UChicago Trust/EPIC India

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

About the Trust

The University of Chicago Trust (the Trust) is a charitable trust in India, established in 2008 by alumnus of The University of Chicago. The objectives of the Trust’s objectives are to provide opportunities for grants to support educational programs, research programs and activities for the betterment of India.

About EPIC India

EPIC India is an environmental and energy economics research group based at the Trust in New Delhi, India. EPIC India's mission is to work hand-in-hand with government and industry partners to identify and rigorously evaluate innovative solutions to India’s most pressing energy and environmental problems. Through these activities, EPIC India aims to identify high-value academic research opportunities for the community and communicate EPIC research findings to create lasting impacts on Indian energy and environmental policy.

Position Description
The India Program Head, EPIC India will lead the programmatic aspects of a growing, multifunctional team of EPIC India staff and will serve as the public face of EPIC India to government partners, media, and all other stakeholders, both internal and external. The India Program Head, EPIC India must understand energy and environmental research, have deep knowledge of the Indian energy and environmental policy landscape at the national and state level, and have a broad network in the public, non-profit, and private sectors. They will act as the bridge between EPIC India and the global EPIC team.

Responsibilities
- Leading the overall vision and objectives of EPIC India, in collaboration with the EPIC Faculty Director and Deputy Faculty Director.
- Expand EPIC India's portfolio of applied economics research projects, to maximize the energy and environment economics footprint in India.
- Identifying opportunities for EPIC India to contribute expertise to Indian energy and environmental policy issues through written reports, analyses, public commentary, etc.
- Establishing the structure of the EPIC India team, lead all staffing and hiring decisions, mentor junior staff, and appropriately resolve any conflicts in a fair and supportive manner.
- Overseeing ongoing scale-up programs and other strategic initiatives.
- Collaborate with senior leadership to enable the research design and implementation for multiple research projects.
- Represent EPIC India in high-level interactions with policymakers, officials, media, experts, and stakeholders, both in private and in public.
- Develop strategic partnerships between EPIC India and key players in Indian energy and environmental policy, including in the government, corporate sector, and civil society.
- Mobilize and manage financial resources to ensure that the EPIC India team is operating at its maximum potential, strategic programs are being effectively delivered, and the highest-potential research is pursued and executed to completion.

Qualifications

Education:
- Advanced degree in economics, energy/environmental policy, public policy, management, law or a closely related field is preferred.
Experience:
- Minimum 10 years of relevant work experience, preferably in a similar policy and research environment.

Competencies
- Deep knowledge and network in Indian regarding energy, environmental and climate policy.
- Demonstrated oversight of an independent organization and its people.
- Skilled in development and fundraising with institutions and individuals in an Indian and global context.
- Exceptional attention to detail, advanced writing and presentation skills for communicating policy lessons from academic papers in ways that are straightforward for policymakers.
- Clear, precise, non-technical writing, as well as confident and effective public speaking skills.
- Understanding of the India media market.
- Proven ability to multitask and successfully complete projects on a tight deadline.
- Willingness to work hard, self-motivated, and learn is essential for this position.
- Oversight and ability to engage well qualified staff, motivate staff in research, policy and capacity building roles, monitor their work and assist in career development
- Create and maintain a collegial work culture that emphasizes teamwork, results and good work life balance.
- A strong understanding of energy and environmental policy is necessary to ensure an ability to translate and communicate EPIC’s work in an accurate and effective manner.
- Ability to manage a heavy workload and competing priorities.
- Demonstrated sound judgement, ability to solve problems and make effective decision.

Working Conditions
- Travel mostly in India. but there is potential for international travel as well.

Candidate must have a valid work permit as per regulations to be employed in India.

Location
New Delhi, India
Application Documents
Resume
Cover Letter
Three References
Proposed starting date
January 2022

Please submit all of the application documents to: Leni Chaudhuri, lenic@uchicago.edu