Status:                           Full Time Employee (2-year contract)

Location:                        Andhra Pradesh / Gujarat / Maharashtra/ West Bengal (One in each state)

Date:                             Feb 2026

About GFSI: Grameen Foundation for Social Impact (GFSI) is a locally led Section 8 not-for-profit organization that has been working in India for nearly a decade. GFSI lead with gender and seek to transform through finance, innovative partnerships and technology. The poor, especially women, are who we work for, with a mission to enable them to create a world free of poverty and hunger. Our programs enhance women’s access to skills, information, financial services, markets, and digital tools, enabling them to build viable enterprises and participate more fully in economic and social systems. Over the years, our work has reached more than 1 million (10 lakh) clients and participants, and we have strengthened over 250 community institutions, working alongside more than 50 partners, including CSR entities, PSUs, foundations, private organizations, and government bodies. Through, the women-centric entrepreneurship initiatives, GFSI continues to transform rural economies by unlocking the potential of women as entrepreneurs, leaders, and change agents. For more details log in to https://gfsi.in

About the Opportunity: GFSI is going to implement a largescale program titled GROW-Returns (Generating Rural Opportunities for Women to Win in Agri-entrepreneurship with growing returns) across selected districts in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and West Bengal . The overall goal of the project is to develop a scalable, community-driven, AI-enabled incubation model for rural women entrepreneurship, leveraging digital platforms and data-driven solutions to strengthen women-led enterprises, enhance smallholder productivity and incomes, and drive climate-resilient, inclusive agricultural growth. Over a period of two year, the initiative will enable 5,000 rural women to establish and lead profitable Agri-based enterprises: On an average 1,000 – 1500 Rural Women Entrepreneurs (RWE) in each state and each RWE serving approximately 100 smallholders. In doing so, the project will directly impact 500,000 farmers and target an average 20% annual increase in farm-based incomes by the end of the year, while strengthening women’s roles as last-mile service providers and market connectors in climate-resilient value chains.

Reporting and relationships: The position reports to the Regional Director Operations of GFSI.  The State Manager will directly supervise staff, local implementing partners and contractors related to the project.

Availability:  The State Manager will be expected to work a typical work week of 40 hours, to get the job done.  The position will be based at project sites in select towns in India. This position will need to be flexible to work in local conditions and be available to work across different time zones. This position will require intensive travel to field locations and partner branches for project related work.travel (50%-60%) within India.

(S)He will use comprehensive experience, skills and knowledge in promoting and strengthening AEs and SHFs, Digital Agriculture and Market linkage. (S)He will work directly with the Regional Director and regional/district teams to uncover opportunities and innovative solutions and services to strengthen the RWE network in partnership with markets, service providers in the areas of finance, capacity building, technology etc. and local partners for end-to-end project management. (S)He will play a lead role in planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing of the project efficiently and satisfactorily in the budgetary norm and compliance

Essential Job Functions

Key Responsibilities

• Collaboration with the Regional Director, technical experts, and the district teams for smooth and timely implementation of the project deliverables within the budgetary norms and project quality.
  • Cross team collaboration to develop project KPIs, project implementation strategy, program quality standards, knowledge management and impact evaluations.
  • Lead operations by closely mentoring and monitoring the District Coordinators.
  • Plan, develop, and maintain procedures, equipment, and policies that have an impact in all facets of project implementation.
  • Research, evaluate, and implement new technologies, customer experience and engagement, training, and stakeholder management
  • Manage project operations, work with individuals internal and external to project/program to exchange information, solve problems, resolve conflicts, develop workflow processes, allocate department resources across projects, and ensure efficient and effective implementations of initiatives
  • Establish a cadence and conduct regular meetings and monitoring visits to project locations and relevant stakeholders to monitor the progress of project and provide feedback which is followed up
  • Identification and onboarding of operationally relevant stakeholders at the state or national level for the project like financial institutions, Agri input suppliers, digital Agri advisory service providers, agricultural universities, management institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), etc.

