Senior Manager / Manager - Ecosystem

About Company:
Arthan is a social enterprise focused on talent and leadership in the social impact sector. We work with NGOs, foundations, impact funds, and social enterprises across India and Asia to help them hire the right people and build stronger, more inclusive organisations. Our work spans executive search, talent consulting, thought leadership, and ecosystem building.

We are not just a placement firm — we're building the talent and leadership infrastructure of the social impact sector. That means identifying gaps, connecting practitioners across networks, convening sector actors, and strengthening how organisations approach talent and leadership development, particularly around gender equity and inclusion as well as building the capacity of the impact ecosystem through our thought leadership work in terms of research and knowledge dissemination through convenings and ecosystem engagements.

The Role:

This is a strategic business development and relationship management role operating at the heart of Arthan's growth and ecosystem-building work. You'll own a complex portfolio of institutional funder relationships, partnership conversations, and strategic ecosystem engagement. The work is high-stakes: institutional funders, sector networks, and strategic partners expect continuity, sophistication, and speed.

You'll work substantively, not administratively. This means authoring concept notes and proposals, leading initial partner discussions, conducting funder meetings, and representing Arthan's strategy with credibility. You'll need deep enough understanding of the landscape and the work to act independently, make judgment calls, and engage strategically when senior leadership isn't in the room.

Critically, this role is heavily tilted toward ecosystem building. Beyond managing current funder relationships, you'll spend significant time ideating on new partnerships, identifying collaboration opportunities, and actively working to strengthen the talent and leadership ecosystem in the social impact sector. You'll need to think strategically about who should be at the table, what partnerships could unlock sector-wide change, and how to bring people together around shared challenges.

This is not a transactional role — it's about architecting relationships and collaborations that create systemic value.

The environment is fast-paced and multithreaded. You'll be holding multiple complex conversations at once, tracking timelines and commitments with precision, and delivering high-quality materials under pressure. This role demands someone who thrives in ambiguity, owns outcomes end-to-end, and sees relationship management and ecosystem building as strategic functions, not support functions.

What You'll Do:

• Build and deepen relationships with institutional funders, strategic partners, and ecosystem players across the social impact sector
• Ideate on new partnerships and collaboration opportunities — identifying who should be engaged, what aligned initiatives exist, and how to create value through partnership
• Monitor the sector landscape and proactively flag emerging opportunities, partnerships, collaboration points, and funder priorities
• Own all active business development conversations — tracking timelines, deliverables, decision points, and next steps with precision
• Lead initial outreach to prospective partners and conduct substantive first-level relationship building with credibility
• Draft concept notes, proposals, strategy briefs, and funder materials — high-quality, strategic work on tight deadlines
• Prepare comprehensive briefs and talking points ahead of key meetings — capturing funder context, priorities, relationship history, and strategic considerations
• Manage funder relationship continuity — understanding what drives each funder, tracking pending materials and responses, flagging delays, and maintaining momentum
• Identify and pursue ecosystem-strengthening initiatives — collaborations, convenings, research, or networks that advance Arthan's mission and the broader sector
• Keep all documentation clean and findable — meeting notes, opportunity trackers, decision logs, commitments, and relationship intelligence
• Represent Arthan credibly in meetings and conversations — articulating strategy, communicating updates, and advancing relationships independently

Who We're Looking For:

If you are someone who thrives in this kind of role, you will have:

Essential

• 5–10 years of professional experience, with at least 3 years in the development or social impact sector (NGOs, philanthropy, social enterprise, impact investing, or related fields)
• Deep knowledge of the funder landscape — you understand different funder types, how they evaluate opportunities, what drives their decision-making, and how to engage them strategically
• Existing networks and relationships in the social impact sector — funders, NGOs, social enterprises, and influencers who know you, respect your judgment, and value your perspective
• Proven ability to write high-quality proposals, concept notes, and strategic documents — and to deliver them on tight deadlines without sacrificing quality
• Strategic thinking and independent judgment — you take direction and run with it. You don't wait to be told twice, and you make smart calls in the moment
• Ecosystem thinking — you understand systems, see potential partnerships and connections others miss, and can ideate on how disparate actors might work together to create greater impact
• Excellent communication across written and spoken channels — you articulate complex ideas clearly, you hold your own in high-stakes conversations, and your writing is purposeful and compelling
• Experience working directly with senior leaders or founders on business development and strategic partnerships
• Background in talent, leadership development, gender equity, or organisational strengthening
• Track record of convening, coalition-building, or ecosystem development work
• Comfort navigating cross-cultural, cross-sector, and complex organisational ecosystems

Highly Valuable

• Hands-on experience managing relationships with institutional funders — foundations, development finance institutions, or impact investors
• Background in talent, leadership development, gender equity, or organisational strengthening
• Track record of convening, coalition-building, or ecosystem development work
• Comfort navigating cross-cultural, cross-sector, and complex organisational ecosystems
• Hands-on experience managing relationships with institutional funders — foundations, development finance institutions, or impact investors