Chief of Staff

Remuneration: INR 20,00,000 to 25,00,000 per annum (if India-based) or GBP 48,000 per annum (if London-based). We will adjust the salary based on location if the successful candidate is based in a different location.

Location: Remote with up to 30% travel. Must be able to cross over with standard working hours in India (9am to 6pm) for at least 4 hours per day.

Terms of employment: Contract for one year, but with written expectation of 2 year commitment

Apply by: 30th May 2026*
*Please note: We review applications on an ongoing basis and may close this role before the closing date if a suitable candidate is identified. We only accept applications through the application form linked at the bottom of this page.

About Ansh

Around 500,000 newborns die in India every year. Most are low birthweight or premature babies. Kangaroo Mother Care — skin-to-skin contact, close monitoring, exclusive breastfeeding — reduces neonatal mortality by 33–50% and carries the WHO’s strongest possible recommendation. The evidence is settled. The problem is getting it to actually happen inside government systems and communities, at scale, consistently.

Ansh is dedicated to saving newborn lives by building healthcare capacity to implement Kangaroo Care in government systems in India. Our mission is to create a scalable and cost-effective model that implements and promotes Kangaroo Mother Care and other impact focused newborn care best practices.

Founded through the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation program in 2023, we now have more than 170 on-ground full-time staff, 4 implementation partners, and 10 core team members delivering our programs in 15 District Hospitals. We estimate a neonatal mortality reduction of 33-50% as a result of Ansh programs, and GiveWell estimates our work saves one life per $2500. We have received a GiveWell grant for 2025-26 to scale our life-saving work to 15 District Hospitals across Rajasthan. What we’re working on now is how to take it to new states, test new approaches, and build the kind of organisation that can carry a much bigger program.

The role

This is a generalist role reporting directly to the CEO. The honest version: the CEO and CSO are stretched, Ansh is growing fast, and there’s a lot of important work that needs someone senior enough to own it and drive it forward.

Some of it is operational — hiring, HR, or overseeing compliance. Some of it is strategic — helping think through new states (or even countries), new experiments, and how we manage an exponentially growing team. Some of it is neither, and will only become clear once you’re here.

One week you might be running interviews for a new Program Manager, drafting a job description, and sorting out a contract issue. The next, you’re helping scope what a new implementation experiment in Madhya Pradesh would actually require, or pulling together a grant application.

The work is varied enough that you’ll need to genuinely enjoy switching contexts. You’ll also be working across a fairly wide range of people — core team members in Jaipur, field coordinators in district hospitals, government officials, academic partners and funders.

This would be a fantastic role for someone who is looking to develop a generalist career within the non-profit sector in India or international development sector. If you value variety in your work and want to make a difference in a fast-growing, high-impact non-profit, we strongly recommend that you apply. The Chief of Staff will report to the Chief Executive Officer .

Key Responsibilities

1. Supporting the executive team

Take on projects and tasks that the CEO and CSO don’t have time for but need done well — research, document drafting, stakeholder follow-ups, internal coordination.
Prepare materials for important external meetings — with funders, government officials, research partners — and join or lead them where useful.
Help the leadership team stay on top of what’s happening across a growing organisation: what’s going well, what’s getting stuck, what decisions need to be made.
Keep internal meetings and planning processes running well — not as an administrator, but as someone who makes them actually useful.
Spot process gaps and fix them before they become real problems.

2. Hiring & People Operations

Run recruitment for core team roles from start to finish — job descriptions, sourcing, screening, assessments, offers.
Lead recruitment and people management at Ansh, ensuring the organisation attracts and retains exceptional talent.
Build out a lean Operations team to support the work of our Operations Specialist.
Foster a high-performance, values-driven culture through purposeful talent development, performance management and coaching.

3. Special Projects & Research

Coordinate Ansh’s implementation experiments — scoping what’s being tested, keeping things on track, and making sure we actually capture what we learn.
Liaise with academic and research partners and oversee research projects.
Manage cross-cutting projects that don’t sit neatly inside any one team’s work — things the organisation needs someone to own.

