Manager, Student Readiness

About Teach for India

Teach For India is a nationwide movement of leaders dedicated to providing an excellent education for all children. These include both Fellows, who commit two years to teaching low-income & under-resourced classrooms, as well as Staff teams, who bolster these efforts through strategic support & organizational direction. 

Position Summary

The Manager, Student Readiness is the architect of what happens inside TFI classrooms and at the Grade 10 gate with respect to our students being college-career ready and on the path to achieving our broader goals of our students becoming free of poverty and filled with love. This role designs and operationalizes the college and career readiness system that Fellows deliver to students in Grades 8–10, ensures the right partners are in place where Fellows need backup, and leads the design of transition support for students moving from school into college and from college into careers. It sits at the intersection of curriculum design, partner management, and Fellow enablement — and it is the role on which the rest of the Student Alumni Wing’s impact depends.88.6% of TFI’s student alumni are first-generation collegegoers. They are navigating transitions their families have never faced, in systems that were not designed to include them. The readiness infrastructure this role builds is what changes those odds.

Why This Role Exists

• Our research shows that even students from our strongest classrooms struggle to navigate the transitions that matter most: from Grade 10 into the right stream, from Grade 12 into college, and from college into a career of their choosing. The pipeline does not break because ambition is low or opportunities are absent. It breaks because the support system disappears exactly when it is needed most.  Career awareness, transition skills, and readiness for what comes next are not separate from the work of the Fellowship — they are what it looks like when the foundation the Fellowship builds meets the real-world students have to navigate. This role builds that bridge. The Grade 8–10 window is the most intervention-ready period SAW has. This is where a career readiness blueprint, embedded in the Fellowship experience and delivered by Fellows, can shift what students know, what they can do, and who they believe they can become. It is also where the most consequential work is: students who arrive at the Grade 10 transition with career awareness, practical navigation skills, and community infrastructure are far more likely to make it through.

Team Overview

• The Student Alumni Wing (SAW) operates within the broader Careers Team and is anchored in Mission Future Ready — a six-pillar strategy to support 16,000+ TFI student alumni from school through to meaningful careers and civic participation. The team is deliberately lean, built around a partnerships-first model: Senior Manager, Student Alumni Wing — city relationships, cross-functional coordination, community and communications, team management. Manager, Student Readiness (this role) — readiness system design, Fellow training, transition support design, support with partner sourcing for readiness, matching to opportunities during school years Partnerships Manager — opportunity sourcing, college and career partnerships, matching infrastructure Data & Operations Associate — database, WhatsApp communities, newsletter, logistics The Manager, Student Readiness will work in close coordination with Teaching & Innovation and Programmed teams — the readiness blueprint this role designs is delivered by Fellows inside the classroom, not run in parallel to it.

