Industry: Non-profit Organizations, Education
The Akanksha Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing children from low-income communities with high-quality, holistic education - enabling them to maximize their potential and transform their lives. Akanksha operates through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in partnership with municipal governments across Urban Maharashtra.
Today, Akanksha runs 27 English-medium schools across Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur, reaching 14,600 students and employing 760+ educators. Its four core programs - the School Project, Alumni Support and Engagement (ASE), Project Setu, and Art for Akanksha (AFA) - collectively serve tens of thousands of children and young adults on their journey from early schooling to economic mobility.
Akanksha's 2031 aspiration is to run 45–50 high-performing PPP schools serving 35,000 children directly, while enabling holistic outcomes for 250,000 children across 800-1000 government schools through Project Setu.
Function / Team: People & Culture / Organization Leadership Team
Location: Mumbai or Pune
Reports To: CEO
Position Summary
The person will drive Akanksha's end-to-end talent and culture agenda across a workforce of 700+ members spanning teachers, school leaders, social workers, counsellors, and central staff. You will translate Akanksha's cultural values - Passion, Purpose & Performance - into the systems, practices, and leadership that enable every team member to give their best, and every child to receive their best.
This is not a traditional HR leadership role. It calls for someone who understands that in a school network, talent is the program and who brings the strategic conviction, relational depth, and operational rigor to build and execute a people function that enables realization of Akanksha's vision.
Key Responsibilities:
Drive the Organization, Culture & Engagement Agenda and People Strategy for the Future:
• Design and own a 5-year Talent Strategy roadmap aligned to Akanksha's 2026–2031 vision
• Co-create the organizational structure in partnership with the CEO
• Drive Akanksha's Passion, Purpose & Performance culture
• Design engagement strategies for school-based and central staff
• Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion
Provide Direction and Shepherd Future-Focused HR Operations:
• Lead HR operations across Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and future cities
• Ensure compliance with Code of Conduct, Child Protection Policy, and POSH
• Support expansion decision-making from a talent readiness perspective
Akanksha Academy & Talent Pipeline:
• Develop blueprint for Akanksha Academy
• Build sustainable talent pipelines across educators and leaders
• Create sourcing partnerships with campuses, fellowship programs, and alumni channels
Performance Management:
• Lead performance management transformation
• Resolve pay parity and compensation alignment
• Embed competency frameworks organization-wide
Leadership Bench & Career Development:
• Cultivate second-line leadership pipeline
• Design career pathways across school and central functions
• Lead succession planning for critical roles
HR Systems, Technology & Governance:
• Design and deliver HR policies and processes
• Strengthen HRIS and digital HR processes
• Ensure legal compliance and sector alignment
• Build and develop a high-performing HR team
• Assess and mitigate people risks
Executive Leadership & Organizational Oversight:
• Serve as a key member of the executive leadership team
• Lead HR Board Sub-Committee
• Provide oversight and leadership of academic division
• Represent organization with stakeholders and funders
What You Bring:
Values & Mindset:
• Deep belief in Akanksha’s mission
• Ability to balance care and excellence, autonomy and accountability
• Collaborative, mission-first leadership style
• Resilient, adaptive, and outcome-oriented mindset
Knowledge & Skills:
• Strategic HR leadership expertise
• Strong knowledge of talent acquisition, compensation, performance management, L&D, and organizational design
• Strong people analytics and HR data interpretation skills
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management
• Ability to balance strategic vision with execution
Experience And Education Qualifications:
• 12–15 years of progressive HR leadership experience
• 3–5 years in Head HR or strategic HR leadership role
• Experience in multi-site organizations
• Education, social sector, or non-profit experience preferred
• Experience building leadership pipelines and talent development systems
• Strong operational and strategic HR experience
• MBA in HR or Master's degree in Organisational Psychology, Education Leadership, Social Work or related field preferred
Application Instructions:
Please email a 1-2 page resume, an output/piece of work you are most proud of (maintaining confidentiality), and 3 references (names and email IDs).