Job Summary: The State Manager will use comprehensive experience, skills and knowledge in promoting and strengthening AEs and SHFs, Digital Agriculture and Market linkage. He/she will work directly with the Regional Director and regional/district teams to uncover opportunities and innovative solutions and services to strengthen the AE network in partnership with markets, service providers in the areas of finance, capacity building, technology etc. and local partners for end-to-end project management. S/he will play a lead role in planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing of the project efficiently and satisfactorily in the budgetary norm and compliance

Essential Job Functions

 

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaboration with the Regional Director, technical experts, and the district teams for smooth and timely implementation of the project deliverables within the budgetary norms and project quality.
  • Cross team collaboration to develop project KPIs, project implementation strategy, program quality standards, knowledge management and impact evaluations.
  • Lead operations by closely mentoring and monitoring the District Coordinators.
  • Plan, develop, and maintain procedures, equipment, and policies that have an impact in all facets of project implementation.
  • Research, evaluate, and implement new technologies, customer experience and engagement, training, and stakeholder management
  • Manage project operations, work with individuals internal and external to project/program to exchange information, solve problems, resolve conflicts, develop workflow processes, allocate department resources across projects, and ensure efficient and effective implementations of initiatives
  • Establish a cadence and conduct regular meetings and monitoring visits to project locations and relevant stakeholders to monitor the progress of project and provide feedback which is followed up
  • Identification and onboarding of operationally relevant stakeholders at the state or national level for the project like financial institutions, Agri input suppliers, digital Agri advisory service providers, agricultural universities, management institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), etc.

 

• Agri-Entrepreneurship Expertise

• Selection and onboarding of RWEs with a target of onboarding 1000 – 1500 AEs per state by Oct end 2026
• Developing business plans of the RWE, mobilizing working capital and achieving business plan targets
• Managing Agriculture Input Marketing & Agri Commodities Trading
• Support the team in designing and developing the RWEs’ Capacity Building plans, Business Plan and monitoring their growth trajectory
• To connect with relevant districts and state level institutions
• Apply the GFSI’s innovation process to enhance the workstreams, including identifying key research questions and implementing cutting-edge research methodologies
• To identify relevant stakeholders within the community and the district ecosystem for potential collaborations or developing partnerships with local agencies for successful business operations of the RWEs

• Project Management
• Develop detailed project plans with associated milestones and work with internal and external personnel to ensure goals, timelines and quality parameters are achieved using Project Management tools
• Design pilot, scale-up and replication strategy
• Lead and mentor team members
• Manage local stakeholder relationships
• Participating in review meetings
• Provide regular progress reports and documentation
• Keep internal and external stakeholders informed on the progress of the projects
• Evaluate, hire and manage resources needed to support the project
• Create and manage budgets, and track progress against budgets

• Partner Relationship Management
• Act as primary contact for Collaborator and the donor
• Proactively recognize and address concerns/ issues and use set communication protocols and methods to maintain an open, transparent and trusting relationship
• Prepare reporting documentation and lead regular stakeholder discussions with the partners, including but not limited to Monthly Updates and Quarterly Reports. Ensure collaborators are involved throughout the process to create shared ownership of deliverables.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Deep commitment to eradication of poverty and alignment with Grameen Foundation’s mission
• Outstanding project management skills with proven track record of achievement under a range of challenging situations and multi-stakeholder arrangements 
• Experience of working on Agri entrepreneurs, smallholder farmers, Digital Agriculture, Financial linkage and Market linkage
• Hands on experience of working on Project management tools
• Ability to act as a representative of the project in public forums
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, Hindi and one of the regional languages as per the state entrusted to VIZ., Telugu for Andhra, Gujarati for Gujrat, Marathi for Maharashtra and Bengali for West Bengal with speaking, reading and writing proficiency.

Education and Experience

• At least 7-10 years of relevant and increasingly responsible professional experience
• Master’s degree in agriculture and allied fields or MBA with specialization preferably in Agri Business Management/Rural Management from a reputed Institute/University.

Additional Comment: The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job. Reasonable accommodation may be arranged in appropriate circumstances. GFSI offers a competitive compensation package.

How to apply: GFSI is a Great Place to Work and an equal opportunities employer. However, we especially encourage competent and qualified female candidates to apply for various positions. All interested candidates may apply by sending their updated resumes and letter of motivation to ssingh1@grameenfoundation.in mentioning “State Manager – GROW Returns” initiative in the subject line and confirming the current and expected compensation and earliest joining date.