Manager, Alumni Relations & Placements
Delhi NCR, IndiaFull-timeMid · 5-7 years
About this role
About ISDM
The Indian School of Development Management pioneers a transformative approach to management, envisioning a world that is just, equitable, and sustainable. Established in 2016, it serves as a foundational hub for cultivating a robust ecosystem and a cadre of skilled professionals dedicated to advancing social change globally.
Driven by the conviction that the social sector plays a pivotal role in addressing humanity's most pressing challenges, the school operates on the premise that effective management is essential for achieving significant impact. By nurturing talent in Development Management tailored to the unique needs of the social sector, the school aims to catalyze sustainable socio-economic and ecological progress on a large scale.
Recognizing the power of institutions to shape professional ecosystems, the school aims to establish itself as a beacon of excellence in higher education. Through this, it seeks to lay the groundwork for a thriving community of practitioners dedicated to driving positive change in society.
Over the past years, the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) has garnered validation, support, and funding from esteemed individuals and organizations. While numerous programs worldwide aim to cultivate management capabilities for the social sector, they often reside within larger university ecosystems or business schools, where they may receive lesser attention compared to mainstream programs. ISDM stands out as the sole institution globally dedicated to fostering a comprehensive ecosystem for Development Management, focusing on pioneering work in critical areas.
ISDM's initiatives encompass:
- Knowledge Creation: Establishing a Global Knowledge Hub to create, disseminate, and institutionalize contextual knowledge on building, leading, and managing social purpose organizations, networks, and platforms.
- Talent Nurturing: Offering the Post Graduate Program in Development Management (PGP-DM) to attract and develop top-tier talent capable of addressing management challenges within the sector.
- Capacity Building: Providing Strategic Capacity Building programs to enhance individual and institutional capacities in development management, thereby fostering sustainable and scalable social impact.
ISDM has successfully completed its Proof of Concept Phase and is now set for expansion over the next five years. Key achievements include high placement rates for PGP-DM graduates and plans for increased batch sizes, a new campus, international partnerships, and accreditation. The institute is also conducting research and establishing Centers of Excellence in various areas of social impact. Additionally, it offers programs for professionals and resources for grassroots organizations. Know more at www.isdm.org.in.
ISDM invites individuals who share its vision to join in creating a dynamic, catalytic ecosystem and positioning India as a thought leader in Development Management, ultimately enabling sustainable social impact at scale.
Role Purpose
The Alumni Relations Manager will drive the day-to-day implementation of ISDM's transition from alumni engagement to alumni advancement — building and running the systems, relationships and programmes that create lifelong career, leadership and entrepreneurial value for ISDM graduates. This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role that combines programme execution, community building, communications, data management and cross-functional coordination.
The role works in close partnership with the Associate Director – Partnerships, who owns the overall Alumni Advancement Strategy, institutional fundraising and senior external partnerships. The Alumni Relations Manager translates that strategy into structured programmes, chapters, mentorship pathways and communications that create tangible value for alumni, while surfacing insights and recommendations that inform strategic decisions.
The role requires close collaboration with alumni, current students, faculty, the placement cell, internal teams and external ecosystem partners. The Alumni Relations Manager will serve as the primary day-to-day steward of ISDM's most important long-term asset: its alumni community.
Key Responsibilities
01 Alumni Advancement — Programme Implementation
• Support the Associate Director in refining ISDM's Alumni Advancement Strategy, and lead its day-to-day implementation, translating the Theory of Change into concrete programmes and activities.
• Implement and continuously improve programmes that drive the shift from alumni engagement (participation) to alumni advancement (career and leadership progression), ensuring measurable value for alumni.
• Manage the dual-track model in practice: run differentiated pathways and support structures for founder alumni and employed alumni at each lifecycle stage.
• Coordinate strategy discussions with the internal team and the Leadership Committee, ensuring decisions are documented and followed through on.
• Conduct the Alumni Insight & Strategy Validation Study, synthesize findings and present recommendations to institutional leadership for integration into strategy.
02 Community Building & Chapter Development
• Design and activate a regional and thematic alumni chapter model — mapping potential chapters, recruiting chapter champions and establishing operating norms and support structures.
• Organize and manage a year-round alumni events calendar: reunions, networking mixers, webinars, panel discussions and the annual alumni meet, across physical and virtual formats.
• Design and deliver continuing professional development programmes (masterclasses, workshops, sector learning sessions) to support alumni growth throughout their careers.
• Coordinate the recruitment, onboarding and ongoing engagement of the Alumni Advisory Board and Alumni Leadership Council, with mandate-setting and governance framework led by institutional leadership.
• Foster a culture of peer learning, reciprocal mentorship and sector solidarity within the alumni community.
03 Founder Advancement & Institution-Building Support
• Coordinate and implement the Founder Advancement Framework — a priority institutional initiative for 2026–2028 led by the Associate Director — including mapping founder alumni, assessing stage-wise needs and running differentiated support across stages (Emerging → Establishing → Accelerating → Influencing).
• Establish and facilitate Founder Circles: small peer-learning and problem-solving cohorts for alumni building social sector organisations.
• Connect founder alumni to legal, compliance, governance, fundraising and ecosystem partnership resources through ISDM's existing network.
• Identify potential partnerships with incubators, accelerators, CSR teams and sector investors, and escalate promising opportunities to institutional leadership for development.
• Track and report founder advancement outcomes — organisational health, funding secured, team size, sector reach and impact — to inform leadership decision-making.
