Lead-Strategic Initiatives & Founder’s Office

Lead – Strategic Initiatives & Founder’s Office

Location: Noida/Delhi NCR

Reporting to: Founder & CEO, Muskaan Dreams

Travel: Frequent travel across India

Compensation: ₹22-24 lakh per annum, based on experience and capabilities

About Muskaan Dreams

Muskaan Dreams is a tech nonprofit working to ensure that every child can leverage technology to thrive in an AI-enabled future. Having reached more than one million children, we aim to reach 10 million children by 2030.

Alongside Muskaan Dreams, we are building the Global Digital Alliance (GDA) as an independent thought-leadership and collective-action platform. While Muskaan Dreams will continue to demonstrate solutions through implementation, GDA will bring together governments, funders, nonprofits, researchers and technology organisations to shape dialogue, generate evidence and drive action around digital inclusion, AI readiness and the future of learning.

About the Role

We are looking for an entrepreneurial leader who will work closely with the Founder & CEO to build GDA from the ground up, strengthen organisational effectiveness and develop high-impact ecosystem collaborations.

This is not an executive assistant or coordination role. It is an institution-building opportunity for someone who can move seamlessly between strategy and execution, build trusted relationships and convert ambitious ideas into tangible outcomes.

The role offers significant autonomy and the opportunity to grow into a senior leadership position within Muskaan Dreams or independently lead the Global Digital Alliance.

Key Responsibilities

1. Build the Global Digital Alliance

• •Define GDA’s strategy and operating roadmap.
• •Build GDA as a credible platform for knowledge creation, convening and collective action.
• •Establish a clear and complementary relationship between GDA and Muskaan Dreams.
• •Develop GDA’s knowledge agenda around digital inclusion, AI readiness, future skills and school-to-career pathways.
• •Lead the development of insight papers, policy briefs, frameworks, case studies and other knowledge products.
• •Design and lead roundtables, summits, working groups and collaborative initiatives.
• •Help establish GDA’s governance, advisory network, institutional partnerships and sustainable funding model.

2. Build Partnerships, Narrative and Ecosystem

• •Build trusted relationships with governments, institutional funders, nonprofits, universities, researchers and technology organisations.
• •Develop a compelling narrative connecting Muskaan Dreams’ implementation experience with GDA’s thought leadership.
• •Identify and develop strategic collaborations, research partnerships and ecosystem initiatives.
• •Represent GDA in selected external meetings, convenings and forums.
• •Accompany the Founder for priority engagements with funders, government representatives and ecosystem leaders.
• •Convert strategic conversations and relationships into defined opportunities, collaborations and outcomes.
• •Partner with the fundraising team on institutional narratives, priority donor conversations and selected strategic partnerships, without owning the regular fundraising pipeline or proposal process.

3. Strengthen Organisational Systems

• •Translate organisational priorities into measurable goals, milestones and review mechanisms.
• •Build effective systems for goal tracking, leadership reviews, decision-making, documentation and accountability.
• •Develop dashboards that provide clear visibility into progress, risks, dependencies and decisions required.
• •Support structured monthly and quarterly reviews with vertical leaders.
• •Review progress against outcomes—not only activities—and surface execution gaps early.
• •Ensure that important discussions result in documented decisions, clear ownership, timelines and follow-through.
• •Strengthen cross-functional coordination while preserving the accountability of individual vertical leaders.
• •Lead selected strategic initiatives that cut across functions or do not have a natural organisational owner.

4. Increase Founder and CEO Effectiveness

• •Act as a strategic thought partner to the Founder on organisational, institutional and ecosystem decisions.
• •Convert emerging ideas and opportunities into structured strategies and actionable plans.
• •Synthesise data, evidence and stakeholder perspectives into clear recommendations.
• •Prepare the Founder for critical meetings, reviews, board presentations and decisions.
• •Help prioritise the Founder’s time across strategy, fundraising, partnerships, leadership and institution-building.
• •Establish disciplined mechanisms for following through on important decisions and commitments.
• •Offer an independent, evidence-based perspective and respectfully challenge assumptions when required.

What Success Looks Like

GDA becomes a credible, mission-led platform

GDA establishes a clear identity, strategy, governance structure and body of work, and becomes recognised for its contribution to digital inclusion, AI readiness and the future of learning.

A strong ecosystem and narrative are built

Muskaan Dreams and GDA develop influential relationships and collaborations across government, philanthropy, civil society, research and technology.

Organisational systems become stronger

Muskaan Dreams has effective systems for setting goals, reviewing performance, documenting decisions, identifying risks and driving accountability.

Founder effectiveness increases

The Founder makes better and faster decisions, gains clearer visibility into organisational progress and is able to devote more time to strategy, fundraising, partnerships and institution-building.

First-Year Outcomes

Within the first 12 months, the person will be expected to:

• •Develop and begin implementing GDA’s strategy and operating roadmap.
• •Launch GDA’s initial portfolio of knowledge products, convenings and collaborative initiatives.
• •Build a strong pipeline of institutional partners and senior ecosystem relationships.
• •Establish GDA’s governance and financial sustainability roadmap.
• •Strengthen the organisational and external narrative of Muskaan Dreams and GDA.
• •Introduce reliable systems for tracking organisational priorities, risks, decisions and commitments.
• •Improve the quality and consistency of leadership and vertical reviews.
• •Strengthen preparation and follow-through for priority government, funder and ecosystem engagements.
• •Reduce the Founder’s time spent on coordination, information gathering and routine follow-ups.

Candidate Profile

• •Approximately 3-5 years of experience across strategy consulting, philanthropy, public policy, education, social impact, ecosystem development or institution-building.
• •Demonstrated ability to develop strategies and take end-to-end ownership of execution.
• •Excellent strategic thinking, analytical ability and problem-solving skills.
• •Exceptional written and verbal communication.
• •Experience engaging senior stakeholders across government, philanthropy, CSR, academia, nonprofits or the private sector.
• •Ability to build trusted relationships and represent the Founder and organisation credibly.
• •Experience developing partnerships, knowledge products, convenings or collaborative platforms.
• •Strong project management, documentation and follow-through.
• •Willingness to travel frequently across India.

Personal Attributes

• •Entrepreneurial mindset and a genuine desire to build something from the ground up.
• •High ownership, initiative and bias for action.
• •Confidence to constructively challenge ideas and offer an independent perspective.
• •Empathy combined with firmness in driving accountability.

Leadership Pathway

This is an opportunity to work as an entrepreneur within a growing, mission-driven institution. The person will receive meaningful autonomy to build GDA, shape organisational strategy, create influential partnerships and lead high-impact initiatives.

Based on performance, ownership and GDA’s institutional progress,