Manager, Applicant Experience and Operations

Teach For India is on a journey to reach an India free of poverty and filled with love by ending educational inequity in our country. Fifteen years into our journey we are a movement of ~5000+ Alumni working at all levels of the education system, who are reaching 1 in 10 children across the country. These Alumni have graduated from our two-year Fellowship Program where they taught in under-resourced classrooms to put ~33,500 low-income children on a different life path. Today, we have ~1000 Fellows and are the largest pipeline of driven, skilled talent into the educational ecosystem in India. Over 16,000 Teach For India students have appeared for the 10th grade board examinations till date, with an impressive 95% pass rate across cities as of November 2024.

In 2022, we embarked on Phase 4, our fourth strategic phase. We have a bold and ambitious ten-year journey ahead of us that aims to grow 50,000 leaders, who will work collectively, and with love, to transform the lives of 1 in 10 low-income children in our regions, through an education that unleashes the potential of self, others and India. In this decade, five key priorities will lead us to this vision.

Our work will only be completed when we have built a movement of leaders that is large enough to ensure that every child in India attains an excellent education.

We pride ourselves as being a passionate, idealistic, mission-driven team of individuals. We’re committed to learning and excellence in our roles, and to being deeply rooted in our core values.

Reporting to: Director, Fellowship Selection

Directly Managing: Associate, Applicant Experience and Operations

What skills and mindsets drive excellent teachers and how are these similar to or different from those that drive our greatest leaders? These are the questions that guide the work of the Fellowship Selection Team at Teach For India. The Fellowship Selection Team is charged with the responsibility of ensuring the best possible makeup of our cohort. We conduct research and analysis to design a selection model, which will lead us to efficiently identify those likely to be excellent teachers and impactful leaders. We design and run systems and processes that ensure efficient and accurate execution of this model across 8 cities in India. All this, by training and supporting over 200 Staff, Fellows, and Alumni to execute their roles as interviewers and reviewers. Outcomes are monitored and evaluated at each stage of our process to ensure all decisions are accurate and that every applicant has an experience that is fair, consistent and leaves them as advocates of our movement.

As Manager, Applicant Experience, you will be responsible for:

Setting strategy for the Applicant Experience sub-vertical in the Selection team (10%)

• Setting a bold, ambitious and exciting vision for how the Applicant Experience sub-vertical can run and improve
• Researching to understand what are the most relevant systems in the world today that is relevant to our applicant pool
• Thought partnering with the Director, Fellowship Selection and Senior Manager, Fellowship Selection Operations and Implementation towards the broader vision for the selection team

Planning and executing all operations related to the application form and applicant experience during the cycle (35%)

• Managing the Golden Ticket initiative end-to-end for high-potential applicants, including operations, stakeholder coordination, and enhanced sourcing
• Overseeing the Admissions inbox operations, managing applicant queries, training team members, updating templates, and improving chatbot effectiveness
• Revamping applicant communications by analysing feedback, ensuring consistent messaging across platforms, and coordinating with Tech and Communications teams
• Building real-time monitoring systems and dashboards to track outcome timelines, applicant behaviour, drop-offs, and selector performance
• Analysing applicant feedback to track EOY goals (NPS, experience ratings), conducting stepbacks, and implementing improvements
• Managing the Application Form and Application Dashboard development, collaborating with the Technology team on updates, and resolving technical issues throughout the cycle
• Leading or supporting other operational projects and initiatives that emerge during the selection cycle to enhance applicant experience and selection efficiency

Executing the Selection model (55%)

• Reviewing applications and selecting at Assessment Centres while being a Point of Contact (PoC) for Staff and Alumni selectors/reviewers
• Providing applicants with an inspiring and fair experience at different stages of the selection process

Collaborating internally and externally towards achieving the Selection team’s goals:

• With the Senior Manager, Fellowship Selection Operations and Implementation and other team members to achieve the Selection team goals and vision

As a Manager at Teach For India, you will be responsible for:

• Contributing to the team goals and priorities beyond individual goals and priorities.
• Serving as an ambassador of the Teach For India brand and an advocate for our work and for educational equity in our country through both internal and external communication after committing time in our classrooms to understand our work more deeply.
• Supporting key organizational areas such as Recruitment, Selection, Fundraising, Volunteering, Movement Building.

• Graduate with 3+ years of experience; at least 1 year has been in a direct management position (we may consider exceptional applicants without direct management experience)
• End-to-end project management experience (vision setting to execution)
• Ability to manage multiple tasks (strong planning and prioritisation skills are essential) and stakeholders effectively and efficiently
• Excellent communication skills in English - written, verbal and interpersonal
• Strong critical thinking skills and problem solving mindset

Note: We want to hear your unique voice and perspectives through the process, hence all applicants are expected to personally author statements of purpose/essays/pre-work components during the application process. Sole use of AI or Chat-GPT based tools may lead to disqualification from the process.