Manager Acquisitions

Manager, Acquisitions

Mumbai

Working at Teach For India

Teach For India is on a journey to reach an India free of poverty and filled with love by ending educational inequity in our country. Fifteen years into our journey we are a movement of ~5000+ Alumni working at all levels of the education system, who are reaching 1 in 10 children across the country. These Alumni have graduated from our two-year Fellowship Program where they taught in under-resourced classrooms to put ~33,500 low-income children on a different life path. Today, we have ~1000 Fellows and are the largest pipeline of driven, skilled talent into the educational ecosystem in India. Over 16,000 Teach For India students have appeared for the 10th grade board examinations till date, with an impressive 95% pass rate across cities as of November 2024.

In 2022, we embarked on Phase 4, our fourth strategic phase. We have a bold and ambitious ten-year journey ahead of us that aims to grow 50,000 leaders, who will work collectively, and with love, to transform the lives of 1 in 10 low-income children in our regions, through an education that unleashes the potential of self, others and India. In this decade, five key priorities will lead us to this vision.

1. Strengthen our core Fellowship to build strong teacher leaders who provide an excellent and equitable education to our children and continue to do so beyond the Fellowship
2. Scale our impact by strategically introducing additional Fellowships as alternative pathways for leadership development
3. Match the Alumni of our programs at an intersection of their interests and the needs of the system and our children
4. Advocate for key issues that impact educational equity, and engage 3.5% of the population in the movement for educational equity
5. Act collectively with our Alumni to learn about and address key issues in our regions.

Our work will only be completed when we have built a movement of leaders that is large enough to ensure that every child in India attains an excellent education.

We pride ourselves as being a passionate, idealistic, mission-driven team of individuals. We’re committed to learning and excellence in our roles, and to being deeply rooted in our core values.

What Teach For India Can Offer You

• The opportunity to be part of one of the most established and visionary movements in the education sector in India which is at a pivotal point in terms of expanding its scale and outreach across the nation and working with changemakers across the country.
• A challenging yet flexible workplace in which every individual employee’s Staff journey is tracked for excellence and leadership development.
• A work environment in which employees’ holistic well-being is a core priority, enabling people to be their best selves.
• Access to connections and resources from the global Teach For All network that includes partner organizations spanning 50+ countries across 6 continents.
• Remuneration that is competitive within the top quartile of the Indian NGO pay scales, and a benefits package that includes extensive medical insurance and maternity coverage for both parents.

Position Summary

The Manager, Acquisitions is a role within the Development team, responsible for driving team-wide fundraising strategy, leading complex cross-team initiatives, and building systems, capabilities, and practices that enable the entire Acquisitions function to perform at scale.

Beyond owning large, high-value donor relationships, this role focuses on designing and leading multi-stakeholder, multi-region projects (e.g., The India Circle, lapsed donor strategy, large portfolio pilots) that cut across Corporates, Foundations, HNIs, and alternative funding sources. The Acquisitions Manager operates as a strategic thought partner to the Development leadership, while also being a strong executor who ensures ideas translate into results.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of strategy, execution, and people leadership and is motivated by building for long-term organisational impact.

Responsibilities

Team-wide Fundraising Strategy & Leadership (35%)

• Lead the design and execution of multi-year acquisition strategies across Corporates, Foundations, HNIs, and blended/alternative funding sources.
• Translate organisational priorities into clear fundraising roadmaps with measurable outcomes across regions and teams.
• Identify emerging trends, risks, and opportunities in the funding landscape and guide the team’s strategic response.
• Act as a thought partner to the Director/Senior Director on acquisition goals, portfolio mix, and reserve-building strategies.

Cross-Team & Cross-Region Projects (30%)

• Lead large, complex fundraising initiatives that span multiple teams and regions (e.g., The India Circle, lapsed donor outreach, large-scale donor pilots).
• Own end-to-end project management: vision setting, stakeholder alignment, timelines, execution, and review.
• Build repeatable playbooks, frameworks, and learnings from these projects for the wider team.

High-Value Donor & Portfolio Ownership (15%)

• Personally steward a select portfolio of the organisation’s most strategic donors (large foundations, HNIs, corporate partners).
• Lead high-stakes donor conversations, negotiations, and long-term partnership design.
• Serve as a final reviewer and quality gatekeeper for complex proposals and donor communications.

Systems, Data & Operational Excellence (10%)

• Oversee team-wide use of Salesforce, dashboards, and portfolio tracking systems to ensure real-time visibility on progress to goal.
• Design and strengthen systems that improve efficiency, accountability, and decision-making across Acquisitions.
• Use data to identify bottlenecks, course-correct strategy, and support the team with actionable insights.

People Leadership & Capability Building (10%)

• Manage and mentor the Acquisitions team, supporting their growth as leaders and strategic fundraisers.
• Build clarity on roles, expectations, and decision rights across the team.
• Foster a culture of excellence, learning, sustainability, and collaboration, ensuring the team can deliver ambitious goals without burnout.
• Identify and nurture internal talent and succession pipelines within the Acquisitions function.

As an Acquisitions Manager, You Wil l Also:

• Contribute beyond formal role boundaries to strengthen the Development function and broader organisation.
• Represent the organisation in senior external forums, board-linked conversations, and strategic partnerships.
• Act as a steward of the organisation’s values, mission, and long-term vision.

As a Manager at Teach For India, your responsibilities include:

• Contributing to the team goals and priorities beyond individual goals and priorities.
• Serving as an ambassador of the Teach For India brand and an advocate for our work and for educational equity in our country through both internal and external communication, after committing time in our classrooms to understand our work more deeply.
• Supporting key organisational areas such as Recruitment, Selection, Fundraising, Volunteering, and Movement Building.

Minimum Qualifications, Experiences and Expectations

• 4–10+ years of relevant professional experience, preferably in fundraising, partnerships, strategy, or client-facing leadership roles.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder projects end-to-end.
• Proven ability to manage and develop people and high-performing teams.
• Strong strategic thinking paired with operational rigour and execution excellence.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, especially in high-stakes donor contexts.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and building structure where none exists.
• Proficiency with Salesforce, Google Workspace, and presentation tools.

Note: We want to hear your unique voice and perspectives through the process, hence all applicants are expected to personally author statements of purpose/essays in the application form. Sole use of AI or Chat-GPT based tools may lead to disqualification from the process.