Responsibilities

• Design and Own the College & Career Readiness System (G8–10) The career readiness blueprint is the primary vehicle through which SAW reaches students at scale. You will: Design the G8–10 career readiness blueprint: objectives by grade, sequencing across the three years, and city-specific contextualization  Define what ‘readiness’ looks like at each stage — career awareness, pathway knowledge, practical navigation skills, financial literacy habits — in terms Fellows can act on Embed transition skills into the blueprint: form-filling, document readiness, digital literacy, professional communication, deadline navigation — the non-negotiables for accessing any formal system Build the G10–11 transition plan: a robust, post-board-exam sequence covering stream guidance, application support, financial aid navigation, and structured Fellow handover Co-design parent PTMs with city teams at key transition points — equipping families to be partners in readiness decisions, not inadvertent barriers Work within the Exposure → Explore → Practice pedagogical frame agreed cross-functionally with Teaching & Innovation
• Source Partners and Ensure the Readiness Ecosystem Works Where Fellows need expertise or capacity beyond what can be built in-house, you will support in identifying, finding, and managing the right partners. You will: Identify, vet, and onboard partners across career awareness (panels, counselling, aptitude tools), transition skills (English upskilling, professional skills), and readiness delivery Design partnership briefs: what students need, what Fellows need, what success looks like, and how to integrate partner contributions into the program rhythm without displacing it Ensure partners operate within the readiness framework — not as standalone events but as components of a coherent journey Work with the Partnerships Manager to align readiness partnerships with the broader opportunities pipeline for older student alumni Source career readiness programs, English upskilling partnerships (e.g. tentatively with Fikri), and professional skills partnerships for the UG-to-career cohort
• Train and Enable Fellows to Deliver The readiness blueprint is only as good as what happens in classrooms. You will: Design Fellow orientations on the readiness blueprint: what to deliver, when, how to contextualize it for their specific classroom and city Build tools and resources that make delivery simple and high-quality — Fellow-friendly session guides, repositories, timelines, and reference materials Orient Fellows on guidance at transition points: what to say when results drop, how to refer students, what resources exist, and when to activate the SAW team Identify and support Year 2 Fellows as the primary delivery agents for readiness content, given Year 1 capacity constraints Coordinate with the Senior Manager on Fellow training integration into city team onboarding and support rhythms
• Design Transition Readiness for College and Career Stages Readiness does not end at Grade 10. Working with the Partnerships Manager and guided by the Senior Manager, you will: Design the college-stage readiness layer: English upskilling, portfolio building, resume and LinkedIn readiness, professional narration — primarily through partners Design career-stage readiness: interview preparation, sector exposure, professional skills — in coordination with the Partnerships Manager and aligned with the virtual career fair and Saathi circle model Develop ‘exposure and immersion’ experiences throughout the journey: internships, job shadowing, sector visits, and alumni role model connections that shift what students believe is possible Develop resources for self-service readiness access: repositories, digital guides, and career toolkits that students and Fellows can use at any transition point, with or without direct SAW support
• Build Systems for Financial Literacy and Scholarship Awareness Financial pressure is the primary reason students do not continue their education. While financial resilience is a shared pillar across SAW, the readiness dimensions sit with this role: Embed financial literacy into the G8–10 blueprint: awareness of scholarships and schemes before the need becomes urgent, not after the crisis has arrived Coordinate with the Partnerships Manager on the financial aid landscape mapping — ensuring the accessible repository for students and Fellows is informed by what the readiness system needs Build application support tools for the G10–11 transition: documentation checklists, timeline guidance, and process navigation for the highest-stakes scholarship and funding options
• Operationalize the readiness architecture The design of our programs is only as good as the operational systems' last-mile delivery. As the readiness manager, you will: Work with the Associate, Data and Operations, to keep the student database information up-to-date and real-time to enable effective matching Work with city teams and regions to identify student needs, have an accurate gauge of potential and interests to ensure effective matching Play an active role in matching students and alumni to opportunities 
• As a Manager at Teach For India, responsibilities also include Contributing to team goals and priorities beyond individual scope
• Serving as an ambassador for Teach For India and an advocate for educational equity Supporting key organizational areas including Recruitment, Selection, Fundraising, Volunteering and Movement Building Competencies and Abilities Programmed & Curriculum Design — can build coherent, multi-stage learning journeys; translates strategy into grade-level objectives and Fellow-ready tools Systems Thinking — can design a readiness ecosystem that holds together across Fellows, partners, cities, and transition stages Partner Management — can identify, vet, brief, and manage external partners; holds partners to quality and integration standards Fellow Enablement — can train and orient educators to deliver content with fidelity; understands what makes frontline delivery succeed or fail Stakeholder Coordination — can work across teams (T&I, cities, Programmed) without authority; builds shared ownership of readiness outcomes User-Centered Design — designs for first-generation students and time-stretched Fellows; keeps the student experience at the center of every design decision Contextual Adaptability — understands that the same design does not work in Maharashtra, Delhi, and Hyderabad; city and board contextualization is core to this role

Minimum Qualifications, Experiences and Expectations

• Graduate or Postgraduate in any field
• 3+ years of relevant work experience in education, programme design, talent development, social impact or adjacent sectors
• Experience designing and managing programmes or learning journeys, not just delivering sessions
• Experience coordinating multiple stakeholders or partners simultaneously
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and drive outcomes in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment
• Strong verbal and written communication skills — can write for Fellows, for partners, and for students
• Strong problem-solving and systems-level thinking

Preferred Qualifications, Experiences and Expectations

• Systems & Curriculum Design: We are looking for candidates who have designed end-to-end programmes or learning journeys, rather than only facilitating standalone workshops or events.
• Partner & Stakeholder Management: Candidates should have experience managing multiple partners or stakeholders simultaneously and be comfortable coordinating and driving outcomes without having direct authority over them.
• Fellow/Educator Enablement: We are seeking individuals who have trained, oriented, or coached educators, fellows, or frontline staff to effectively deliver programme content and achieve intended outcomes.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: The ideal candidate should have worked closely with cross-functional teams—such as programme, content, operations, and data—to deliver integrated and high-quality outcomes.
• Sector Knowledge: A strong understanding of the journeys of first-generation students, career navigation, higher education access, or related areas is preferred, along with an appreciation of the challenges and opportunities within the education sector.

For more information, please check the link: Manager, Student Readiness

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