04 Career Support & Mentorship
• Design and manage a structured mentorship framework matching experienced alumni with current students and recent graduates, with clear onboarding, matching criteria and check-in systems.
• Collaborate with the Placement and Career Services team to surface alumni-led job opportunities, referrals, lateral hiring tracks and sector career pathways.
• Create platforms for alumni to share sector insights, career case studies, lived experiences and professional advice with current ISDM batches.
• Organise alumni career panels, sector briefings and guest lecture series connecting students to real-world development management contexts.
• Conduct a formal mentorship programme review every six months and iterate based on mentor and mentee feedback.
05 Communications & Outreach
• Develop and execute a comprehensive alumni communications plan — spanning newsletters, impact stories, LinkedIn, WhatsApp groups, the alumni portal and periodic direct outreach.
• Write and publish a regular alumni newsletter (minimum quarterly) featuring career updates, sector insights, alumni achievements, institutional news and upcoming opportunities.
• Maintain an up-to-date and searchable Alumni Directory tracking where alumni are working, what they are building and the impact they are creating.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for all alumni queries, ideas, collaboration requests and initiative proposals. • Manage alumni communications for key institutional moments — admissions season, placement cycles, fundraising campaigns and sector events.
06 Institutional Alignment & Fundraising Support
• Identify and facilitate opportunities for alumni to contribute to ISDM through guest lectures, curriculum advisory roles, admissions outreach, capstone mentorship and research collaboration.
• Support institutional leadership in executing alumni giving campaigns (scholarships, research and institutional development) — managing logistics, communications and alumni-facing coordination.
• Identify and nurture relationships with senior alumni at Social Purpose Organisations (SPOs), escalating high potential institutional partnership opportunities to the Associate Director for development.
• Provide the Associate Director with alumni perspective and ground-level input to inform institutional strategic discussions on curriculum, placements and sector positioning.
07 Governance, Data Management & Reporting
• Maintain a robust, accurate and secure alumni database — tracking career progression, role changes, sector movements, achievements and engagement history for all ISDM graduates.
• Audit and clean the CRM at role-start; establish data hygiene protocols and update cadences to keep information current.
• Set up and manage an Alumni Advancement Dashboard — tracking engagement metrics, mentorship outcomes, founder advancement indicators, chapter activity and giving data.
• Generate periodic progress reports for institutional leadership, covering engagement quality, programme outcomes, strategy milestones and alumni advancement indicators.
• Support the Alumni Advisory Board and institutional leadership in operationalising alumni association policies, bylaws and governance guidelines.
Qualifications & Experience
Education
• Master's degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies, Human Resource Management, Public Relations, Communications, Management or a related field.
• A postgraduate qualification from a development management or social sector institution is an advantage.
Experience
• 5–7 years of relevant professional experience in alumni relations, community management, stakeholder engagement, development sector networking, higher education administration or public relations.
• Demonstrated experience designing and managing programmes or initiatives end-to-end. • Experience working within or closely with NGOs, social enterprises, foundations, CSR teams or development sector institutions is strongly preferred.
• Prior exposure to research, data management or CRM systems is an advantage.
Preferred Background
• Candidates who have spent significant time in the social sector as practitioners bring natural credibility and community trust to this role.
• Experience managing a volunteer or chapter network, or coordinating with senior professional communities, is particularly valuable.
Key Competencies
- Community Cultivation & Relationship Building - Proven ability to build authentic relationships with diverse professionals and sustain long-term engagement across career stages, geographies and sector contexts.
- Programme Design & Delivery - Ability to translate strategic direction into well-designed and effectively delivered programmes and systems, while continuously improving them based on feedback, learning and outcomes.
- Communication & Storytelling - Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to craft compelling newsletters, impact stories and communications that represent ISDM's mission with clarity, warmth and authenticity.
- Research & Insight Integration - Comfortable designing and facilitating alumni listening sessions and focus group discussions (FGDs), with the ability to synthesise insights and translate findings into actionable programme recommendations.
- Event & Project Management - Strong organisational and project management skills to plan and execute events ranging from intimate founder circles to large-scale annual alumni meets, ensuring timely delivery and effective budget management.
- Data & CRM Management - Proficiency in CRM platforms, alumni portals and engagement dashboards, with a strong commitment to maintaining data accuracy, hygiene, confidentiality and meaningful reporting.
- Collaborative & Cross-functional Working - Ability to work effectively across admissions, marketing, placements, faculty and leadership teams, building strong partnerships and driving outcomes without formal authority.
- Development Sector Alignment - Deep understanding of the social impact ecosystem, its career pathways, institutional structures and the professional realities of development sector practitioners.
- Founder Empathy - Genuine understanding of what it means to build a social sector organisation, including the challenges, inflection points and evolving support needs of development management founders.
Why This Role
High institutional priority
Alumni advancement is one of ISDM's top three institutional priorities for 2026–2028. This role works in close, direct partnership with institutional leadership on a high-visibility mandate.
Purpose-driven community
ISDM alumni are practitioners committed to social change. This is a community worth building, and the Alumni Relations Manager will shape its day-to-day experience for a generation of graduates.
Room to build
This is a build role, not a maintenance role. You will design systems, launch programmes and establish structures that don't yet exist — with institutional support, creative latitude and a clear line of sight to leadership.
Remuneration for this role will be commensurate with qualifications & experience. To learn more about us and apply, check out isdm.org.in/careers.
ISDM is an equal-opportunity organization with a particular emphasis on affirmative action. The culture of the organization is one of professionalism while also one that greatly values relationships.