Head of Tech

Head of Technology

Would you like to use your tech skills to save lives? Join us!

Location: Remote within India. Preferably (but not necessarily) based in Pune/Bangalore, which allows for periodic in-person meetings with other team members.

Hours: Full-time

Travel: Once or twice in a quarter to work closely with programme teams

Salary Range: We don't list a salary because we don't want it to be the primary motivator for applying to this position, nor do we want it to be a deterrent.

Reports to: CEO

Application deadline: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and the role will remain open until filled.

About Suvita

Suvita is an impact-driven, evidence-based nonprofit focused on increasing uptake of routine childhood vaccinations in India. Over 4 million children born every year still miss their basic vaccinations in India, leading to far too many vaccine-preventable deaths. We run two rigorously tested, complementary programmes:

SMS reminders: We send personalised SMS messages to caregivers to prompt timely attendance for vaccinations at government clinics.
Immunisation ambassadors: We identify and train local influencers to volunteer as advocates for vaccination with families in their communities.

Since our founding in 2019:

We reach one in ten children born in India through our SMS vaccination reminders. In partnership with the governments of Bihar and Maharashtra, we’ve reached more than 6 million families with routine immunisation SMS reminders and more than 4 million pregnant women with antenatal care-related SMS reminders.
We’ve enrolled almost 15,000 community influencers as local ambassadors in districts in Bihar and Maharashtra.
GiveWell estimates that our SMS reminders increase vaccination rates by approximately 2 percentage points at a current cost of $0.40 per child reached in Maharashtra and $1.71 per child reached in Bihar. The immunization ambassadors programme increases vaccination rates by around 7 percentage points and costs $1 to $2 per child reached.
We are running learning sprints to test our immunisation ambassador model.
We have been incubated and funded by sector leaders like The/Nudge Foundation, Ambitious Impact (formerly Charity Entrepreneurship), Mulago Foundation, GiveWell, D-Prize, Founders Pledge and Schmidt Futures.
We have appeared in Vox, Giving What We Can and the 80,000 Hours Podcast.

We are a tech-enabled, data-driven team. Our infrastructure includes SurveyCTO, Telerivet, Infobip, Truecaller, Exotel, AWS, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, Google Workspace, Looker Studio, and more. We've reached over 40 lakh families and are growing rapidly with support from The/Nudge Foundation, Charity Entrepreneurship, Mulago Foundation, and GiveWell.

About the role

This is a rare opportunity to lead the tech function of one of India's most cost-effective public health nonprofits, at a critical point of scale.

Suvita's tech systems are already deeply embedded in programme delivery:

SMS reminders reaching 1.7 million families across Maharashtra and Bihar
Data pipelines processing millions of beneficiary records
Systems built on SurveyCTO, Telerivet, Exotel, and government datasets including RCH
Dashboards used by leadership, funders, and programme teams for regular and strategic decisions In-house developed Data Entry App, AI-powered tools, WhatsApp chatbots, and IVRS flows supporting programme experimentation

You will own:

Tech strategy and roadmap
Architecture decisions across systems and data
Team structure, hiring, and quality
Cross-functional execution with programmes, monitoring and evaluation, and leadership

Here are examples of work you will handle:

System scale and reliability: Our SMS pipelines and ETL systems run daily across millions of records. How do you make these observable, debuggable, and resilient without overengineering?
Data quality and operational systems: We run double data entry systems to digitise handwritten birth registers. How do you redesign these workflows to improve accuracy while reducing operational load?
Architecture and infrastructure decisions: Current stack includes PostgreSQL on RDS, Python ETL pipelines, Docker services, and multiple external tools. What should be rebuilt, what should be optimised, and what should be left alone?
Government and external integrations: We integrate with systems like RCH and potentially U-WIN. How do you design for unreliable data, changing schemas, and dependency on external systems?
Experimentation and speed: Ambassador pilots, IVRS experiments, WhatsApp flows, AI tools. How do you enable rapid testing without breaking core systems? Should we build AI tools in house or hire an external vendor?
Compliance and risk: DPDP compliance is coming. How do you ensure compliance across systems, vendors, and processes without slowing down execution?
Team and quality: You inherit a small but capable team. How do you raise the bar on code quality, reviews, and decision-making while keeping speed and agility high?

