Associate Director, Prize, Livelihood Ecosystem

Location

Bangalore, India (significant domestic travel required)

Engagement type

Consultant, engaged for the duration of the project

About https

//thedelta.org.in/

At the^delta, we back founders building scalable pathways to unlock stable economic opportunities for people and in places where they are needed the most. Through incubation, incentive challenges, enabling ecosystems and catalytic capital, we support founders in turning promising ideas into lasting impact.

Abouthttps

//thedelta.org.in/prize/

the^delta Prize is the^delta's incentive-challenge program, designed to concentrate capital, talent and attention against some of India's most persistent structural problems. The Prize currently runs across three verticals: Climate Futures, Future of Women in Work, and Future Enterprises.

About Future Enterprises

Future Enterprises is the^delta's vertical dedicated to India's MSME sector, spanning nano and subsistence enterprises through to small and medium firms ready for productivity, quality and growth. The vertical's mandate is to identify, incubate and scale solutions to the sector's most persistent structural barriers, working across government, capital, technology and civil society partners. Its flagship project, described below, is AI for MSMEs – a national initiative in partnership with a leading global funder – alongside a growing pipeline of future MSME-focused work.

About AI for MSMEs (flagship project)

AI for MSMEs is a national initiative unlocking AI-led growth for India's MSME sector, built AI-first and run across two connected tracks and a horizontal convening layer

Track 1: Grand Challenges – four incentive-driven challenges concentrating catalytic capital against persistent MSME bottlenecks: Ease of Business, Building Discoverability for MSMEs, Strengthening MSME Product Quality, and Unlocking Capital & Credit

Track 2: The Platform – a single, open, AI-first workforce readiness and career pathways platform connecting young people and job seekers to skilling, apprenticeships and jobs, with particular attention to the talent needs of MSMEs

Convening and Ecosystem Build – a horizontal track running alongside both, building a permanent national convening architecture that brings entrepreneurs, AI builders, government, capital providers and researchers together around the evidence each track produces

The initiative runs over three years, across prize-based challenges, platform development, and ecosystem convening.

Who are we solving for?

India's MSMEs – from nano and subsistence enterprises seeking stability and formal visibility, to small and medium firms ready for productivity, quality and growth – alongside the young people and job seekers the workforce platform will connect to skilling and employment.

What are we solving for?

India's MSME sector is held back by four interconnected barriers: enterprises cannot navigate compliance or scheme eligibility without intermediaries; quality deficits and invisibility to organised buyers lock them out of higher-value markets; skilling is supply-led while enterprise demand for talent goes unmet; and cash-based operations leave no underwritable signal for formal credit. AI for MSMEs, the vertical's flagship project, uses AI, prize-based incentives and open infrastructure to address these barriers at national scale, alongside further work the vertical will take on over time.

Role and Responsibility

What will you do?

This is a Business Unit head mandate, not a caretaker role. The Associate Director owns the Future Enterprises vertical end to end: setting its direction, building its team, and delivering its current flagship project, AI for MSMEs, alongside the pipeline of MSME-focused work that follows it. AI for MSMEs alone spans two tracks, a horizontal convening layer, and a national footprint, with a mandate to move the needle for India's 88 million MSMEs. The role reports directly into the^delta's senior leadership, with full ownership of execution on the ground.

The^delta is looking for someone with the instincts of a founder: someone who has built a team, a product and a market position before, and can do it again here, inside a mission-driven organisation with serious capital and serious partners behind it. This is a senior mandate suited to a small pool of candidates with the specific combination of experience described below.

Set the strategy and own outcomes for the Future Enterprises vertical end to end, with AI for MSMEs as the current flagship project

Run the vertical like a Business Unit: make the calls, own the trade-offs, and hold single-point accountability for what gets built and shipped

Build and lead a high-performing team from scratch, hiring both Senior Managers and the wider Associate bench, and set a structure that lets the team move fast

Oversee the design and launch of the Grand Challenges across all four focus areas, working closely with the Senior Manager, Challenges

Oversee the build and launch of the AI-first workforce readiness and career pathways platform, working closely with the Senior Manager, Platform and Convening

Bring together a large and varied set of stakeholders – government ministries, technology partners, financial institutions, industry bodies, and civil society – and coalesce them around a single direction

Operate fluently across technology, economics and public policy, moving comfortably between (for example) an AI product roadmap, India's MSME credit gap, and the levers available within state government schemes

Serve as the public face of the Future Enterprises vertical and its flagship project at national forums, ecosystem convenings and with funder leadership

Hold the evidence bar high: ensure challenge design, platform rollout and every major decision is grounded in validated problem research, not assumption

Own the reporting and governance rhythm end to end, for the^delta's leadership and for external partners

What success looks like in year one