About Sobus

Sobus Insight Forum is a non-profit that builds Centres of Excellence (CoEs) inside higher education institutions to promote hands-on learning, innovation, and entrepreneurship among rural and semi-urban youth. Through our SPIRIT framework (Skills, Projects, Internships, Research, Innovation, Tinkering), we help students identify local problems, build prototypes, and develop future-ready skills.

Role Overview

We are looking for a dependable, disciplined, and community-minded Centre Head who can run the Sobus CoE on campus with strong operational ownership. This is a hands-on, field-based role - ideal for someone who enjoys working with students, coordinating with faculty, driving daily activities, and ensuring smooth functioning of the CoE. This is a hands on, on field role that requires

Key Responsibilities

1. CoE Operations & Daily Management

- Ensure the CoE and supporting infrastructure function smoothly every single day.

- Coordinate vendors, lab maintenance, and procurement follow-ups.

- Troubleshoot operational issues on the ground proactively.

2. Student, Faculty and Community Engagement

- Build strong working relationships with campus leadership, HoDs, and faculty.

- Mobilize students for SPIRIT activities, workshops, and innovation challenges.

- Engage with local communities for problem statements, projects and extending support for development

- Address student queries, onboard them into the CoE, and support their projects.

- Enable student clubs, peer groups, and practice communities.

3. Project & Prototype Support

- Help students and community innovators define problem statements.

- Support them through early prototyping in the IoT Lab.

- Ensure documentation and progress tracking of all active projects.

4. Reporting, Coordination & Team Management

- Submit timely weekly and monthly updates to Sobus Central Team

- Manage fellows/student interns at the CoE.

- Handle all communication and follow-ups with the central team.

- Prepare the CoE for visits by partners, mentors, or donors.

Who This Role Is For someone who

- Has 8-10 years of experience in program management, education, incubation, youth development, CSR projects, or rural development.

- Is highly organised, dependable, and comfortable with process-driven execution.

- Enjoys interacting with students and faculty daily.

- Can handle large volumes of operational tasks without stress.

- Thinks practically and acts quickly on the ground.

- Is comfortable working in a semi-urban/rural campus full-time.

- Fluency in Marathi is strongly preferred (mandatory for stakeholder comfort).

- Has familiarity with tools like Google Workspace, spreadsheets, and basic documentation.

Compensation

Compensation: - 12-18 LPA, depending on experience.