Working at Project DEFY
We have always tried to think of ourselves as a collective of amazing individuals, beyond our identity as an organization. We strongly believe in the possibility of social change and empowerment and feel we will never be able to create this empowerment within communities that we work with, if we are incapable of empowering the individuals who work here. That without experiencing freedom of thought, joyful curiosity and fearless experimentation, we ourselves will be in no position to preach the same to others. And hence, a lot of our focus as a passionate community of changemakers is on the growth and learning of the individual who is a part of this team.
If you are considering applying to Project DEFY for any job position, we request you to read our Culture Document
If you’re interested in a career with us, but don’t see the right vacancy or have queries regarding our work, write to us at info@projectdefy.org
Latest Job Openings
(Hirings for Rwanda Nook Hub)
Nook Fellow (Community)
The Nook Fellow (Community) acts as both administrative manager and learning facilitator of the Nook. He or she coordinates the day-to-day running of the Rwanda Nook Hub together with the learners and ensures that a safe, inclusive learning environment is being created in which learners are encouraged and supported to pursue any learning goal of their own choice and make continuous progress in expanding their skills and knowledge through
working on their learning goals. The Nook Fellow (Community) reports to the Director, Dream Village as well as to the Director of International Nooks, Project DEFY.
What you’ll be doing?
Click here for a detailed job description
Click here to apply
(Hirings for Bangalore / Various Project Locations)
Hopper / Learning Space Designer, India Team
A Hopper is responsible for creating Nooks in various communities. The Hopper shall be responsible for creating Nooks in India. The Hopper should be a strong community builder, who can listen, adapt and co-create the Nook with the community.
What you’ll be doing?
- Create plans for execution of new Nooks
- Travel to Nook location
- Liaise with the local representative for co-planning the process
- Ensure all Nook logistics are taken care of – materials purchased, internet connected, physical space procured, furniture ready
- Conduct an outreach and engagement program with the community to both understand their needs and to share about the Nook and how they can benefit from it
- Run the induction program for Fellows
- Train the local person as first Nook Fellow
- Create processes for democratic decision making and daily working of the Nook together with the learners and Nook Fellow
- Ensure adoption of data collection tools and reporting mechanisms by Fellows.
- Connect NM with the Nook forum
- Enable consistent regular communications with the NM and the Nook- Organize and facilitate team meetings, delegate tasks, and ensure effective communication among team members (primarily Fellows and Program Fellow). By providing clear direction, setting expectations and goals, they help the Fellows work cohesively towards goals of the Nook and the community.
- Identifying opportunities for the growth of the Nook and Fellows
Click here for a detailed job description
Click here to apply
(Hirings for Bangalore)
Programme Manager, India Team [Application closed]
The Programme Manager role at DEFY is a crucial leadership role which entails overseeing and managing the operations of our Nooks across India. As the Programme Manager, you will be working closely with our local partners and implementing organisations and their staff in order to make sure that the various self-designed learning centres run smoothly and efficiently, and new innovations and programmes are being introduced and run successfully in the Nook. Besides managing existing partnerships, you will also work together with other DEFY team members to forge and create new partnerships so we can expand the Nook concept all over the country. As the Programme Manager, you will get an exciting opportunity to work together with a dedicated team at our Bangalore office as well as on the ground in our various Nook locations to make India’s learning revolution a reality.
What will you do?
Responsibilities
Managerial:
- Responsible for achieving the implementation metrics quarterly
- Creating and Managing Nooks with two team members (finances, partnerships, project operations)
- Assisting the CGO with establishing new partnerships
- Taking ownership of processes and identifying gaps, help the team to fill the gap.
- Training of local team members in processes and procedures
- Supporting projects and processes inside the Nooks
- Tracking documentation and progress of Nooks using project management tools
- Assessing and Reporting on status and impact & outcomes of the Nooks working closely with M&E head
- Making visits to the Nooks on regular basis for gathering insights and key intervention requirements
- Risk assessments of the Nooks and co creating mitigation strategies with the Indian team
- Responsible for on time reports of the Nooks working closely with the field staff and M&E
- Project planning with direct reportees that outlines their tasks, timelines, dependencies, daily work breakdown structure, estimating task durations (including travel) and effective resource allocation
- Participating in fundraising efforts by creating required pitches, decks, proposals along with CGO
Stakeholder Management:
- Manage the partners on ground including but not limited to partner NGOs, government, program team, fellows and beneficiaries when required
- Manage the schedules of partner calls drafting call agenda
- Co create goals for the Nook
Program Design
- Assessing upcoming new program design requirements within the direct programs at Nooks, process design requirements for the Indian team and creating the strategy for these along with CGO.
- Contributing to continuous evolution and improvement processes within the Nooks based on impact evidence and new innovations.
- Initiating a few design processes based on DEFY’s design process method.
Operations
- Managing everyday operations including but not limited to quarterly plans, finance, data management, visits.
- Working closely with the finance lead on managing and utilisation of project specific funds
- Providing regular updates to CGO on funds utilisation and risk assessments
Team Growth
- Creating and reviewing direct reportees KRA and KPIs
- Creating the learning and growth plans for the team
- Reviewing the framework for field staff and co designing iterative editions
Update: We have received over 140 applications and are currently in the process of reviewing them. At this time, we are pausing the acceptance of new applicants. We will reopen the application process only if we are unable to find suitable candidates from the current pool. Of the first 100 applications we reviewed, 56 were approved. We will continue our selection process with the remaining 40 applications that have not yet been assessed.
