About ISDM
The Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) is a pioneering management school dedicated to strengthening leadership and management in social development work, producing the future CEOs and founders of impactful social purpose organisations. Since 2016, ISDM has worked across three strategic pillars: preparing talent, influencing practice, and building knowledge for Development Management.
With the rapid growth of India's economy and the rapid growth of development capital in the country, there is a huge opportunity to make a difference to over a billion people over the next couple of decades. However, this burgeoning development capital will need high-quality leadership and management talent to translate this possibility into real impact - talent that understands the complex nature of society and the complexities of driving social change, that can design interventions within these complexities, and that has the knowledge and skills to build and lead development organisations and translate their work into deep, sustained impact at scale.
Development Management needs to bring the head, heart, and hand together to engage with diverse communities, build on their agency, work with limited resources and divergent societal aspirations, and move towards a shared vision of a desirable society. India needs Development Management talent and capabilities across the Samaaj, Sarkaar, and Bazaar to translate this opportunity into reality on the ground, transforming the lives of over a billion people in the country, and eventually offering this discipline to countries across the Global South.
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. Know more at
www.isdm.org.in.
About The Role
ISDM is looking for a Manager – Partnerships to strengthen the institution’s relationships with the wider development and social impact ecosystem. The role will work closely with the Associate Director – Partnerships as a strategic and thought partner, while independently owning significant parts of the Partnerships function. It sits at the intersection of strategic partnerships, employer engagement, student placements and ecosystem building. Approximately 50% of the role will focus on student placements and employer engagement, with the remaining time dedicated to strategic partnerships, external engagement, team leadership and strengthening the systems and capabilities of the function. The Manager will be expected to understand ISDM’s institutional priorities, identify where external relationships can create value, and translate these opportunities into meaningful, sustained outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic & Thought Partnership
- Partner with the Associate Director – Partnerships to shape and execute ISDM’s external engagement and partnership strategy.
- Identify organisations, networks and opportunities that are strategically relevant to ISDM and can advance institutional priorities.
- Build and nurture senior-level relationships across nonprofits, foundations, CSR organisations, consulting firms, social enterprises, government and other development sector organisations.
- Develop compelling partnership propositions based on a strong understanding of ISDM’s programmes, students, faculty and institutional priorities.
- Track sector trends, talent needs and emerging opportunities, and bring relevant insights into ISDM.
- Represent ISDM externally and strengthen its credibility, visibility and influence within the social impact ecosystem.
2. Student Placements & Employer Engagement
- Lead the employer engagement and placement partnership strategy in close collaboration with the Associate Director and placements team.
- Build a strong and diversified pipeline of employers, HR leaders, hiring managers and senior decision-makers across the development and social impact ecosystem.
- Develop a deep understanding of organisational talent needs and generate high-quality roles aligned with the capabilities and aspirations of ISDM students.
- Own the employer journey end-to-end: relationship → opportunity → JD → interviews → offer → joining.
- Focus strongly on improving conversion, particularly from interview to offer and offer to joining, and address points of drop-off.
- Build long-term hiring relationships and a growing base of repeat recruiters.
- Use employer feedback, placement data and market intelligence to strengthen ISDM’s employer proposition and placement strategy.
- Position ISDM students as high-quality development management professionals and deepen employer understanding of PGP-DM talent.
3. Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Engagement
- Identify, develop and steward partnerships that advance ISDM’s mission, visibility and long-term growth.
- Create opportunities across learning, live projects, fellowships, research, knowledge exchange, sector engagement and student development.
- Map and prioritise strategically important organisations and networks and develop tailored engagement plans.
- Build relationships based on mutual value and long-term engagement rather than one-off transactions.
- Strengthen ISDM’s presence across relevant sector networks, forums and ecosystem platforms.
- Create meaningful opportunities for faculty, students and alumni to engage with the wider development ecosystem.
4. Team Leadership & Execution
- Lead and manage the Partnerships team, providing clear goals, priorities, ownership and direction.
- Build a culture of ownership, accountability and outcome-focused execution.
- Maintain clear visibility of partnership, employer and placement pipelines, with regular reviews of performance, conversion and outcomes.
- Coach team members in relationship building, stakeholder management, opportunity identification, negotiation and closure.
- Ensure strong collaboration across Partnerships, Placements, Admissions, Outreach and Alumni Relations.
- Personally lead or support high-value relationships where senior-level engagement is required.
5. Systems & Institutional Capability
- Build structured systems for managing ISDM’s partner and employer ecosystem.
- Maintain clear pipelines with defined stages, owners, next steps and outcomes.
- Establish meaningful metrics for relationship development, opportunity generation, conversion and partnership outcomes.
- Use data to identify gaps, understand conversion challenges and prioritise effort.
- Build institutional knowledge and systems so that relationships and learning are not dependent on individuals.
What Success Looks Like Stronger Ecosystem
- A deeper, stronger and more diversified network across the development and social impact ecosystem.
- Strategic organisations recognise ISDM as a credible and valuable partner.
- Partnerships result in sustained, multi-dimensional engagement.
Stronger Placements
- A robust pipeline of employers and senior hiring stakeholders.
- Increased quality and quantity of placement opportunities.
- Improved conversion from employer engagement to interviews, interviews to offers, and offers to joining.
- A growing base of repeat recruiters and long-term hiring partners.
High-Performing Team
- A Partnerships team operating with clarity, ownership, discipline and accountability.
- Team members independently manage relationships and deliver outcomes.
- Strong visibility of pipelines, priorities and performance.
Strategic Contribution
- The Associate Director – Partnerships has a strong thought and execution partner who can independently lead significant parts of the function.
- External insights and relationships inform institutional strategy and decision-making.
- Partnerships are recognised as a strategic contributor to institutional growth, student outcomes and ecosystem influence.
Experience & Qualifications
- 8–10+ years of relevant professional experience in partnerships, employer engagement, institutional relations, consulting, stakeholder engagement, fundraising or a related field.
- Master’s degree preferred.
- Demonstrated experience building and managing senior external relationships.
- Strong track record of converting relationships into tangible opportunities and outcomes.
- Experience leading, coaching and developing teams.
- Strong understanding of pipelines, conversion, relationship management and outcome-oriented execution.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, influencing and presentation skills.
- Ability to engage comfortably with senior leaders and operational stakeholders.
- Strong strategic thinking and ability to connect individual opportunities to broader institutional priorities.
- Comfort working in an entrepreneurial, evolving and mission-driven environment.
- Understanding of and genuine interest in the social impact and development sector.
- Ability to move seamlessly between strategy and execution.
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.
