Senior Project Lead - EdTech Evidence & Insights
About the job Senior Project Lead - EdTech Evidence & Insights
Founded in 2012, Central Square Foundation is a non-profit philanthropic foundation 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. 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. CSF has prioritised 4 critical areas of work: Foundational Literacy & Numeracy (FLN); EdTech; Early Childhood Education (ECE); and Schools Governance.
Our EdTech vertical leverages technology to enhance teaching and learning through student-focused and teacher-directed interventions. We aim to strengthen India’s EdTech ecosystem by generating evidence on what works, how it works, and how to scale effectively, while supporting product innovation, building public goods, and influencing education policy.
Read more about our work here: https://www.centralsquarefoundation.org/.
About EdTech at CSF
CSF's EdTech initiative focuses on leveraging technology to enhance teaching and learning, both in classrooms and at home, through student-focused and teacher-directed interventions. Our goal is to improve foundational learning in primary grades and provide remediation support in middle school using evidence-based, scalable technology solutions.
Since 2012, CSF has played a pivotal role in shaping India's EdTech ecosystem by bridging demand and supply, backed by rigorous research. We drive impact by:
- Supporting EdTech organisations to build contextually relevant, pedagogically sound products for low-income learners.
- Generating evidence on what works, how it works, and how to scale effective EdTech interventions.
- Partnering with governments to implement EdTech solutions and influence policy.
- Funding public goods to drive innovation and strengthen the ecosystem.
In the last five years, CSF has collaborated with 15+ EdTech organisations, 11+ state governments, and leading academic institutions, reaching 2.5 million learners across India. Join us to shape the future of learning for India’s childrenand help build an EdTech ecosystem that is evidence-driven, tech-enabled, scalable and equitable.
Position summary
As Senior Project Lead EdTech Evidence & Insights, you will lead CSF’s evidence-generation and learning agenda for EdTech and AI-led initiatives. You will oversee a portfolio of research and evaluation studies that measure impact, cost-effectiveness, and scalability of technology-enabled learning solutions. The role combines strategic leadership, methodological rigor and depth, and ecosystem influence, driving how CSF and its partners use data and evidence to inform program, policy, and investment decisions.
You will directly manage a high-performing team of evaluation managers, analysts, and partners, while building capabilities across the EdTech vertical. You will also represent CSF externally, shaping India’s broader discourse on evidence-based education technology. You will report to the Senior Partner EdTech, AI and Evidence, and collaborate closely with the Central RMEAL (Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, Assessments, and Learning) Team, Government Partnerships, and Communications teams.
Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to
Evidence Strategy & Thought Leadership
- Lead the design and execution of CSF’s EdTech Evidence and Insights Strategy for 2025‑2028.
- Define research priorities, frameworks, and standards for generating credible, actionable evidence across product, program, and ecosystem levels.
- Identify and oversee partnerships with academic institutions, research firms, and data organizations to advance CSF’s evidence goals.
- Represent CSF in sectoral forums, advisory panels, and publications to build salience for evidence‑driven EdTech policy and practice.
Evaluation Design, Quality, and Delivery
- Lead the design and delivery of rigorous evaluations (RCTs, quasi‑experimental, mixed‑methods, qualitative) across multiple geographies and interventions.
- Establish protocols for theory of change development, indicator design, and data governance.
- Ensure all studies meet high standards of methodological rigor, ethical data use, and timely dissemination.
- Translate complex evidence into actionable insights and decision notes for governments, funders, and EdTech ecosystem actors.
Insights Translation & Knowledge Dissemination
- Develop frameworks to translate evaluation findings into learning products, such as policy briefs, evidence syntheses, dashboards, and playbooks.
- Partner with state education departments and ecosystem stakeholders to embed learnings into strategy, policy, and implementation.
- Lead cross‑functional learning reviews and retrospectives to improve organizational decision‑making and program design.
Stakeholder & Ecosystem Engagement
- Cultivate high‑trust relationships with state and national government counterparts, research collaborators, and donor partners.
- Broker collaborations across EdTech innovators, academic institutions, and global evidence initiatives.
- Build CSF’s position as a thought leader in EdTech evidence and responsible AI for education.
- Ensure all internal and external reporting requirements are met for CSF’s Board, donors and senior stakeholders
Team Leadership & Capacity Development
- Lead and mentor a team of project managers, evaluation specialists, and analysts.
- Build internal capabilities on evidence‑informed decision‑making, cost effectiveness, and data‑driven program design.
- Contribute to organization‑wide learning and development initiatives and talent planning.
- Lead and manage other workstreams for EdTech@CSF as per vertical requirements
Budget & Performance Management
- Own the annual and multi‑project budget for the Evidence & Insights portfolio.
- Track ROI on learning investments and ensure timely delivery and utilization of evidence outputs.
- Produce high‑quality reports and presentations for CSF leadership, funders, and boards.
Required Qualifications & Experience
- Master’s degree in Economics, Public Policy, Education, Data Science, or a related field.
- 10 to 14 years of progressive experience in evaluation, evidence, and impact measurement roles - preferably in education, development, or digital learning sectors OR similar experience in programme management, management consulting, impact programs, or large grant portfolios, with keen interest and willingness to deep dive into evaluation, evidence, and impact measurement. At least 4 years in a people‑leadership roles.
- Demonstrated expertise in designing and managing large‑scale evaluation studies (quantitative and qualitative).
- Proven ability to translate research into insights that influence strategy or policy.
- Experience managing multi‑partner programs and high‑performing teams.
- Strong command of research design, sampling, data visualization, and communication to senior/executive audiences.
- Demonstrated exposure and familiarity with EdTech, AI‑enabled learning, or digital public infrastructure is highly desirable.
- Exceptional analytical, written, and verbal communication skills; comfortable presenting to CXO and government audiences.
- Experience in managing senior stakeholder engagement both internally and externally.
- Demonstrated experience of managing projects end‑to‑end and also growing and managing high‑performing teams.
Desired Qualities
- Passion for evidence‑based education reform and technology for learning impact and equity.
- Entrepreneurial, self‑directed, able to deal with ambiguity, and comfortable working in a fast‑moving environment.
- Strong influencing skills across technical and non‑technical stakeholders, and the ability to simplify research and make it more accessible and action‑oriented for stakeholders.
- Learning agility and openness to frontier methods and technologies in evidence generation.
Compensation
Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy and social‑impact sector benchmarks, commensurate with experience.
Application Process
Interested candidates should submit a resume, a brief statement of interest (max 500 words), and two references through the CSF Careers Portal. Apply only if you can commit yourself to at least a three‑year journey to materialise the 2025‑2028 EdTech strategy. Shortlisted applicants will complete a case exercise and participate in panel interviews.
This position was originally posted by the Central Square Foundation and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the "apply" link on the side. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.
