Role Mandate

The Partner (India) is hired first and foremost to accelerate org's coalitions-led growth strategy. Their primary mandate is to scale and deepen existing multi-stakeholder platforms including and to incubate new, multi-year coalitions across priority themes such as Foundations/CSR.

These platforms are anchored by a combination of philanthropic funding, senior corporate sponsorship, and long-term partnership models. The Partner's role is to build coalitions that deliver both systemic impact and sustained commercial scale.

Entrepreneurial Builder with Platform Discipline

The ideal Partner for India is a dynamic, entrepreneurial leader who combines consulting rigour, commercial instinct, and the drive to build something meaningful from the ground up. They bring credibility from a Big 4 or top-tier strategy firm, but crucially, they have demonstrated success in smaller, platform-oriented, ecosystem-driven environments-where revenue is earned through influence, trust, and long-term sponsorship rather than volume-based consulting delivery.

Coalition Builder and Convener (Non-Negotiable)

1. A mission-critical capability for this Partner is the ability to create, drive, and steward coalitions: multi-stakeholder platforms designed to tackle complex systemic challenges.

2. They bring the maturity, credibility, and convening power to unite corporates, policymakers, investors, innovators, philanthropic institutions, and NGOs around shared priorities.

3. They are adept at aligning incentives across actors with different mandates-commercial, developmental, and societal-while sustaining momentum over multiple years.

4. Importantly, while commercially versatile, this Partner is disciplined in prioritising platform-based coalition growth over opportunistic bilateral work. They are comfortable walking away from sub-scale projects that distract from coalition strategy, focusing instead on building multi-year platforms with - 1m+ revenue potential and durable sponsorship.

Philanthropic Ecosystem Leadership (Distinct Strength)

1. Beyond coalition-building capability, this Partner brings deep experience and network strength within the philanthropic and NGO ecosystem in India (and ideally internationally).

2. They understand how philanthropic institutions operate-strategy setting, governance dynamics, grant-making processes, impact measurement expectations, and long-term capital allocation.

3. They are seen as a credible peer and thought partner by foundation leaders, programme directors, CSR heads, and mission-driven organisations.

They are able to:

1. Originate and steward multi-year philanthropic partnerships

2. Shape funding propositions aligned to foundation strategies

3. Navigate blended finance and catalytic capital models

4. Build trusted relationships with NGOs and implementation partners

5. Importantly, they do not treat philanthropy as a funding add-on, but as a strategic co-architect of coalitions and long-term transformation.

6. Commercial Leader and Rainmaker for Scalable Platforms

Commercially, the ideal candidate is a proven rainmaker-confident with C-suite stakeholders and able to identify, shape, and close complex, high-value engagements. However, their commercial instinct is oriented toward scalable coalition sponsorship, not transactional consulting.

Internal Leadership and Team Strengthening

Must-Haves

- Coalition-building track record

- Platform-first commercial mindset

- Senior-level origination and closing strength

- Philanthropic and development fund credibility

- Entrepreneurial leadership in smaller ecosystem-driven environments

- Deep India ecosystem network

- Internal team leadership and talent development

Good-to-Haves

- Experience launching flagship coalitions

- Exposure to blended finance models

- Sector depth in Energy Transition, Circularity, Clean Mobility

- International ecosystem experience

- Sustainability-led transformation experience