ACT Grants

ACT is looking for a Director (Portfolio Support) to lead its new Systems Scale Acceleration Unit (SSAU), a dedicated platform that builds the capabilities, networks and institutional readiness high-potential nonprofits and social enterprises need to move from proven innovation to population-scale impact. This is a leadership role.&nbsp;
We are looking for a leader with experience in the impact sector, someone who has worked inside nonprofits or social enterprises in operating roles such as fundraising, operations, technology or programs, and understands firsthand what it takes to move from a proven model to scale. You will lead the Unit’s full scope: strategic fundraising support, facilitating engagement with the public sector, supporting technology adoption, sharing knowledge, and building new capabilities as the Unit evolves. You will be supported by two team members who will focus on fundraising and public systems engagement respectively.
About ACT
ACT provides catalytic capital to founders building category-defining innovations for population-scale impact. We provide flexible, risk-tolerant grant capital to founders aiming to create “impact unicorns”: ventures that use technology and other innovation to solve large, systemic challenges in sectors such as education, health and environment.
Over the past five years, ACT has developed a distinctive venture philanthropy model. We support organisations early, provide the risk capital needed to experiment and innovate, and double down on those showing strong signals of scale. Till date, ACT has supported 60+ technology-led impact organisations, including Rocket Learning, Khushi Baby, Adalat AI, Indra Water and Forus Health.
About the Systems Scale Acceleration Unit
India has a growing pipeline of high-potential, impact-focused organisations, but many are not yet institutionally equipped to make the transition to systems-scale impact. Proven pathways for government adoption exist, yet they vary widely across sectors, geographies and institutional contexts, and early innovators occasionally lack the capacity to adapt them.
ACT is incubating the SSAU to close this gap. The Unit builds the capabilities organisations need most on this journey: government engagement and adoption pathways, strategic fundraising and scale-capital readiness, technology adoption, evidence generation, scale strategy and ecosystem partnerships.
The Unit will work across five complementary areas:
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Scale-readiness programs: cohort-based programs, co-created with founders, that address common barriers to systems-scale adoption.
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Embedded fundraising and market intelligence: hands-on support that operates as an extension of founding teams.
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A library of systems-scale knowledge: practical playbooks, case studies and learning forums drawn from the sector's existing body of knowledge.
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Pathways for institutional navigation: access to the people and organisations with deep public sector knowledge and trusted public sector relationships.
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Digital public goods: reusable technology assets, toolkits and workflow solutions that address common scale barriers.
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Role Description
This is a high-ownership leadership role at the intersection of strategy, fundraising and ecosystem-building. As Director, you will set the Unit’s direction, build and lead its team, and stay close to founders on the highest-stakes moments in their scale journey. You will:
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<li>Lead the Unit: Own the strategy, delivery, budget and outcomes of the SSAU, and serve as its senior-most representative internally and externally. Build and lead a team that includes a Lead (Portfolio Fundraising) and a Lead (Public Systems).</li>
<li>Provide embedded fundraising support: Guide the Unit’s work as an extension of founding teams across funder mapping, pitch refinement, positioning and diligence preparation. Engage directly on key funder relationships and help portfolio organisations build clear pathways to larger scale capital.</li>
<li>Pilot and institutionalise scale-readiness programs: Design and manage cohort-based programs, possibly delivered with specialist partners. Co-create them with founders, refine them through feedback, and codify them into repeatable models.</li>
<li>Oversee institutional navigation and the knowledge library: Ensure founders can reach the public sector stakeholders, experts and implementers they need, and guide the curation of existing knowledge on scaling through public systems into playbooks, case studies and learning forums.</li>
<li>Contribute to digital public goods: Identify opportunities to codify reusable technology assets, implementation toolkits and workflow solutions into DPGs that benefit the wider sector.</li>
<li>Measure and report impact: Track progress against the Unit's outcomes, and communicate learnings and results to ACT's leadership, partners and funders.</li>
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Required Qualifications
We are looking for a senior, high-agency leader with a strong track record and a genuine interest in building institutions that scale impact. The ideal candidate will bring:
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Leadership experience in impact organisations: 8–12 years of experience, including senior roles leading fundraising, operations, technology or programmes in nonprofits or sociel enterprises.&nbsp;
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Depth in fundraising, technology or public systems: Hands-on experience in at least one of these areas, and enough fluency in the others to direct and support a specialist.
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Relationships built on trust: The ability to build deep, lasting relationships with individuals and institutions, especially funding organisations and the public sector.
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Hustle with high standards: The drive to move fast without compromising on quality, working at the pace our founders deserve.
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Team building: The ability to hire, develop and bring out the best in a small, high-calibre team with a mix of seniority, which may be geographically dispersed.
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Collaborative leadership: Comfort working alongside ACT's leadership to jointly define the Unit's vision, manage progress and communicate it transparently.
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Location
We operate a hybrid model with teams based in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Candidates should be based in one of these and available to work from the office 2-3 days per week.