Vice President

Executive Summary

The Wadhwani Foundation seeks a senior, strategic, and entrepreneurial program executive to serve as its inaugural Vice President – Global Programs & Grants Management (Vice President). They will lead the Wadhwani Operating Foundation (WOF) and serve as grants management lead for the Wadhwani Charitable Foundation (WCF), driving program and grantmaking strategy across a global philanthropic enterprise.

About The Wadhwani Foundation

Wadhwani Foundation is the global philanthropic brand representing the work of Wadhwani Operating Foundation (WOF), the principal operating and program‑stewardship organization, and Wadhwani Charitable Foundation (WCF), the principal philanthropic donor and grant‑making entity.

Founded by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani in 2001, its central mission is to accelerate economic development in emerging economies by creating large-scale, family‑sustaining jobs. Through WCF and WOF, independent local nonprofit organizations receive funding and strategic support to design and deliver high‑impact programs in entrepreneurship, workforce skilling, artificial intelligence, innovation, and social good across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

WCF advances research, innovation, entrepreneurship, workforce skilling, and social good through philanthropic grantmaking. WOF sponsors and supports high‑impact programs delivered by independent local non‑profit organizations. WOF and WCF work with affiliated and independent charitable organizations across multiple geographies. Each U.S. entity has distinct operating, grant‑making, governance, and fiduciary responsibilities, while both are committed to the highest standards of legal compliance, ethical conduct, governance, and stewardship.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Vice President – Global Programs & Grants Management will lead an integrated portfolio function spanning WOF program strategy, performance and outcomes, and WCF grant strategy, governance and stewardship. The Vice President will translate the Foundation’s priorities into measurable program plans; establish credible monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) systems; evaluate funding proposals; and oversee grant diligence, agreements, disbursements, compliance and portfolio reviews. The role will connect evidence of beneficiary outcomes and operating performance to disciplined recommendations on grant allocation, renewal, scaling, restructuring or termination.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Vice President will create clear annual plans, outcome targets, KPIs and credible MEL frameworks across programs; build dashboards and reviews that enable measurable improvements; build effective programmatic models scaled systematically; create robust grant‑governance frameworks with clear reporting and accountability across WCF‑funded entities; make timely, evidence‑based grant allocations and renewal recommendations; and provide clear visibility for the Chairman and Governing Board into both program outcomes and the effectiveness of philanthropic capital.

Immediate Opportunities For Impact Include

Global Program Strategy and Performance

• Translate mission and strategic priorities into global program strategies, annual operating plans, outcome targets and KPIs across entrepreneurship, skilling, innovation, AI and future initiatives.
• Establish common planning and performance-management disciplines, with clear beneficiary definitions, theories of change, delivery models and pathways to scale, while allowing appropriate local adaptation.
• Lead periodic cross-country operating reviews of outcomes, milestones, budgets, adoption, quality and scale; work with entity leaders on corrective actions, owners and timelines.
• Recommend scaling, redesign, consolidation or discontinuation of programs based on credible evidence; promote replication of effective practices across countries and partners.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Analytics

• Design and institutionalize common MEL, beneficiary-outcome, impact-measurement and reporting frameworks across operating programs.
• Establish standardized KPIs, dashboards, evaluation methodologies and reporting standards, including measurement of outputs, outcomes, beneficiary progression and longer-term impact.
• Commission or guide independent impact assessments where appropriate; use data and AI-enabled analytics to identify performance gaps and improve effectiveness and productivity.
• Provide timely, objective program-performance evidence for WCF grant stewardship and Board-level funding decisions.

Grant Strategy, Governance and Portfolio Management

• Develop and institutionalize WCF’s global grant‑making strategy, funding policies, approval authorities, due‑diligence standards and grant procedures.
• Lead review of annual and multi‑