Innovation Fellow, Kaggalipura Nook, Bangalore
The Innovation Fellow(IF) is someone who supports the local Nook facilitator . They are hands-on , skilled and passionate diverse fields and areas of learning
. IFs are individuals with an affinity for and track record in projects related to the fields of electronics & technology as well as practical experience in building things from scratch using manual and electronic tools or technology.
What will you do?
- Collaborate with educators and curriculum developers to design and implement
a comprehensive maker program aligned with the learning space’s goals and
values. - Identify and curate maker resources, tools, and materials to support diverse
project ideas and learning objectives. - Stay informed about current trends, technologies, and best practices in the
maker movement to enhance the learning space’s offerings. - Plan and facilitate engaging hands-on workshops and projects that encourage
creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. - Organize and maintain the Nook, ensuring it is clean, well-stocked, and
equipped with necessary tools and materials. - Serve as a mentor and guide for learners, providing them with feedback,
encouragement, and technical expertise throughout their maker projects. - Foster a growth mindset and resilience, helping learners learn from failures and
iterate on their designs. - Foster partnerships and collaborations with external organizations,
makerspaces, and experts to provide additional learning opportunities and
resources.
Click here for a detailed job description
Click here to apply
Hirings for CM Youth Centres (Meghalaya)
Fellows
Nook Fellow (Community), Meghalaya, CM Youth Centres
The Nook Fellow (Community) is the administrator, in-house facilitator, and point of contact of the Nook. They coordinate the day-to-day running of the Nook together with the learners and ensure that a safe, inclusive learning environment is being
created in which learners are able to pursue any learning goal of their choice and make continuous progress in expanding their skills and knowledge. The Nook Fellow (Community) reports to the Program Manager, Meghalaya State Team, by collecting data and creating periodic reports at the Nook.
What will you do?
- Coordinate the set-up of the Nook in cooperation with the Hopper (where applicable)
- Keep the Nook open during the set hours
- Ensure every learner gets equal and ample access to the Nook
- Co-create a safe, inclusive, and open learning space together with the learners
- Facilitate activities and sessions to help to build a community of learners in the Nook
(games, field trips and excursions, sports events, movie nights, team-building activities) - Create a monthly budget for equipment, materials and other monetary requirements, and
send it to the DEFY Ops team - Receive funds and make purchases according to the monthly budget
Conduct the induction program at the nook every three months - Conduct goal-setting sessions and monitor and assist with the progress of learners in
achieving their individual learning goals throughout - Conduct outreach to engage more new learners from the community
- Conduct periodic workshops and community events, including internal and external
review sessions after each goal cycle - Organize internal events such as workshops, skill sessions, or new experiences relevant
to the Nook and its learners by inviting outside guests and creating a network of outside
facilitators - Fill out Datasheet and Goal sheet and assist with conducting surveys and other forms of
research for impact assessment - Create social media and blog posts from nook
- Collect profiles and other information about the learners
- Participate in the Nook Forum
- Receive funds and make purchases according to the monthly budget
Click here for a detailed job description
Click here to apply
Nook Fellow (Innovation), Meghalaya, CM Youth Centres
The Nook Fellow (Innovation) is in charge of the creative and innovation promotion at the Nook and helps learners to come up with and develop their learning projects in a broad variety of learning and skill areas. The Innovation Lead’s chief function is to enable and support the learners of the Nook to develop their ideas and projects and provide the technical help that they
may need in doing so. The person is responsible for assisting the Nook Fellow (Community) in running the Nook. He or she reports to the Program Manager, Meghalaya State Team.
What will you do?
- Helping learners identify learning goals and develop action plans on how to reach them
- Support learners in their learning journeys at the Nook
- Supporting learners identify tools, make project budgets and make purchases of required tools and materials.
- Reviewing learning goal/project progress
- Helping learners with technical support when they are unable to move across barriers
- Inviting technical experts for talks and workshops
- Organizing technical sharing sessions
- Conduct periodic induction programmes at the nook
Click here for a detailed job description
Click here to apply
Learning and Development and HR Manager, Meghalaya CM Youth Centres
As an L&D and HR Manager, you will cater to the training, development and growth needs of a large team (60 people) and contribute towards talent development. The role will allow you to make a real impact on our team of fellows in a dynamic, innovative and fast-paced environment to constantly build skillsets to address new challenges that emerge in the communities where the Youth labs will come up. While you will start with implementing the training developed already, you will also be responsible to observe, analyse and build upon the existing framework. You will also handle payroll management, team onboarding, team assessments, work-culture management and so on.
- Managing a smooth hiring/contracting process
- Supporting team members with any HR-related challenges in their work
- Managing conflicts
- Supporting the assessment of team members’ performance
- Ensuring that the DEFY work policy is followed
- Enabling growth opportunities for team members
- Executing and evolving training programs with the field staff
- Managing an inclusive, creative and aspirational work-culture
Click here for a detailed job description
Click here to apply.