4. Support with crucial Executive functions

Fundraising: Lead the development of fundraising strategies for different potential partners. Support the Chief Executive Officer to engage with existing and potential funders, assisting preparation for meetings and actively participating in meetings.
Communications: Lead the curation of key public materials, including our website and major collaterals. Keep Ansh’s external communications in good shape — website, LinkedIn, donor newsletters, impact reports, blog posts etc. Support the CEO in preparing for talks and interviews. Make sure what we say publicly is honest, specific, and reflects what’s actually happening on the ground.
Governance: Assist the C-Suite and Operations Leader to ensure the governance compliance of Ansh across the entities it operates through.
Operations Team Management: Oversee the day-to-day functioning and management of Ansh's core operations team, ensuring workstreams are on track and team members are supported and accountable. Foster a strong team culture and help build the systems and processes that allow Ansh to operate efficiently as it scales.
Legal & Finance Oversight: Keep a close eye on Ansh's legal and financial health — ensure the right people, processes, and advisors are in place. Flag risks, track key deadlines (audits, filings, compliance requirements), and make sure nothing critical slips.

5. Be an active member of Ansh’s Leadership Team

Relationship building: Work closely with other department leads to understand the strategic vision for each team and consider how you and the Executive team can support them.
Contribution: Contribute pro-actively to leadership team discussions around key organisational decisions, including around the strategy of the organisation.
Retreats: Support the Executive team to prepare for major internal events, including our leadership and team retreats.

Please note that this job description is a guide to the work you will initially be required to undertake, but does not cover all of the duties the post holder may have to perform. Responsibilities will evolve over time, in discussion with the Chief Executive Officer.

Candidate profile

Essential

At least 3 years of work experience in generalist roles. You could come from a wide range of backgrounds (including a start up, a charity or consulting).
Strategic thinking: Can zoom out and identify long-term opportunities and challenges that our operations function might face. Can balance the management of day-to-day work with long-term priorities, ensuring that their teams can complete current tasks without compromising strategic goals
Execution: you should be able to plan and deliver complex projects involving multiple stakeholders and dependencies.
Management: An effective motivator and manager, ensuring their team has the information and inspiration they need to fulfil their roles.you should be confident in conveying your view to others, but open to others’ views. You should be capable of resolving workplace disagreements diplomatically.
Communication: you should be able to communicate ideas clearly to a range of internal and external stakeholders, verbally and in writing.
Problem-solving: you should be comfortable tackling complex problems and decision points, identifying risks and gaps in information as appropriate.
Growth Mindset: you should be eager to learn from adversity and setbacks and use those insights to improve their work. You should be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and tackle unfamiliar situations.
You should be passionate about Ansh’s mission and goals.
Some exposure to programs in LMICs, particularly in health or nutrition.
Fluency in English.

Desirable

Prior experience working in India
Fluency in Hindi
Experience in a relevant field, such as human resource or project management, public health, nutrition, or economics.

Reasons to apply

Every operational improvement supports highly impactful frontline care for vulnerable newborns.
Ansh has just crossed the hardest part of early scaling. The next few years are going to be interesting ones. You’d be joining at the start of that.
You’ll have real ownership over things that matter.
You’ll learn a lot about what it actually takes to run a health program inside the Indian public system — which is messier and more interesting than most people expect.
The core team is small, takes the mission seriously, and is honest about what’s going well and what isn’t.

Purpose-driven Work: Be at the forefront of saving newborn lives through one of the most effective global health interventions
Career Growth: Take on leadership in a growing organisation with plans to expand to multiple districts
On-the-Ground Impact: Work closely with beneficiaries and see the tangible impact of your efforts
Values-Based Culture: Join a team that values compassion, excellence, and collaboration

Benefits

30 days paid holiday annually
Flexible work arrangements
Premium Health Insurance (for Indian based applicants)
Opportunity to grow into a Director of Programs role

Hiring Process

If this sounds exciting, please complete this application form by 30th May to confirm your interest in the role. We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis and progressing candidates to the next stage.

Assessment Process:

Application Form: Please fill out the application form
Short Screening Video: You will be requested to share a video answering a few questions if your application is selected.
Virtual Assessment: If you are shortlisted, we will invite to complete a test task
1-2 Rounds of Interviews: We will invite candidates that perform well in the test task for the final interview round
Reference Checks: Before making a final offer, we will complete reference checks for the preferred candidates