General Manager & Country Director, India

How You’ll Contribute

Reporting to the Chief Storytelling Officer, the General Manager & Country Director, India, serves as the senior-most NGS representative in-country. With a special focus on elevating Indian Explorers, this role leads media integration efforts with key partners such as JioStar and Disney, while building strategic partnerships across corporate, NGO, and government sectors. This role serves as the primary spokesperson and representative for the India office, coordinating staff activities, and communicating with internal and external stakeholders, including media.

The General Manager coordinates local staff activities, manages the India budget along with oversight of regulatory compliance in close collaboration with Washington, D.C. teams, and serves as the primary spokesperson for NGS in India. This role requires an exceptional strategist and communicator with a deep understanding of India's media landscape and cross-border operations. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience leading country operations, navigating complex matrixed partnerships, and elevating local talent on a global stage.

While this position is designated as remote, regular in-person work and attendance at the JioStar office in Mumbai is required. The position will be employed through an international employer of record (EOR) and seconded to National Geographic Society and will be co-located in the JioStar office in Mumbai, India. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in India.

Please submit a cover letter along with resume/CV. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Your Impact

Responsibilities Include:

Media Integration and Activation (30%)

• Leads the strategic integration with our media partners at JioStar and Disney to promote National Geographic Society’s mission, explorers, and priorities.

• Ensure National Geographic Society content and storytelling are prominently exhibited across partner platforms and key local activations, such as live events and thought leadership spaces.

• Elevate Indian explorers and spotlight their field contributions both within the region and globally.

Country Management (30%)

• Serve as the lead spokesperson and senior-most NGS leader in India for internal stakeholders, external partners, and media entities.

• Strategically plan all staff activities and cross-functional work across all NGS team members operating within India.

• Maintain clear, proactive communication across local operations, external media partners, and Washington, D.C. executive leadership.

Partnership Development and Management (20%)

• Lead the vision, strategy, and management of the strategic partnerships across corporate, foundation, NGO, and government sectors in India.

• Lead the collaboration with key U.S. and local team members to vet, amplify, and coordinate cross-organizational initiatives.

Budgeting and Partnership Tracking (10%)

• Have overall ownership and responsibility for the NGS India country budget and ensure full compliance with local regulatory requirements.

• Collaborate closely with Washington, D.C.-based finance, legal, and advancement teams to ensure alignment and operational integrity.

Team Leadership (10%)

• Oversee direct reports that serve as collaborators with external partners across NGOs, corporate and government sectors.

• Develop vision for the team and lead staff activities and strategies to complex problems, articulate clear goals, KPIs, insights and plans, and move forward key projects to meet business objectives.

• Establish and monitor staff performance and development goals, assign accountabilities, set objectives, establish priorities, conduct annual performance appraisals

• Support the growth and development of these individual(s), aligning with NGS values as well as the Explorer Mindset.

Educational Background

Bachelor's degree required; Master's or advanced degree preferred.

Minimum Years and Types of Experience

15+ years of experience in the field and 7+ years of management experience.

Experience in media or country-office management, strongly preferred.

Necessary Knowledge and Skills Required

• Demonstrated ability to organize, prioritize, and adapt swiftly in complex, fast-paced environments.

• Strong experience working within matrixed organizations and proactively socializing key strategic initiatives across multi-layered approvals.

• Proven capacity to influence and collaborate across teams without direct authority over all stakeholders.

• Ability and willingness to travel frequently within India, with quarterly travel to Washington, D.C.

Supervision

2-3 in country staff members

Salary Information

National Geographic Society offers a competitive and holistic total rewards package. Our compensation structure and transparent pay philosophy are based on industry-specific market data for similar sized nonprofit organizations.

The salary range for this position is 5,143,782.60 to 5,414,508.00 rupees.

Benefits and employment terms are securely managed through our local Employer of Record (EOR) in full compliance with Indian labor laws.

Job Designation

Remote - Our Remote designation includes staff who must work in another location in the U.S. or abroad, such as our regional leads for our Education and International teams or regional fundraisers in Advancement. Staff may also be designated as Remote by their supervisors (with approval by the Senior Team lead) because of their job duties, and are afforded this status when it is beneficial to NGS, their respective team, and the employee.

We encourage you to apply even if your experience is not a 100% match with the position. We are looking for someone with relevant skills and experience, not a checklist that exactly matches the job description. We want to help you grow and in return, you help us grow into a stronger, more inclusive organization.