This role requires operating at multiple levels. Zoomed out, thinking about where tech needs to be in two to three years. Zoomed in, understanding exactly how systems behave when something breaks.

If you want to own a function that directly impacts millions of end users and shape how tech supports public health at scale, this role gives you that ownership.

Why is this a brilliant opportunity?

This role offers a unique opportunity to own and shape the tech function of a high-impact, tech-driven nonprofit at a critical stage of growth.

Impactful Work: Your decisions will directly influence systems reaching millions of families and contribute to improving real-world health outcomes.
Ownership & Leadership: Define tech strategy, architecture, and team structure, and shape how systems evolve as the organisation scales.
Diverse, Real-World Problems: Work on a range of challenges, from improving data quality and operational workflows to building reliable pipelines and enabling AI/IVRS-based experimentation.
Scale + Experimentation: Balance running stable, high-scale systems with enabling rapid experimentation across programmes, tools, and technologies.
Agile & Ownership-Driven: Fast decision-making with clear ownership and the ability to act without heavy processes or bureaucracy.
Collaborative Environment: Work in a values-driven, fun, supportive, and mission-focused team. We are a team with strong values and an energising and effective way of working.
Flexible Work Environment: Fully remote within India, with programme-related travel.

If you want to own a function that directly impacts millions of end users and shape how tech supports public health at scale, this role gives you that ownership.

Who are you?

You combine strong technical judgment with high ownership and a bias for execution.

Core traits:

Deeply motivated by impact
High agency; you take ownership, make decisions, and drive things to completion
Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-changing environments
Fluent in both English and Hindi for effective collaboration.

Experience:

8+ years in technology roles, with 4 to 5 years in a leadership position
Experienced in backend programming, Python preferred or any another back-end programming language and SQL, comfortable building, maintaining, and reviewing ETL pipelines and backend systems end to end
Along with managing teams, you have hands-on experience building and scaling production systems, and can go deep into technical details like architecture, code, and debugging if required
Experience working in small, resource-constrained teams, nonprofit or startup experience preferred

Technical judgment:

Strong understanding of backend systems, data pipelines, and architecture
Have designed or worked on APIs, data systems, or infrastructure at scale
Can evaluate tradeoffs across speed, scale, cost, and complexity
Able to debug system-level thinking, not just code

Team and leadership:

Have managed small engineering teams and improved their output quality
Can set standards around code, reviews, and documentation without slowing execution
Comfortable hiring, mentoring, and making tough calls for example, managing underperformance, pushing back on unrealistic requests, and making tradeoffs between speed, quality, and complexity

Working style:

Can work closely with programme, operations, government partners, and leadership teams
Able to translate complex technical decisions into simple language
Comfortable pushing back when needed and setting clear boundaries

Execution mindset. You have done things like:

Built or scaled APIs, pipelines, or backend systems
Set up reporting systems or dashboards used for real decisions
Designed workflows or tools for operations teams
Managed external tools, vendors, or integrations

Good to have:

Experience in public health, nonprofits, or government systems
Familiarity with India's data ecosystem including RCH and U-WIN
Understanding of DPDP and data protection requirements
Experience with open source contribution or community-driven projects

How to Apply

You’ll first need to complete an automated assessment that tests your technical skills before accessing the application form.
Please use a desktop or laptop to complete the assessment.
The assessment opens in fullscreen and should be completed in one go.
Expected Time to complete: 60-75 minutes
After you finish the assessment, the application form will unlock for you to submit your details.
Click here and enter your email ID to begin the process, All the Best!

📌 Note:

Do not use ChatGPT or any AI tools to solve the challenge. We are looking for your original problem-solving skills.
We will track each submission as part of our evaluation process.

Application Process

Our hiring process typically includes a combination of test tasks and interviews to assess relevant skills and ways of working.
The exact steps and number of rounds may vary depending on the role and stage of hiring. We aim to move as quickly as possible and hope to share an offer within ~6 weeks of a candidate entering the final stages, though timelines may vary.
We will keep candidates informed at each stage.

For any issues, please email careers@suvita.org.

All the best! 🚀

Frequently asked questions

Please refer to this document for frequently asked questions.