Chief Operating Officer

Contract: full-time, fixed 1-year contract

Location: Remote in Europe, India or similar time zones

Application: Please apply here, rolling applications

Lead our operations as we go from startup to scaleup.

About Ansh

Ansh, a Charity Entrepreneurship incubated charity, is dedicated to saving newborn lives by building healthcare capacity in government district hospitals in India. Our mission is to create a scalable and cost-effective model that implements Kangaroo care and other impact-focused newborn care practices such as breastfeeding counseling, monitoring of danger signs, IPC (Infection Prevention and Control) measures, counseling in best newborn care practices and closely working with the hospital on making these services long-term and sustainable.

Our main intervention is Kangaroo Care, a highly cost-effective and scientifically proven intervention for saving newborn lives. Kangaroo Care has three components:

Skin-to-Skin Contact: Skin-to-skin contact with the mother regulates the infant’s body temperature, reducing hypothermia
Close Monitoring: Monitoring mothers and newborns for danger signs
Exclusive Breastfeeding: Exclusive breastfeeding provides benefits to the infant's immune system and helps in weight gain

Currently, we have 41 on-ground full-time staff, 2 implementation partners, and 5 core team members delivering our programs in three hospitals—Pali District Hospital, Baran District Hospital, and Dholpur District Hospital of Rajasthan—with the aim of replicating and adapting this model for broader implementation in public health systems.

Our implementation model looks like this:

Hospital partnership: Identify and secure permissions to operate in a suitable district hospital.
Staff onboarding: Once granted, we assemble a dedicated team consisting of (i) a program coordinator, (ii) an M&E coordinator, and (iii) a team of skilled nurses (around 11-12 per hospital).
Staff training: 3-day training for nurses to ensure proficiency in KC practices with regular weekly sessions for additional training and feedback.
Set up of the KC facility: Rather than establishing a separate KC ward, we instead help to equip existing maternity sections with necessary items like KC chairs, weighing scales, and KC wraps.
Registration: Register and initiate KC immediately following delivery with LBW babies and/or premature babies.
Counseling and Monitoring: We also support mothers by offering breastfeeding advice, monitoring their baby’s vital signs every four hours, and offering extensive counseling on over 20 common danger and distress signs in babies.
Referrals: Refer babies to the outpatient care department or intensive care units when and if they exhibit danger and distress signs and work with the hospitals to delay the discharge of unstable and very LBW babies.
1-month follow-up: After discharge, conduct four telephonic follow-ups until the baby reaches one month of age, ensuring continued care and support.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Our monitoring and evaluation (M&E) coordinators (one per hospital) continuously monitor the programs and survey the mothers and babies in our program.

Please go here to know more about our values, advisors, and partners.

Position Overview

The COO will lead and optimize the operational infrastructure that supports Ansh’s growth. The COO will be leading the scale up of Ansh’s hospital programs from 3 hospitals (46 people) to 15 hospitals (over 200 people) across Rajasthan within one year and lead expansion to multiple other states. The COO will work closely with the Founder & CEO Supriya to shape strategy, ensure compliance, manage organizational operations, and lead a large, HR-intensive team to deliver life saving interventions to vulnerable babies through India’s complex public health system.

In addition to delivering and strengthening Ansh's overall organizational operations and strategy, the COO will gradually oversee more domains, such as HR, compliance, finance, accounting, funder reporting, and program operational improvement, while also playing a key role in shaping our growth strategy. The COO will manage work streams involving multiple entities in different locations, and will frequently coordinate with our partners and government stakeholders.

We are seeking a candidate who is deeply committed to Ansh’s mission and values, someone who will drive the organization’s growth, continuously seek avenues for enhanced operational effectiveness, and lead by example. The ideal candidate is able to balance both strategic oversight and attention to detail within their domains. Experience in scaling operations to support 200+ employees is highly desirable, and knowledge of hospital management would be a strong plus.

Are you excited by this role, but feel your experience may not perfectly align with the listed responsibilities or the “C-suite” title? We encourage you to apply anyway – you might just be the right candidate. At Ansh, we value talent and commitment above credentials, and we are a flexible, mission-driven team focused on making a lasting impact.

Key Responsibilities

1. Operational Strategy & Planning

Develop and implement operational plans to scale Ansh’s programs across 15 hospitals in Rajasthan, and beyond to multiple states.
Identify key operational needs and set systems for efficient service delivery in new hospitals.
Drive long-term planning and forecasting to ensure Ansh’s sustainable growth and impact.
Collaborate with the CEO and senior leadership to align operational goals with the broader organizational vision.
Strategize other ways of scale and large scale impact, for example training other organizations in Ansh’s models and supporting them to deliver life saving interventions in their geographies.

2. Hospital Program Management & Scalability

Oversee the operational management of our hospital-based programs, ensuring high-quality implementation and adherence to organizational standards.
Develop standardized processes, frameworks, and SOPs to support smooth replication of programs across new sites.
Identify and mitigate operational risks related to hospital management, including staffing, supply chains, equipment, and compliance.
Lead initiatives to enhance the efficiency, productivity, and scalability of hospital operations.

3. Leadership & Team Management

Manage a large, diverse, and HR-heavy team across multiple hospitals, ensuring effective leadership and staff development.
Develop the organizational capacity to support rapid scaling, including hiring, training, and mentoring staff for operational roles.
Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and excellence within the operations team.
Manage onboarding for new employees and training for the team.
Continue to develop and implement HR strategies, policies, and procedures.

4. Legal, Compliance & Risk Management

Ensure all programs comply with relevant health and safety regulations, government guidelines, and organizational policies.
Develop and implement comprehensive legal and compliance strategies.
Implement risk management strategies to protect the organization and its staff
Manage relationships with hospital administrations, government bodies, and other stakeholders to ensure compliance and foster collaboration.

5. Financial & Resource Management

Develop the financial strategy in line with the organizational mission and goals.
Collaborate with the finance team to develop and manage operational budgets, ensuring cost-effectiveness while scaling.
Ensure transparent financial reporting and resource allocation to support operational needs and scalability.
Oversee financial operations, including budgeting, forecasting, reporting, accounting, payroll and financial controls.
Ensure compliance with multiple entities across countries, financial regulations and accounting standards.
Oversee incoming and outgoing grants, to ensure compliance and efficient utilization of funds.

Why should you apply?

Your work will save lives.
You’ll have lots of autonomy, contributing to decisions about which areas of investigation we should prioritise, with high flexibility about how/when/where you work.
You’ll be part of a mission-driven, impact-focused organisation with strong values, delivering programmes grounded in evidence.
It’s a high-leverage role in a young organisation. We are aiming for huge growth of our programs and impact in the coming years, so there are plenty of opportunity for outsized personal impact.
Benefits include 30 days’ paid holiday leave per year at full pay.

Hiring Process

If this all sounds exciting, please fill out this form to confirm your interest in the role. We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis and progressing candidates to the next stage.

We would like our new COO to start as soon as possible, but are willing to wait for the right candidate and adjust to time restrictions/notice periods.