR disciplines
Working knowledge of Indian labour laws and employment market
Excellent problem-solving and strategic thinking skills, ability to analyse complex quantitative and qualitative data, craft possible solutions and recommend actions
Excellent communication skills (ability to communicate complex ideas in a meaningful way and across different audiences)
Ability to build and maintain positive and collaborative relationships both within and outside the organisation
Ability to set goals and metrics for a team, and manage the team towards delivering those goals
Strong planning and organisational skills, and an ability to be able to set priorities, plan timelines and meet deadlines.
Experience working in the non-profit sector is an advantage

Personal Characteristics and Desired Qualities

Ability to align multiple stakeholders and build platforms for collaboration and coordination
Operating style suited to working independently and in a small organisation setting, where teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued
Maturity to be seen as a trusted HR partner who can bridge management and employee relations by addressing demands, grievances or other issues
High ability to collaborate and actively listen to others, understanding and valuing others’ views
Excellent people management skills, with the ability to develop and motivate teams towards a common goal
Ability to think creatively, willing to take risks to experiment with new ideas and the ability to turn ideas into action
Intellectual curiosity and ability/willingness to constantly learn
Passion for working with governments and making Indian States work better
Public-spirited and generous temperament

Location and Compensation

The ideal candidate will be based in Delhi and should be willing to travel, when needed. 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 hr@cegis.org.

Pre-reads for the application process

To learn more about the type of reforms CEGIS is seeking to implement in states, 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.