Job Description

Central Square Foundation:

Founded in 2012, Central Square Foundation (CSF) is a non-profit philanthropic organization working with the vision of ensuring quality school education for all children in India. We believe that effective foundational learning is essential for better learning outcomes for all children in school. The development of foundational literacy and numeracy skills by Class 3 can help children progress to higher levels of learning and is an essential building block in a child's life.

We are driven by our mission to enable the school education system to adopt solutions that are scalable, sustainable, and effective so that all children get equal access to opportunities needed for leading a better life.

Read more about our work here: www.centralsquarefoundation.org

About High Potential Students workstream at CSF:

India’s school education system serves ~25 crore children. Many of these students come from underserved communities and face systemic gaps in identification and support. With most interventions beginning only after Grade 10, much of this potential remains untapped and underdeveloped.

To bridge this gap, CSF introduced a new workstream in 2025, High Potential Students (HPS), to support India’s bright young minds from underprivileged backgrounds in becoming future innovators, researchers and leaders. By 2030, we aim to transform the learning journeys of 1 lakh students by equipping them with the skills, support and exposure needed to thrive in higher education and high-growth careers. Through this work, we are committed to advancing equity and excellence, empowering young minds from every corner of India to realise their full potential.

CSF’s work in Telangana:

In Telangana, CSF is working closely with the Education Department to support the strengthening of Institutes of Excellence (IoEs) in KGBVs as dedicated pathways for high-potential students. Primary focus of work is to support the design and implementation of initiatives for high-potential students from underserved communities, with a focus on strengthening existing government school systems and model institutions. The work includes supporting programme planning, partner coordination, data-backed monitoring and reviews, field engagement, documentation, and implementation of student support models related to academic enrichment, assessments, exposure, career pathways and overall student progression.

CSF is seeking a Project Associate / Project Manager to join the High Potential Students workstream in Hyderabad and support the implementation of the Telangana state-wide programme. The role is execution-focused and will involve close coordination with government stakeholders, KGBV/IOE teams, school leaders, programme partners, vendors and internal CSF teams.

Candidates with 0 to 2 years of experience may be considered for the Project Associate role, while candidates with 2 to 5 years of relevant experience may be considered for the Project Manager role. The final designation will depend on the candidate’s experience, demonstrated skills and fitment for the role.

The Project Associate / Project Manager will be responsible for supporting assigned programme priorities, managing day-to-day implementation, maintaining trackers and documentation, supporting review and reporting processes, conducting field visits, analysing implementation data, and identifying risks that require course correction. The role requires strong project management skills, comfort with data, clear written communication, field orientation, and the ability to work in a dynamic and evolving environment.

The core areas of contribution are:

Programme Implementation and Coordination

• Support the execution of key programme priorities under the Telangana High Potential Students workstream, especially across Institutes of Excellence in KGBVs.

• Build and manage working relationships with diverse stakeholders, including state government teams, KGBV/IOE teams, school leaders, programme partners, educational nonprofits, vendors and internal CSF teams.

• Coordinate with implementation partners to monitor and review programs across EdTech, assessments, academic enrichment, and career pathways, ensuring effective progress tracking, timely identification of gaps, and appropriate follow-through on action items.

• Support stakeholder convenings, partner check-ins, review meetings and government updates by collating data, preparing materials, documenting discussions and tracking next steps.

Project Management, Reviews and Reporting

• Maintain programme trackers, timelines, meeting notes, action-item logs, data templates and other tools required for day-to-day monitoring and review.

• Manage timelines and deliverables for assigned workstreams to ensure that activities are on track and aligned with project objectives.

• Prepare clear written outputs, including field visit notes, meeting minutes, update emails, review notes, progress summaries, presentations, reports and internal briefing documents.

• Provide timely updates to internal teams and CSF leadership on implementation progress, key insights, risks, opportunities and areas for course correction.

Data, Field Insights and Documentation

• Support rigorous data cleaning, validation and analysis to identify trends, implementation gaps, inconsistencies and areas requiring follow-up or course correction, while also supporting the development and maintenance of dashboards, trackers and other data platforms for programme monitoring and review.

• Conduct targeted field visits to schools and institutions to gather operational and academic insights, understand implementation realities and document observations.

• Document key learnings, field insights, implementation challenges and emerging practices to inform reviews, reporting, programme improvement and future scale-up.

Problem Solving and Agile Support

• Identify, assess and escalate implementation risks and bottlenecks in partner delivery, school-level execution, data availability or communication, while supporting proactive issue resolution.

• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure smooth project delivery, timely communication of progress and follow-through on agreed priorities.

• Support emerging priorities and time-sensitive tasks that may arise from government stakeholders, programme partners or internal teams, with the ability to respond quickly, organise next steps and drive closure in a dynamic work environment.

Required Qualifications, Skills, and Abilities:

We are looking for a young professional who brings:

• 0 to 2 years of post-qualification work experience for the Project Associate role, or 2 to 5 years of post-qualification work experience for the Project Manager role, preferably in the education sector, development sector, programme management, EdTech implementation, assessments, school-system reform, or government-facing projects.

• Strong project management skills or demonstrated ability to manage timelines, trackers, follow-ups, action items and multiple priorities simultaneously.

• Good writing and oral communication skills, with proficiency and fluency in English and Telugu.

• Good project delivery skills, including the ability to coordinate with partners, schools, government teams and internal colleagues to drive execution and ensure closure on deliverables.

• Ability to work with student-level, school-level, assessment, platform usage or programme monitoring data to derive implementation insights and support reviews.

• Strong documentation and reporting skills, including the ability to prepare meeting notes, progress updates, field visit reports, review materials and concise internal briefs.

• Strong growth and learning mindset, with attention to detail, ownership of assigned tasks, problem-solving orientation, agility to take up emerging priorities, and willingness to travel within Telangana.