Role
Position: Project Manager
Duty Station: Kupondole, Lalitpur, Nepal, with travel as required
Employment Type: Full-Time, fixed-term, project-based role
Reports to: Project Lead, with a matrix reporting relationship to the Executive Director
Position Summary
The Project Manager will lead end-to-end program planning, coordination, delivery tracking, and reporting for the UDAAN project supported by the European Union through Youth Innovation Lab.
The role oversees program delivery across AI curriculum design, partnerships, student onboarding, cohort rollout, platform readiness, and communications, ensuring alignment with approved targets, timelines, and grant requirements.
Working closely with consortium partners and internal teams, the Project Manager will ensure high-quality implementation, effective stakeholder coordination, compliance with donor expectations, and timely progress reporting throughout the project lifecycle.
Key Responsibilities
A. Program Planning & Workplan Management
Own and maintain the integrated project workplan across curriculum development, hiring, partnerships, platform setup, training delivery, reporting, and communications.
Translate approved annual targets into detailed monthly and quarterly implementation plans, including cohort forecasts, delivery calendars, and resource requirements.
Define milestones, dependencies, and delivery sequencing across AI Native, AI Foundation, and AI Deep Learning streams.
Ensure alignment of all implementation activities with the approved grant scope, timelines, and annual workplans.
B. Implementation Coordination & Delivery Oversight
Lead day-to-day coordination of all project components to ensure timely and high-quality delivery across partners and teams.
Convene and run weekly implementation meetings, cross-functional reviews, and delivery check-ins.
Maintain risk, issue, and decision logs, and proactively escalate delivery constraints when needed.
Monitor progress against Year 1–Year 4 targets for cohorts, learners trained, and delivery outputs.
C. Team Coordination & Resource Management
Coordinate onboarding, deployment, and performance management of trainers, community-facing staff, curriculum contributors, and platform support roles.
Ensure role clarity, reporting lines, and coordination mechanisms across the delivery team.
Support workforce planning and sequencing to match delivery phases and cohort timelines.
D. Stakeholder & Consortium Coordination
Act as the primary coordination focal point between NAAMII, Young Innovations, consortium partners, and relevant EU stakeholders on implementation matters.
Ensure timely sharing of implementation updates, action trackers, and follow-ups with external stakeholders.
Support alignment between partner roles, responsibilities, and delivery expectations.
E. Documentation, Reporting & Knowledge Management
Ensure comprehensive project documentation is maintained, including SOPs, TORs/JDs, meeting notes, trackers, and implementation records.
Prepare and consolidate weekly, monthly, and periodic progress updates for management and donor reporting.
Maintain accurate partner, cohort, and delivery records to support audits, learning reviews, and reporting needs.
F. Financial & Administrative Coordination
Support payment approval workflows and ensure required documentation for consultants, trainers, and implementation costs is complete and compliant with internal controls.
Coordinate with finance and procurement teams to ensure timely processing aligned with workplans and budgets.
G. Platform & Delivery Readiness
Oversee readiness for both offline and course-platform-supported delivery models, ensuring technical, logistical, and facilitator preparedness.
Lead contingency planning for delivery shifts, disruptions, or implementation risks.
Ensure smooth handoffs between curriculum design, platform mapping, and training delivery phases.
H. Quality, Inclusion & Compliance
Ensure that inclusion, ethical AI principles, data protection, and learner safeguarding considerations are embedded in delivery processes.
Monitor delivery quality and consistency across cohorts and partners, and initiate corrective actions when required.
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in management, education, development studies, information technology, or a related field; master's degree preferred.
At least 4 years of experience in project or program management, preferably in digital skilling, innovation, or technology projects.
Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional timelines, multiple stakeholders, and implementation reporting.
Strong written communication skills for formal documentation, progress reporting, and stakeholder coordination.
Experience using structured planning and tracking tools for workplans, action logs, and reporting.
Ability to work across both operational detail and higher-level coordination.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience working with partners and external stakeholders.
