Chief Operating Officer

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Chief Operating Officer based in India. This is a senior enterprise leadership role responsible for translating organizational strategy into coordinated execution, sustainable operations, and measurable impact. The COO will serve as a strategic partner to the CEO and an active member of the Strategic Management Team, connecting priorities across multiple functions and regions. The role integrates people and culture, business intelligence, evaluation and research, legal affairs, finance, risk, and operational performance. You will help align resources, budgets, staffing, fundraising commitments, organizational capacity, and evidence to support long-term sustainability. Success requires the ability to move comfortably between strategic decisions and operational detail while leading through collaboration, trust, and influence. The position operates across a complex international and multicultural environment with distributed teams, partners, and institutional structures. It offers an opportunity to shape organizational systems and leadership practices while advancing feminist values, equity, inclusion, and mission-driven impact.

Serve as a strategic partner to the CEO and an active member of the Strategic Management Team, contributing to organizational strategy, planning, implementation, and review. Translate strategic priorities into annual and multi-year plans connecting responsibilities, timelines, resources, and measurable outcomes. Help leadership assess opportunities, challenges, organizational capacity, financial implications, risks, and potential effects on partners. Act as a principal integrator across strategy, finance, people and culture, organizational data, legal affairs, resource mobilization, and operational capacity. Strengthen cross-functional planning, clarify responsibilities and decision-making processes, and address organizational gaps or areas without clear ownership. Lead policy development, integrated systems implementation, responsible use of AI, and major organizational change initiatives designed to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Provide executive oversight of financial planning and performance alongside the CFO and CEO, connecting budgets, forecasts, staffing, fundraising projections, program commitments, and organizational priorities. Support resource allocation, financial scenarios, sustainability analysis, risk monitoring, financial controls, restricted funding, grants, contracts, audits, procurement, and compliance. Coordinate organizational planning with resource mobilization, ensuring major proposals and revenue strategies reflect delivery capacity, financial forecasts, partner commitments, costing, and risk. Provide strategic leadership to People, Inclusion, and Culture, including recruitment, performance, compensation, development, succession, workforce planning, organizational design, and staff well-being. Strengthen management practices, accountability, team development, and organizational culture across a distributed and multilingual workforce. Provide strategic oversight of Business Intelligence, Evaluation and Research, strengthening the use of data, evidence, reporting, and indicators in organizational decision-making and learning. Oversee appropriate governance, protection, and ethical use of organizational and partner data, while integrating information security, digital safety, AI risks, and crisis response. Provide executive oversight of Legal Affairs and ensure legal, regulatory, contractual, governance, safeguarding, security, data, financial, operational, reputational, and people-related risks are incorporated into organizational planning. Maintain proportionate risk management, escalation, continuity, and compliance systems across multiple jurisdictions. Represent the organization with the Board, partners, donors, advisers, and other external stakeholders when appropriate. Support organizational continuity and assume responsibilities delegated by the CEO. Ensure significant strategic, financial, legal, reputational, workforce, or partner-related decisions are supported by integrated analysis, clear options, and effective implementation. Uphold safeguarding commitments and ensure organizational practices protect children, young people, vulnerable populations, staff, partners, and other stakeholders. Requirements: Demonstrated experience in a senior executive or enterprise-wide leadership role within a complex international nonprofit, philanthropic, social-impact, mission-driven, or similarly complex organization. Experience leading or integrating multiple organizational functions, such as finance, people and culture, operations, legal or compliance, organizational data, strategy implementation, or business development. Strong financial literacy and demonstrated experience using budgets, forecasts, financial analysis, and resource planning to guide strategic decisions. Experience connecting organizational strategy with measurable outcomes, operational capacity, resources, and long-term sustainability. Experience working across countries, cultures, legal environments, or distributed teams, with the ability to navigate complex institutional contexts. Proven ability to build productive relationships with senior colleagues, boards, employees, partners, donors, advisers, and other stakeholders. Demonstrated experience leading organizational change, strengthening systems without creating unnecessary bureaucracy, supporting functional leaders, and fostering collective accountability. Strong judgment and discretion when handling sensitive organizational, legal, financial, people, or reputational matters. Understanding of partnership-based organizations and approaches that remain responsive to partner priorities. Professional fluency in English is required; Spanish, Portuguese, or French is an asset. A clear commitment to feminist principles, sexual and reproductive health and rights, racial justice, gender justice, equity, inclusion, and leadership from the Global South. Ability to operate strategically while remaining attentive to implementation and operational detail. Strong collaborative leadership style combined with the confidence to make difficult decisions, establish accountability, and respect functional expertise. Transparent, reliable, calm, and resilient approach to leadership, with a commitment to shared leadership, sound delegation, and collective governance. Ability to create clarity in ambiguous situations and effectively balance long-term organizational priorities with immediate operational needs. No single professional pathway is required; relevant backgrounds may include operations, finance, organizational strategy, people and culture, international nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, social enterprise, or another comparable field. Understanding of safeguarding principles in both U.S. and international contexts, with willingness to comply with applicable safeguarding policies and standards. Benefits: Fully remote working arrangement. Annual salary of up to USD $220,000. Private health coverage. Life insurance. Retirement benefits. Paid sick leave. Paid vacation leave. Paid parental leave. Paid holidays. Flexible working arrangements. Opportunity to serve in a high-impact enterprise leadership role within a global, mission-driven environment. Broad exposure to strategy, finance, people and culture, data, legal affairs, risk, resource mobilization, and organizational development. Opportunity to shape organizational systems, leadership practices, and long-term institutional sustainability. Collaboration with distributed teams, international partners, donors, advisers, and senior leaders.

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