Research Manager

About the Organisation

Prayoga Institute of Education Research is committed to nation-building through the power of education. Its work is grounded in the belief that rigorous education research can meaningfully improve teaching, learning, and the broader quality of the country’s educational system.

Role Overview

Prayoga is looking for a Research Manager in Bengaluru for a full-time, on-site role. The position reports to the Director Research and works closely with scientist leads, finance, and external partners. The role is designed to be the operational core of the research function, handling the work that enables scientists to stay focused on scientific output.

Purpose of the Role

The Research Manager will take ownership of the administrative and operational layers of Prayoga’s research ecosystem, including planning, procurement, finance coordination, and stakeholder management. The goal is to remove operational friction and keep research programmes running smoothly.

Research Operations

In this role, you will coordinate project schedules, milestones, risks, and dependencies across active programmes. You will also lead the regular operating cadence, including weekly stand-ups, monthly reviews, and quarterly board updates. A live tracker covering project status, blockers, and spend against budget will need to be maintained. Lab operations such as instrument calibration, consumable management, safety compliance, and documentation will also fall under your scope.

Resource Planning

You will convert scientific plans into practical operating plans across people, timelines, equipment, and budgets. The role also includes forecasting annual headcount, capex, and opex, building the research operations budget, adjusting resource allocation as projects change, and managing recruitment, onboarding, and performance-related logistics for research staff and interns.

Operational Effectiveness

A major part of the job is improving how the research organisation works day to day. This includes refining systems such as lab booking, sample tracking, expense approvals, and publication workflows. You will also be expected to use technology to streamline processes and define operational metrics such as time-to-procure, grant cycle time, and lab utilisation.

Funding Agencies

You will act as the primary operational point of contact for philanthropic, government, and multilateral funders. Responsibilities include managing the full grant lifecycle from identifying opportunities and preparing budgets to coordinating proposals, handling reporting, and completing close-out activities. Maintaining a future funding pipeline and deadline calendar is also part of this area.

Contract Research and Industry Partnerships

The role includes identifying and onboarding industry partners for contract research, while ensuring alignment with Prayoga’s charitable objectives. You will lead scope definition, pricing, contracting, and delivery management, and make sure any commercial work stays incidental to the mission and complies with Sections 2(15), 11(4), and 11(4A) of the Income-tax Act.

Vendor Management and Procurement

You will own the vendor network across instruments, consumables, analytical services, and IT. This includes vendor empanelment, rate and SLA negotiation, maintaining a preferred-vendor list, and running the full procurement cycle from specifications and quotations to purchase orders, delivery, payment, and performance review. You will also ensure vendor compliance documents such as GST, PAN, TDS, and KYC are in place.

Qualifications and Experience

The role calls for a master’s degree in science, engineering, or a research-related discipline, or an equivalent professional qualification. Candidates should have at least 8 years of relevant experience, including 4 or more years in a research, R&D, or lab environment. Experience managing multiple projects, budgets, and cross-functional stakeholders is essential. Direct exposure to at least one of the following is required: grant management, contract research, or lab operations. The ideal candidate will also be comfortable with project-management and collaboration tools, and confident in adopting digital tools across research operations. Strong written and spoken English is required, while Kannada or Hindi would be an advantage.

Preferred Profile

A PhD or similar research exposure is desirable. Familiarity with Indian grant systems such as ANRF, DST, DBT, and ICSSR, as well as CSR-funded research, will be helpful. Working knowledge of tax provisions relevant to charitable trusts, including Sections 11, 12A, and 80G, is also preferred.

Key Competencies

The right candidate should be able to think in systems, maintain strong organisational discipline, and work comfortably with a wide range of stakeholders including scientists, donors, vendors, and leadership. Sound commercial judgment, financial literacy, integrity, and the ability to enable others’ work without seeking the spotlight are important for success in this role.

Success Measures

Performance in this role will be assessed through reduced scientist time spent on non-research activities within 12 months, delivery of research projects to scope, time, and budget, a strong multi-year funding pipeline, better procurement and grant-processing timelines, clean statutory and grant audits, and positive feedback from scientist leads on operational support.

What the Organisation Offers

Prayoga offers a mission-led environment working at the edge of scientific research, along with access to advanced laboratories and modern instrumentation. The role also provides direct collaboration with experienced scientists and policy thinkers, plus exposure to India’s wider scientific research ecosystem. There is meaningful scope to shape the operating model of the research function.

Application Process

Applicants are expected to send a CV and a one-page cover note to careers@prayoga.org.in with the subject line “Research Manager [Your Name]”. Two professional references, including names and contact details, should be included. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.