Senior Associate, AI and Digital Transformation (DPI and Digital Governance)

Position : Senior Associate, AI and Digital Transformation (DPI and Digital Governance)

Team: AI and Digital Transformation

Level and grade: L3 Senior Associate

Position type: Full time, permanent

Location: Delhi, with regular travel to NRLM states

Reports to: Senior Manager, AI and Digital Transformation (Rural Economy and Development)

Travel: 25 to 30 percent

About Us

APLYD helps governments, multilateral institutions, development finance institutions and foundations use AI in public systems. Most public-sector AI stops at the pilot. Our work is getting it into everyday service delivery and keeping it running once we leave.

Athena Infonomics has done this work for years. In 2026 we set it up as its own company. We cover strategy and readiness, field data and last-mile reach, design and build, evaluation and audit, and scale and production.

440+ engagements · 240+ global clients · 85+ specialists · 7 countries · 5 continents

The Role

You own data governance and consent on a national rural platform holding records for millions of self-help group members. The work is to make the platform's handling of personal data defensible: what is collected, on what basis, who can see it, how long it is kept, and what a member is actually told and asked.

Core Job Responsibilities

• •Map the data the platform holds and the purposes it is used for, and write that down in a form the department can maintain.
• •Design the consent approach: what a member is told, in what language, at what moment, and what happens when consent is refused or withdrawn.
• •Write the data governance artefacts the platform needs: access control model, retention and deletion rules, sharing agreements with other departments, and lineage records that hold up in an audit.
• •Work through the applicable law and policy, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and translate it into requirements the engineers can build to rather than a memo nobody reads.
• •Test the consent flow in the field with members and community cadre, and report what does not work.
• •Support the department in taking ownership of the governance framework after handover.
• •Write briefs the counterpart and the funder act on.

Qualifications and Competencies

• •Three or more years in data governance, privacy, digital rights, policy or a related field, including work touching a government or large institutional system.
• •You have translated a legal or policy requirement into something a technical team could actually build.
• •Working knowledge of Indian data protection law and the consent architecture used in Indian digital public infrastructure.
• •You can hold a conversation with engineers about how data actually moves through a system.
• •You write clearly and quickly, and you are comfortable in the field as well as in a policy document.
• •Hindi, and willingness to travel 25 to 30 percent.

Also useful, though we will not screen on it

• •Consent management frameworks or account aggregator style architectures.
• •Work on rural or last-mile systems where the user cannot be assumed to be literate or online.
• •Prior work with a regulator, a digital mission or a civil society organisation on data rights.
• •One other Indian language.

Additional Requirements

• •This position requires successful completion of a reference check and employment verification.
• •The successful candidate must not be subject to employment restrictions from a former employer, such as a non-compete, that would prevent performance of the responsibilities described.
• •Candidates must declare any current or recent engagement with a government, multilateral or development finance institution that could present a conflict of interest.

APLYD’s Work Culture

At APLYD, we function in an outcomes-based work environment with flexible hours and a high level of autonomy. Professional development and thought leadership are key elements of our business model: we support our team members’ professional growth through on-the-job training, and we encourage the cultivation of our colleagues’ personal brands through participation in panels, events, publications, and other thought-leadership opportunities. We embrace a transparent, open work environment with meaningful leadership pathways for those with inventive ideas and initiatives.

APLYD is an Equal Opportunities Employer

APLYD, part of the Athena Infonomics group, is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.

AI Proficiency and Responsible Use

Proficiency in the responsible and sophisticated use of AI is a mandatory requirement for all roles, across all levels and functions at APLYD and Athena Infonomics.