Head of Urban Initiative

An initiative supported by The Convergence FoundationReports to: Initiative Sponsor and designated governing body

About URBAN Project

India is urbanising rapidly, and its cities are where the country’s economic future will be decided. Services already form the largest part of the Indian economy, and well-functioning cities are essential to sustaining services-led growth and creating jobs at scale. Yet urbanisation in India has often been unplanned and under-resourced, leaving cities struggling with weak planning, a difficult business environment, fragmented governance, and chronic under-financing. Getting urbanisation right – rapid yet sustainable – is one of the highest-leverage opportunities for India’s economic transformation.

The Urban Initiative is supported by The Convergence Foundation, the Urban Initiative is being established to help India build the policy ecosystem needed to drive economic growth through rapid and sustainable urbanisation. It will work systemically—developing policy perspectives and partnering with the government to advance reform—rather than engaging in on-ground implementation. Its work will be organised around four interconnected pillars:

• Regional economic and spatial planning: Creating regional economic plans that feed into better, more growth-oriented master plans for cities and their surrounding regions.

• Ease of doing business: Enabling more sensible development control norms and regulations that make it easier to build, invest and do business in cities.

• Governance: Strengthening how cities are managed, including the devolution of power to empowered, accountable city governments.

• Financing: Ensuring cities are adequately funded and well managed – through better allocation of public money, raising local resources, and involving the private sector through PPP and other models.

Across each pillar, the initiative will build a strong policy perspective, drawing on best practices from better-run Indian cities as well as relevant global examples. It will work closely with the central government – including NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) – to drive policy change at the national level, and with state and city governments where there is genuine interest and appetite for reform. The initiative will remain a small, high-quality team focused on ideas, influence and partnerships rather than implementation.

Position Summary

We are looking for an exceptional leader to serve as the Head of the Urban Initiative. As the founding leader, this person will shape the vision, strategy and agenda of the initiative, build a small but outstanding team, and establish it as a credible and influential voice on urban policy in India. The role is highly entrepreneurial: it combines the rigour of strategy and problem-solving with the relationship-building and stakeholder engagement needed to drive policy change with senior decision-makers in government.

The leader will develop sharp policy perspectives across the initiative’s four pillars – regional and spatial planning, ease of doing business, governance, and financing – and translate them into actionable recommendations for central, state and city governments. Given the intent to eventually spin the initiative out as an independent organisation, the role also carries significant institution-building responsibility, from setting culture and standards to laying the foundations for long-term sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the vision and strategy: Define the overall vision, strategy and priorities for the Urban Initiative across its four pillars, and evolve them as the initiative matures towards becoming an independent organisation.

• Build policy perspectives: Develop rigorous, well-researched policy positions on regional economic and spatial planning, ease of doing business and development control norms, urban governance, and city financing – drawing on best practices from leading Indian cities and relevant global examples.

• Engage senior government stakeholders: Build and sustain trusted relationships with senior stakeholders at the central level (including NITI Aayog and MoHUA) and with state and city governments, to influence and drive concrete policy change.

• Drive systemic policy change: Translate policy perspectives into clear recommendations and reform proposals, and work with government partners to embed these into national, state and city-level policy – while keeping the initiative focused on systemic change rather than execution.

• Build and lead a high-quality team: Recruit, mentor and lead a small, talented team, setting a high bar for quality, rigour and impact, and fostering a strong, mission-driven culture.

• Build the institution: Establish the systems, partnerships and credibility needed for the initiative to operate effectively and, in time, be spun out as a sustainable independent organisation.

• Represent the initiative externally: Serve as a thought leader and credible public voice on urban policy, building partnerships with experts, practitioners, philanthropists and other organisations in the urban ecosystem.

Experience & Qualifications

• Around 15–20 years of professional experience, with a strong track record in problem-solving, strategic thinking and project management.

• Consulting experience is highly desirable, ideally including work on complex, ambiguous problems for senior clients or stakeholders.

• Experience of working on urban issues is desirable but not essential; a keen interest in urbanisation, economic growth and public policy is important.

• Experience of engaging with senior stakeholders – in government, industry or large institutions – will be valuable.

• A postgraduate degree in a relevant discipline (such as public policy, economics, management, urban planning or a related field) is preferred.

Skills & AttributesEssential

• Strong strategic mindset, with the ability to see the big picture, structure ambiguous problems and develop clear, actionable solutions.

• Entrepreneurial drive and comfort with building something new, taking ownership and operating with limited structure.

• Excellent ability to engage, influence and build trust with senior stakeholders, including in government.

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, combined with sound judgement.

• Excellent communication and writing skills, with the ability to convey complex ideas clearly and persuasively.

• High degree of self-motivation, ownership and resilience, with a strong commitment to impact.

Desirable

• Understanding of urban issues, public policy or the broader development sector in India.

• Experience of working with or within government at the central, state or city level.

• Experience of building and leading teams, or of setting up a new organisation or function.

• Familiarity with global best practices in urban planning, governance and city financing.