Chief Operating Officer

Ansh

📍 Remote (Global) ⏳ 31/07/2025
💰 ~£65,000 GBP 🕔 Full Time

As COO, you will join the Executive Leadership Team to create and deliver Ansh’s operational strategy, ensuring efficient and effective core and program operations. You will manage the organisation’s core operations including HR, finance, compliance and administration, ensuring Ansh has exceptional talent, sufficient funds and robust operating systems which support rapid growth. You will also work closely with the CEO to manage Ansh’s programs in India, including managing partnerships with implementation partners, and developing systems to support Ansh’s on-ground team and enable rapid scaling to new hospitals. This role reports to the CEO and works closely with the Executive Leadership Team, Heads of Department, and external stakeholders.

About Ansh

Ansh is dedicated to saving newborn lives by building healthcare capacity in government hospitals in India. Our mission is to create a scalable and cost-effective model that implements and promotes Kangaroo Mother Care and other impact focused newborn care best practices.

Our main intervention, Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), is a highly cost-effective and scientifically proven intervention for saving newborn lives, which includes:

• Skin-to-Skin Contact between baby and caregiver to regulate the infant’s body temperature, reducing hypothermia

• Close Monitoring of mothers and newborns for danger signs

• Exclusive Breastfeeding, providing benefits to the infant's immune system and helping with weight gain.

Founded through the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation program in 2023, we now have more than 100 on-ground full-time staff, 4 implementation partners, and 8 core team members delivering our programs in 8 District Hospitals. We estimate a neonatal mortality reduction of 33-50% as a result of Ansh programs, and GiveWell estimates our work saves one life per $2500. We have received a $2m GiveWell grant for 2025-26 to scale our life-saving work to 15 District Hospitals across Rajasthan.

We also recently began collaborating with the Indian government to explore ways to scale KMC provision. Ansh has been invited to support the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) on the Sankalp research project to create feasible, scalable interventions to reduce newborn deaths that can be applied at both state and national levels. The implementation research will inform policy recommendations for nine high-priority states and for the Indian Ministry of Health, concluding in January 2027. We are excited for an exceptional COO to join our leadership team to help Ansh continue its rapid growth and save more newborn lives.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership & Growth

• Create and execute Ansh’s strategic plans in collaboration with other members of the Executive Leadership Team, developing clear operational roadmaps and KPIs

• Communicate Ansh’s strategy both internally and externally, acting as a key spokesperson for the organisation and cultivating strategic relationships

• Support Ansh fundraising efforts to ensure financial sustainability

2. Operational Excellence

• Drive cross-functional alignment on organisational priorities, while ensuring adaptability to emerging opportunities and challenges

• Develop scalable systems to support operational efficiency and long-term growth

• Champion data-driven decision-making, establishing regular KPI reporting across teams

3. People & Culture

• Lead recruitment and people management at Ansh, ensuring the organisation attracts and retains exceptional talent

• Build out a lean Operations team to support the work of our Operations Specialist

• Foster a high-performance, values-driven culture through purposeful talent development, performance management and coaching

4. Financial Stewardship & Compliance

• Ensure the legal and financial compliance of Ansh’s India entity (e.g., 12AA, 80G, FCRA), UK CIO and US fiscal sponsor, including timely reporting and audit readiness 

• Monitor the organisation’s financial health, overseeing budgeting, cash flow management and tracking of funding opportunities

• Implement rigorous financial controls and risk-management frameworks

5. Program Operations

• Manage Ansh’s implementation partnerships, ensuring operations can scale rapidly through high quality local partners in line with strategic goals

• Create systems to optimise on-ground Program team operations

• Develop relationships with key stakeholders (e.g., government, funders, potential charity partners) to support Ansh growth

Candidate Profile

Essential

• Experience: At least 3-5 years of experience in managing operations for an organisation

• Execution: Can plan, deliver and monitor complex cross-departmental projects in a way that is efficient and aligns with Ansh’s overall strategy

• Communication: Can communicate complex ideas with nuance and persuasiveness, both verbally and in writing, adjusting tone for the audience

• Management: An effective motivator and manager, ensuring their team has the information and inspiration they need to fulfil their roles. The COO should also be able to manage potential conflicts with empathy and professionalism

• Decision-making: Considers data, evidence and others’ views effectively to come to well-reasoned, logical decisions. When faced with new problems, considers creative or new approaches to resolve those problems

• Strategic thinking: Can zoom out and identify long-term opportunities and challenges that our operations function might face. Can balance the management of day-to-day work with long-term priorities, ensuring that their teams can complete current tasks without compromising strategic goals

• Language: Fluency in English

• Logistics: Willingness to travel to India at least twice a year if not based in India full-time, for at least two weeks at a time

Note: For candidates with less experience, we may consider offering a Director of Operations position, so please have a low bar to apply if you think you might be a good fit.

Desirable

• Prior experience working in India, ideally within the health & development sector or in a related field

• Experience relevant to the key functions overseen by the COO, including:

• Human Resources: Experience in recruitment and people management, with a track record of hiring exceptional talent

• Finance: Accounting qualifications or experience in managing the financial health of an organisation

• Compliance & risk management: Experience in corporate/charity governance and managing compliance for a UK-based and/or India-based organisation

• Fluency in Hindi

Reasons to Apply

• Life-saving work: Every operational improvement supports highly impactful frontline care for vulnerable newborns

• Growth & Innovation: Ansh is growing rapidly and constantly exploring new innovations and models to save more lives

• Impact potential: Ansh is already scaling its core model to 15 District Hospitals, and has potential to scale interventions across India through its government collaboration

• Mission-driven team: Ansh has a talented, passionate team which values evidence, integrity, compassion, and collaboration

• Autonomy & Ownership: The COO role will give you the freedom to shape our operations and contribute to Ansh’s long-term strategy

Benefits

• 30 days paid holiday annually

• Remote and flexible work arrangements

• The chance to play a defining role in a fast-growing, high-impact organisation

• Premium Health Insurance (for Indian based applicants)

Hiring Process

If this sounds exciting, please complete this application form by 31st July 2025 to confirm your interest in the role. We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis and progressing candidates to the next stage. We’re aiming to make final offers within 2 months of the deadline of the initial application form.