Strategic Initiatives Director

Remuneration: INR 42,00,000 per annum (including GST). We will adjust the salary based on location if the successful candidate is based outside of India.

Location: Remote (in a timezone between or including the UK and India) with preference for India-based team member

Terms of employment: Contract for two years, renewal by mutual agreement

About Fortify Health

Fortify Health has a vision for a healthier world where everyone has the micronutrients they need to survive and thrive. We work toward this by enabling access to micronutrient-rich wheat flour to reduce and prevent iron deficiency anaemia. We currently work in eight regions in India but are planning to expand to new regions in the coming years.

Fortify Health operates through three work streams:

1. Open Market Support: We support millers to cost-neutrally fortify chakki atta in the open market
2. Government Partnership Support: We work with governments in India to mainstream wheat flour fortification through social safety net programs
3. Evidence Generation: We conduct monitoring and evaluation of activities to inform the public about the value of food fortification

How we work

We take a data driven approach to our work, heavily focusing on how we can have the most impact possible with the resources we have. This forms a core part of our organisational ethos. At Fortify Health, we value each of our team members and support their career development. Since we are a remote organisation, our HR team organise regular online socials to build team cohesion. 

About the role

Fortify Health has an audacious goal; we want to reach more than 25 million Indians per day with fortified chakki atta by the end of 2025. However, we need to match ambition with innovation to reach this goal. That’s where Fortify Health’s Strategic Initiatives Team fits in. The newly formed Strategic Initiatives Team will focus on pursuing long-term opportunities that support our mission, whether that’s new innovations or new types of partnership. We expect the team to lead on the following items in the first six months:

• Designing Fortify Health’s approach to the wider public and considering how we can make communities and the wider public aware of the benefits of fortified chakki atta;
• Supporting the leadership team to build a coalition of supporters for wheat flour fortification on a national level in India;
• Exploring ways that Fortify Health can incorporate technology into our partnerships with millers; and
• Creating a knowledge management platform for the whole organisation, to ensure we’re sharing information in a way that’s appropriate for a large team.

The Strategic Initiatives Director will lead the Strategic Initiatives Team. You will provide strategic direction to your immediate team of high-performing individuals, helping them to deliver on complex, high-priority projects. You will also be an important leader of the organisation as a whole, collaborating with Fortify Health’s executive team to identify new strategic projects and with the broader team to implement those projects.

This would be a fantastic role for someone who is looking to step into senior leadership within the non-profit sector in India or international development sector. If you value variety in your work and want to make a difference in a fast-growing, high-impact non-profit, we strongly recommend that you apply. The Strategic Initiatives Director will report to Fortify Health’s Chief Executive Officer.

Responsibilities and activities

• Design and prioritise strategic initiatives
  • Identification: Identify potential high-priority projects that could advance Fortify Health’s mission. This could be through desk research, deep thinking or conversations with internal and external stakeholders/networks.
  • Prioritisation: Work with Fortify Health’s leadership team to prioritise between different strategic initiatives.
  • Planning: Collaborate with your team to develop workable, ambitious plans to execute prioritised projects.
• Develop and lead the Strategic Initiatives Team to deliver strategic initiatives
  • Development: Set up ways of working, team culture and strategic direction (in partnership with the CEO) for the new Strategic Initiatives within the organisation.  
  • Delivery: Supervise significant workstreams within the Strategic Initiatives team’s remit, ensuring that projects are progressing on time and to the right standard.
  • Guidance: Provide the Strategic Initiatives team with the tools and the guidance that they need to deliver on ambitious projects.
  • Mentorship: Mentor members of your high-performing team to reach their full potential and develop core skills.
• Contribute to Fortify Health’s overall strategy
  • Strategy development: Assist Fortify Health’s executive team to create Fortify Health’s overall strategy, during OKR cycles and larger strategic refreshes.
  • Communication of strategy: Work with the leadership team to communicate organisational strategy to the wider team, ensuring that upcoming goals and priorities are clear to team mates.
• Be an active member of Fortify Health’s Leadership Team
  • Relationship building: Work closely with other department leads to understand the strategic vision for each team, their challenges and opportunities for new projects and initiatives. 
  • Alignment: Ensure that the work that the strategic initiatives team is in alignment with the strategic vision of the organisation and conducted in alignment with the ways of working of Fortify Health. 

Please note that this job description is a guide to the work you will initially be required to undertake, but does not cover all of the duties the post holder may have to perform. Responsibilities will evolve over time, in discussion with the Chief Executive Officer.

Candidate profile

Requirements

• At least 5 years of work experience in generalist roles. You could come from a wide range of backgrounds (including a start up, a charity or consulting).
• Execution: you should be able to plan and deliver complex projects involving multiple stakeholders and dependencies. 
• Collaboration: you should be an experienced people manager, with the ability to mentor and develop reportees. You should be capable of resolving management conflicts constructively.
• Communication: you should be able to communicate complex ideas to a range of stakeholders, verbally and in writing. You should be confident chairing and facilitating productive meetings with external and internal contacts.
• Problem-solving: you should be comfortable tackling complex problems and decision points, identifying risks and gaps in information as appropriate. You should adapt your decision-making style based on contextual factors and available evidence.
• Growth Mindset: you should be eager to learn from adversity and setbacks and use those insights to improve their work. You should be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and tackle unfamiliar situations.
• Fluency in English.

Desirable attributes

• Experience in a relevant field, such as data analysis, public health, nutrition, or economics.
• Proficiency in Hindi.

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