Senior Manager, Program Management Unit (EAII Advisors)

This position is with EAII Advisors, Evidence Action’s technical partner in India.

About EAII

EAII Advisors, Evidence Action’s technical partner in India, supports state governments in delivering evidence-based public health programs, including safe drinking water initiatives and school and Anganwadi-based National Deworming Day and iron and folic acid supplementation. Operating across 10 states, EAII Advisors provides technical assistance to ministries of health, education, water, and women and child development, reducing health burdens in impoverished communities and improving the long-term wellbeing of children and families.

For more information, read about our work here: About Evidence Action and EAII

About the AI Access Initiative (Incubated at Evidence Action)

The AI Access Initiative is a new program being incubated at Evidence Action  to scale AI-enabled “big bets” that can improve the lives of tens or hundreds of millions of people living in poverty across low- and middle-income countries. Operating at the intersection of governments, AI labs, researchers, and funders, the Initiative focuses on translating rapid advances in AI into practical, scalable public systems.

Initial work focuses on two priority sectors:

• Agriculture: Scaling AI-enabled weather forecasting systems to improve smallholder farmer decision-making, resilience, and incomes.
• Health: Transforming primary healthcare quality and access through AI-enabled clinical decision support systems (CDSS) integrated into public platforms, as well as direct-to-consumer AI triage tools to reduce delays in care-seeking.

The AI Access Initiative is led by Kanika Bahl, CEO of Evidence Action and founding member of Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust, with advisors including Nobel Laureate Michael Kremer, Dario Amodei (CEO, Anthropic), and Kent Walker (President, Global Affairs, Alphabet). This work builds on Evidence Action’s track record reaching 530M+ people with cost-effective, evidence-based programs across 9 countries in Africa and Asia, with a focus on last-mile delivery.

About the Weather Forecasting Program

The AI Access Initiative is launching a new, entrepreneurial initiative to design, test, and scale AI-enabled weather forecasting systems for smallholder farmers. The program will focus on translating recent advances in artificial intelligence into high-impact public systems that deliver timely, localized, and actionable weather information to farmers at scale.

More than 500 million smallholder households worldwide depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, yet many lack access to accurate and usable forecasts. Advances in AI offer a step-change opportunity to deliver faster, more accurate forecasts that are cheaper to run, easier to localize, and better suited to farmer decision-making. With targeted investment, AI-enabled forecasting systems could materially improve the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of farmers.

To advance this program in India, the Initiative, through Evidence Action’s technical partner EAII Advisors, aims to work with state governments and other partners to explore new models for deploying AI-enabled forecasts and farmer outreach systems. Initial efforts are expected to focus on a state-level implementation in India, with Telangana identified as a potential early partner, subject to finalization. The program aims to:

• Deploy more accurate, timely, and localized weather forecasts relevant to smallholder farmer decisions
• Translate technical forecasts into clear, actionable farmer-facing guidance
• Deliver forecasts at scale through government systems and digital channels
• Generate operational and impact evidence to inform future state- and national-scale adoption

This work is intended to serve as a proof point for scalable, government-led adoption of AI-enabled weather forecasting, with learnings informing expansion to additional states and countries over time.

About the Position

EAII Advisors is seeking a Senior Manager, PMU to help define, build, and launch a new state-level program focused on AI-enabled weather forecasting for smallholder farmers. Reporting to the India Lead, the Senior Manager will help build the foundation of program operations, including clarifying scope and priorities, designing early implementation approaches, and establishing ways of working with government partners, technical collaborators, and internal teams. As the program evolves, the role will transition into leading day-to-day execution and continuous iteration based on evidence and operational learning.

The Senior Manager will work closely with state government counterparts and serve as a primary point of contact at the state level, while also coordinating across EAII Advisors’ technical, monitoring, and product teams. Success in this role will require comfort operating in ambiguity, strong judgment in balancing innovation with government realities, and the ability to build momentum in a new program area. The position will require regular travel within Telangana (approximately 40-50%).

Responsibilities

Government Engagement & Coordination

• Serve as EAII Advisors’ primary counterpart to relevant state departments and agencies.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with senior state officials and technical teams.
• Coordinate closely with government partners to align program objectives, timelines, and responsibilities.
• Represent EAII Advisors in state-level meetings, reviews, and working groups related to weather forecasting, agriculture, and digital service delivery.
  

Program Planning & Execution

• Lead day-to-day implementation of the Telangana weather forecasting program.
• Translate program strategy into detailed workplans, timelines, and deliverables.
• Identify implementation risks and bottlenecks early and proactively develop mitigation strategies.
• Coordinate across internal teams (technical, monitoring & learning, product, operations) to ensure smooth execution.
• Oversee pilot design, rollout, and iteration of forecast dissemination approaches.

Partner & Technical Coordination

• Manage relationships with technical partners involved in forecasting, data, and communication systems.
• Support integration of forecast outputs into government workflows and farmer outreach systems.
• Ensure technical work aligns with government priorities and operational realities.
  

Monitoring, Learning & Evidence

• Support monitoring and learning activities, including data collection, analysis, and synthesis.
• Use evidence and operational insights to refine implementation approaches in real time.
• Contribute to internal and external learning products, including briefs, presentations, and reports.

Team & Operations Management

• Support recruitment and management of state-based team members, as needed.
• Ensure effective internal communication, documentation, and reporting.
• Provide regular progress updates to EAII Advisors leadership.

• Bachelor's degree OR equivalent with at least 10+ years of relevant professional experience, with increasing responsibility
• Experience in management consulting, internal-facing consultant-type roles, special projects roles, or chief of staff-type roles
• Experience in real-time problem-solving in an ambiguous environment
• Prior experience working with Indian state governments in program implementation, technical assistance, or advisory roles
• Strong program management skills, with experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
• Excellent spoken and written English. Ability to synthesize information clearly and produce high-quality written documents keeping to tight deadlines, including executive-level materials tailored to internal and external stakeholders

Preferred / Bonus Experience:

• Experience in agriculture, climate, weather, or digital public infrastructure
• Experience working on data-driven or technology-enabled government programs
• Familiarity with farmer outreach systems, advisory services, or agricultural extension

Position Location

Telangana, India. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in India. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas at this time.

Disclaimer: The duties and responsibilities described are not a comprehensive list and that additional tasks may be assigned to the employee from time to time.

Compensation:  Competitive and commensurate with the individual's credentials, experience, and previous pay scale.

All contracting arrangements will be made through EAII Advisors Private Limited. EAII is an equal opportunity employer. Employment at EAII is based solely on an individual's merit and qualifications directly related to professional competence. EAII does not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, caste, creed, colour, religion, gender, origin, disability, marital status, or any other basis protected by law.

All candidates applying for the position should upload a resume along with a cover letter mentioning current and expected salary. 

NOTE: This role will be open for applications until March 31st, 2026. Please apply at your earliest convenience. We may end this search process earlier than the specified close date in case of exceptional candidates. Due to resource constraints, we will only be able to contact shortlisted candidates. 

EAII provides a comprehensive benefits package for employees. Benefits include:

• Comprehensive health insurance with IPD and OPD provisions,
• Life and Accidental insurance
• PF, ESIC and Gratuity as per statutory requirements
• Mental and physical well-being benefits
• Learning and Development benefit
• Generous leave
• Avenues for engagement and recognition