Experience in digital learning, workforce development, or AI literacy initiatives.
Familiarity with Nepal's higher education or training ecosystem.
Competencies
Planning and execution
Stakeholder management
Structured communication
Problem solving and escalation management
Attention to detail
Ownership and follow-through
Submission Requirements
Latest CV/Resume: Attach a PDF copy of your most recent CV or resume.
Cover Letter: Submit a cover letter explaining your first-hand experience relevant to the role and why you believe this position is a good fit for you. Please avoid duplicating information already included in your CV or resume. The cover letter should be no more than one page.
Financial Proposal: Include your expected monthly remuneration or fee in local currency, i.e. NPR.
Please send all application materials to jobs@naamii.org.np.
About the Organization
NAAMII is a profit-not-distributing AI Center of Excellence founded by Nepali researchers with a broader vision: to build a self-sustaining AI ecosystem from Nepal that can generate world-class knowledge, prepare people for a rapidly changing future, and translate AI into meaningful social and economic impact.
NAAMII builds this ecosystem through three connected pillars:
Knowledge Generation: Advancing frontier AI research and working on high-impact problems across areas including computer vision, natural language processing, healthcare, computational genomics, climate systems, agriculture and food systems, and the social dimensions of AI.
Knowledge Dissemination: Making rapidly evolving AI knowledge understandable and useful across education, government, industry and society through initiatives including the Annual Nepal AI School and other AI education and outreach programs.
Translation and Innovation: Turning research and talent into real-world value through industry R&D, startup building and incubation, while contributing evidence and expertise to wider conversations on responsible AI, policy and governance.
A central challenge within this ecosystem is learning. As AI reshapes jobs, institutions and sectors, conventional education cannot respond through lectures or one-time tool demonstrations alone. People need learning experiences that help them understand AI, apply it to real problems, question its outputs and continue adapting as technologies change.
NAAMII's approach is grounded in the AI Pyramid, a conceptual framework that recognises that AI capability is not one-size-fits-all. AI Native provides the broad baseline: the confidence, judgment and responsible habits needed to reason and work effectively with AI. AI Foundation develops the technical and role-specific capability to work with data, code, models and AI-enabled workflows, while AI Deep prepares advanced learners to conduct frontier research and develop new methods.
About the Project
The UDAAN (Unleashing Digital Acceleration and Ambition of Nepali Youth) project, led by Youth Innovation Lab together with Heifer Project Nepal, NAAMII, and Women In Animation and supported by the European Union, is a nationwide initiative aimed at empowering young women and men across Nepal with the skills, opportunities, and resources needed to thrive in the digital economy.
Implemented over four years, the project focuses on advancing digital literacy, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, and creating pathways to employment through training programs in AI, coding, and creative technologies, as well as internships, fellowships, and innovation hubs in partnership with local governments, academic institutions, and the private sector.
With a strong commitment to gender equality and social inclusion, UDAAN prioritizes marginalized and underrepresented youth, contributing to a more inclusive, resilient, and future-ready workforce in Nepal.
The action is implemented through four interconnected components:
PATHSHALA — Digital Skills Development: Builds future-ready digital skills through AI, Coding, and Animation schools. Using tiered, hybrid learning, it prepares young Nepali women and men for jobs, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the digital economy.
KARYASHALA — Innovation and Experimentation: Transforms youth skills into real-world digital solutions through hackathons and bootcamps. It nurtures innovation with mentorship and incubation, turning ideas into scalable impact.
KARMASHALA — Employment and Career Pathways: Connects young Nepali youth to real-world work experience through internships and fellowships. It bridges skills to careers by placing youth in government and private sector roles, building employability and professional confidence.
NITISHALA — Policy and System Strengthening: Strengthens youth participation in digital governance through policy dialogues, innovation hubs, and civic engagement. It connects youth, communities, and local governments to institutionalize inclusive and sustainable digital transformation.