Job Description:

As a Program Manager - Program Operations, you will own a cluster of approximately six NIAT campuses end-to-end on the operations front.

Senior campus staff across your cluster will report to you, and you will be accountable for the consistency, discipline, and quality of the student experience across every campus you own.

You will operate as part of a small, senior team of Program Managers - each owning a cluster - working as a peer board: sharing learnings, standardising what works, and solving common challenges together rather than campus by campus in isolation.

This is a high-ownership operating role at the centre of NIATs most significant scaling phase.

You will stay close to the ground - in classrooms, with students, with campus teams and university partners - while building the systems and consistency that let the network scale.

Key Responsibilities:

- Own day-to-day operational health across your ~6 campuses - classes, labs, assessments, and events running in alignment with the academic calendar.

- Ensure every campus in your cluster adheres to established SOPs and quality standards; drive corrective action when campuses deviate or fall behind on KPIs.

- Lead and develop the senior campus staff reporting to you - structure, discipline, and consistency across batches and campuses.

- Partner with academic delivery and student success teams to monitor student progress, identify at-risk learners, and drive timely interventions.

- Own student issue tracking and resolution across the cluster - designed for intervention, not just reporting.

- Monitor classroom quality, mentor effectiveness, and engagement; feed improvements back into academic planning.

- Own smooth onboarding of incoming batches across your cluster - the immediate priority for this academic year.

- Own operational readiness for new campus launches in your cluster as the network expands, applying the launch playbook consistently.

- Coordinate with central teams to ensure curriculum, assessment, staffing, and infrastructure readiness on schedule for every launch.

- Be the first point of resolution for escalations from students, parents, and campus staff across your cluster, resolving within SLA.

- Track patterns across escalations to identify systemic issues and fix them at the root.

- Own the working-level operational relationship with partner university teams across your campuses.

- Represent NIAT at campus events, reviews, and parent-facing interactions for your cluster.

- Maintain accurate dashboards and trackers on academic performance, engagement, and operational health across the cluster.

- Report regularly to senior leadership on cluster performance, risks, and improvement areas.

- Contribute cluster learnings to the Program Manager peer board and adopt what works elsewhere in the network.

What Success Looks Like - First 90 Days:

- Incoming batches onboarded smoothly across all campuses in your cluster - zero disruption to students.

- Full operational visibility established: you know the state of every campus you own, with dashboards and trackers current.

- Escalations resolving within SLA, with recurring issues identified and systemic fixes underway.

- SOP adherence visibly improving across the cluster, with gaps documented and corrective plans in motion.

- Trusted working relationships built with campus teams and partner university counterparts.

What Were Looking For:

- MBA from a top B-school (IIM, ISB, or equivalent) - recent graduates and early-career professionals welcome.

- Operations exposure - an operations specialisation, internships, case competitions, or pre-MBA work experience in operations-heavy roles (FMCG, retail, ed-tech, healthcare, or comparable multi-unit environments).

- High ownership and execution excellence - you thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments and take end-to-end responsibility for outcomes.

- Strong stakeholder management - comfortable working with students, parents, campus teams, university leadership, and central functions.

- Data-driven operator - strong with dashboards, trackers, and structured problem-solving.

- Aspiration to grow in operations as a domain - this role is a fast track into senior program operations leadership.

- Comfortable with regular campus travel.

- Ability to join immediately or at short notice is strongly preferred.