Programme Manager

Job Description - Programme Manager

About the project

The National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) is the central platform of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Farmer enrolment, premium calculation, loss intimation, claim settlement and payment through PFMS all run on it. It is used by farmers, banks, CSCs, insurance companies, State Governments and DA&FW, and is supported by a set of ancillary applications the Farmer App, AIDE, CCE-Agri, CLAP, WINDS, YES-TECH, CROPIC, KRPH and the WhatsApp bot.

NeGD is taking over the technical and managerial ownership of NCIP and these applications from the incumbent vendors. The first year covers the takeover, the thirty-five Schedule-II modules, and the consolidation of fourteen surfaces into a farmer app, an intermediary app, a field evidence app and the NCIP portal. Three years of operations and maintenance follow, across three full Kharif and Rabi cycles.

The platform runs on Node.js services with a React front end, on MS-SQL and Elasticsearch, with Android applications in the field. The Node.js and React versions in use are past active support and are to be upgraded as part of the work.

What the role involves

• Own the programme plan across the takeover, the thirty-five Schedule-II modules and the three years of operations and maintenance.
• Run the governance cadence with DA&FW weekly progress, monthly steering, and the decisions log.
• Lead the handover from the incumbent vendors until source code, credentials, environments and runbooks are in NeGD custody and a release can be deployed and reversed without them.
• Hold the agency to the agreed staffing, timelines and service levels, and certify its deliverables for payment.
• Maintain the risk, issue and dependency registers, including dependencies on insurance companies, banks, PFMS, States and the KRP agency.
• Plan capacity and releases around the Kharif and Rabi enrolment and claim windows.
• Prepare the material for Parliamentary questions, audit observations and reviews by senior officers.
• Manage the change requests that follow scheme policy decisions, with an impact note on scope, cost and timeline for each.

Qualification

1. Essential. B.E. or B.Tech in any discipline, or MCA, from a recognised University or Institution.
   Desirable. MBA or PGDM.
2. Certification. PMP, PRINCE2 or an equivalent programme management certification.

Experience

Essential.

1. Minimum 15 years of experience after qualification, including at least 7 years managing large IT programmes with multiple vendors.
2. Running a programme of 25 or more people across development, operations and helpdesk.
3. Taking over a live system from an incumbent vendor, or handing one over, without service disruption.
4. Managing an application that carries financial transactions or benefit payments at national scale.

Desirable.

1. Programme management on a Government of India platform, and familiarity with GFR 2017, GeM and government procurement.
2. Work in agriculture, insurance, or a Direct Benefit Transfer scheme.

Skills

AreaTechnologyRequired

1. Programme governance - Steering committees, RAID logs, decision records
2. Planning MS Project or Jira, release and capacity planning
3. Contract management SLAs, deliverable acceptance, payment certification
4. Delivery methods - Agile and hybrid delivery for government projects
5. Reporting MS Excel, Power BI, briefing notes and presentations
6. ProcurementGFR 2017, GeM, RFP and RFQ

Desirable

• Prior experience as a CTO/Head in a startup environment.
• Experience with data privacy/governance frameworks (e.g., DEPA, PCI-DSS, GDPR).
• Publications, patents, or conference talks in relevant technical domains.
• Experience working with government or regulated-industry stakeholders.