Program Manager (Govt Partnerships | Water-Efficient Agriculture), Piramal Foundation

Apply By: 28 Feb 2026

Location: New Delhi(Delhi)

Job Title: Program Manager – Government Partnerships (Water-Efficient Agriculture)

Job Role: Build and deepen a high-trust partnership with the Ministry/Department of Agriculture (and allied departments as relevant) to drive policy and system-level changes that enable State and District teams to achieve water-efficient agriculture outcomes.

Location: New Delhi, Role requires significant travel across program geographies.

Reporting To: Program Director (Water-Efficient Agriculture)

Type: Full-time

Role Summary

This role leads the organization’s government partnership and policy/system-change agenda for advancing water-efficient agriculture. The Program Manager will work closely with the Ministry/Department of Agriculture and relevant government stakeholders to co-design, institutionalize, and scale solutions through existing government programs and delivery systems.

Key Responsibilities

1) Strategic Partnership Management (Ministry/Department of Agriculture)

• Build and sustain strong working relationships with senior and mid-level government officials and technical teams.

• Lead mapping of institutions, stakeholders, and schemes to identify leverage points, gaps, and opportunities.

• Drive convergence with allied departments and institutions relevant to water efficiency (as applicable in your context), enabling a coordinated approach rather than fragmented pilots.

• Represent the organization in government forums and convening; ensure communication is clear, credible, and aligned to government priorities.

• Diagnose capacity needs of government functionaries and institutional structures (state/district/block).

• Actively search of opportunities in the Ministry of Agriculture for Water related works, policy advisory opportunities, new schemes on water /climate which are being planned.  Look out for opportunities for inter-ministerial collaboration between Ministry of Agriculture and other ministries on Water.

2) Policy and System-Level Change Enablement

• Identify policy and operational bottlenecks affecting water-efficient agriculture (planning, advisories, approvals, convergence, field execution).

• Translate field realities into actionable proposals for the Ministry—e.g., updates in guidelines, SOPs, implementation workflows, review mechanisms, capacity frameworks.

• Design and/or oversee training modules, workshops, and facilitation for middle managers and field functionaries; ensure trainings translate into on-ground practice

• Support government-led rollouts by creating implementation pathways that are practical at district/block level.

3) Field Insights, Problem Solving, and Feedback Loops

• Conduct regular field visits to understand implementation constraints and success patterns.

• Create feedback loops between districts and the Ministry to refine guidance, tools, and execution support.

• Document insights crisply and convert them into decision-ready notes, briefs, and recommendations.

• Coordinate internally with State and District teams so policy/system changes translate into execution support.

• Produce high-quality written outputs: concept notes, policy briefs, meeting notes, review decks, implementation SOPs, training material.

Required Qualifications

• Preferably Masters’ or Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture/Environmental Science/Public Policy.

• Minimum 5 years of experience working with government systems and senior stakeholders—especially in roles involving:

  • stakeholder management across levels (Ministry/state/district),

  • convergence/collaboration across departments/partners,

  • capacity building and institutional strengthening,

  • program design and implementation through public systems.

  • Domain grounding in agriculture with strong orientation to water efficiency / natural resource management / sustainability.

  • Strong proficiency in documentation and communication (English and Hindi).

  • Strong working ability with productivity tools (PowerPoint, Excel, Word) for reviews, trackers, and decision notes.

  • Should have a passion towards nation building & solving issues in Climate Change

  • Should have the ability to develop people in the team and work collaboratively.

  • High ownership, works with minimum supervision, strong integrity.

  • Comfortable with field travel and working across cultures/levels of government.

    Details are here