Associate Director: MoRD

About PRAGATI Rural India is central to India's economic future, accounting for 63% of the population and 70% of the workforce. Yet a large share of rural livelihoods remains concentrated in relatively low-productivity agriculture, creating a significant opportunity to shift towards higher-income economic activity. PRAGATI (Programme for Rural Advancement, Growth and Transformative Initiatives) is a TCF-incubated organisation focused on accelerating economic prosperity in rural India. Its work is centred on two priorities: Increasing agricultural incomes by addressing structural constraints across land, inputs, finance, markets, processing and trade. Creating scalable non-farm livelihoods by identifying, financing and supporting promising rural enterprises that can generate local jobs. PRAGATI works with central ministries and state governments to combine policy and economic analysis with hands-on implementation. It identifies high-potential opportunities, partners with relevant government institutions, tests solutions on the ground, and develops models that governments can ultimately own and replicate. Role Summary PRAGATI is working with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to help shape the next phase of rural development—building on MoRD's strong welfare and infrastructure delivery platform to increasingly enable sustained income growth and rural prosperity. The engagement focuses on three pathways: increasing agricultural incomes, creating non-farm local livelihood opportunities, and enabling skilling for remunerative migration. The Associate Director – Rural Economic Transformation (MoRD) will lead this engagement and the embedded PMU on a day-to-day basis. This is a senior leadership role combining strategy, policy, government engagement, execution and team leadership. The role requires someone who can build trusted relationships across levels of government, understand institutional context and decision-making dynamics, and exercise sound judgment in balancing stakeholder priorities with the broader objectives of the engagement. The individual should be able to bring an evidence-based point of view, navigate differing perspectives constructively, and help keep the PMU focused on the highest-impact priorities as the agenda evolves. The person will work closely with senior MoRD officials and PRAGATI leadership and coordinate with state governments, financial institutions, experts and private-sector partners. The role requires comfort moving between high-level strategic questions and the practical details of implementation. Key Responsibilities Own the day-to-day agenda, priorities and delivery of the engagement, working closely with MoRD and PRAGATI leadership. Identify high-impact opportunities for increasing rural incomes and translate complex problems into clear hypotheses, analytical workstreams and practical interventions. Build trusted relationships across senior and working levels of government,…