Senior Program Associate - Product Management

About the organisation

WRI India, legally registered as India Resources Trust, is an independent knowledge organisation focused on practical, evidence-based solutions that support environmentally responsible and socially equitable development. Its work combines research, analysis, and implementation-oriented recommendations to help protect the environment, strengthen livelihoods, and improve human well-being.

Program overview

The Food, Land and Water program works to support India’s shift toward resilient and sustainable food and land-use systems. The program emphasises nature-based solutions, sustainable agriculture, and landscape restoration, with a strong focus on building open-source products and platforms that can work with India’s national digital ecosystem and support governments, civil society groups, on-ground organisations, and businesses in making better decisions through data.

Role summary

WRI India is looking for a Senior Program Associate - Product Management to own the strategy, development, and scaling of digital products and open-source platforms. The role reports to the Program Director and works closely with engineering, UX, and research teams. It covers the full product lifecycle, from identifying user needs and shaping the roadmap to delivery, adoption, and performance measurement for geospatial tools, data dashboards, decision-support systems, and DPI components built for government, civil society, and research users.

This is a senior cross-functional position that requires both long-term product thinking and strong execution. The selected candidate will align stakeholders across public and private ecosystems, guide product improvements through data and user feedback, and contribute to WRI India’s digital and fundraising efforts. The role also includes external representation in relevant forums.

Key responsibilities

• Define and lead the product vision, strategy, and multi-quarter roadmap for WRI India’s digital platforms, including geospatial tools, open-data portals, monitoring dashboards, and DPI components, ensuring alignment with program goals and intended impact.
• Carry out product discovery through user research, needs analysis, stakeholder discussions, and competitive review to identify opportunities and confirm product direction.
• Convert research goals, policy priorities, and technical limitations into clear product requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Maintain and prioritise the product backlog across multiple workstreams so that delivery reflects validated user needs, strategic goals, and engineering capacity.
• Shape product tooling, Agile routines, and team workflows, including sprint planning, retrospectives, and backlog refinement, while supporting the shift from project-style delivery to continuous product iteration.
• Spot reusable and interoperable product components that can be applied across WRI India programs and aligned with India’s DPI ecosystem.
• Lead cross-functional delivery teams made up of software engineers, UX designers, data scientists, and program staff from MVP definition through iterative releases.
• Act as the main connection between technical teams and program stakeholders, managing updates, internal communication, and issue resolution across all active product streams.
• Work with the senior engineering lead on architecture and infrastructure decisions that influence scalability, openness, and long-term maintainability.
• Manage external vendors and partners to ensure delivery quality, timelines, and contractual obligations are met.
• Oversee QA, user acceptance testing, product launches, documentation, training assets, and onboarding support for new users and government partners.
• Promote the use of AI-enabled features, including LLM-based tools, geospatial AI integrations, and automated workflows, while maintaining reliability and user trust.
• Set and monitor product KPIs such as usage, engagement, user satisfaction, and downstream impact using analytics tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or similar platforms.
• Review product performance regularly using data, user feedback, and field observations to guide prioritisation, feature changes, and retirement decisions.
• Prepare product reports, case studies, and learning notes that capture lessons learned, evidence of impact, and user outcomes for internal teams, funders, and public sharing.
• Engage with government agencies, civil society partners, research institutions, and private sector stakeholders to keep the platforms relevant, trusted, and widely used.
• Represent WRI India at conferences, policy roundtables, working groups, and other external forums focused on digital public goods, open-source geospatial platforms, and DPI for environmental governance.
• Contribute to grant proposals, technical annexures, pitch decks, and partnership materials that require product strategy and impact evidence.
• Help move WRI India’s digital products from grant-funded outputs toward sustainable, institutionally embedded platforms by working with program and finance teams on business and sustainability models.
• Mentor junior product associates, program managers, and other cross-functional colleagues on product thinking, user-centred design, and Agile ways of working.

Qualifications and experience

• A master’s degree in information systems, computer science, product management, public policy, environmental management, HCI, or a related area is preferred; candidates with a bachelor’s degree and relevant experience may also be considered.
• 4 to 7 years of professional experience, including at least 2 years in product management or product ownership for digital platforms or data-driven products.
• Proven experience managing the full product lifecycle, from user research and roadmap creation to backlog management, MVP delivery, and iterative improvement in an Agile setting.
• Strong understanding of web platforms, data systems, APIs, and geospatial or environmental digital infrastructure, with the ability to work effectively with engineers, data scientists, and GIS specialists; coding experience is not required.
• Experience working across multidisciplinary teams and complex stakeholder groups, including government bodies, civil society organisations, donor-funded programs, and private sector partners.
• Familiarity with geospatial tools and concepts such as PostGIS, GeoServer, OpenLayers, and Google Earth Engine, along with open data standards and DPI frameworks, is a strong plus.
• Experience with AI and machine learning product features, such as LLM integrations, RAG pipelines, or geospatial AI solutions, is desirable.

Additional information

This role is open in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, and remote work locations.

The position is associated with a compensation range of INR 14,00,000 to INR 17,00,000 per year.

No separate details were provided for openings, notice period, or joining timeline.

A source application link was present in the original listing, but it has been omitted here.