Chief of Staff

About the Organization

ProblemSolvers Lab (PSL) began with a simple idea: all students, regardless of their background, can engage in deep, higher-order thinking in the right environment.

Across many classrooms in India, students rarely get opportunities to think aloud, explore structure, make conjectures, work with peers, or experience the satisfaction of figuring something out. PSL was created to bring these opportunities into everyday instruction.

Our work is grounded in a few design principles:

• Low-floor, high-ceiling tasks that allow every student to enter and stretch
• Productive struggle, where students test ideas, revise, and persist
• Students as visualizers, experimenters, and problem-solvers, not passive recipients

Everything we do, with teachers and with students, rests on this approach.

PSL runs two core programs: the Teacher Fellowship Program, which trains and coaches teachers to facilitate problem-solving classrooms, and the JNV Program, which works directly with high-potential students to build strong problem-solving skills, dispositions, and confidence.

Role Overview

PSL is entering a critical growth phase and is seeking a highly driven Chief of Staff to work closely with the Founder in a pivotal strategic and operational role. The Chief of Staff will act as a thought partner and execution anchor, helping translate vision into priorities, streamlining day-to-day operations, and enabling the Founder to focus on what matters most.

This is a unique opportunity to work with and learn alongside the Founder, Charuta Joshi, who brings three decades of experience across education and management, and to grow in a fast-evolving, mission-driven nonprofit environment that values ownership, collaboration, and excellence in execution.

Key Responsibilities

1). Support the Founder on strategic and executive priorities

• Manage the Founder’s office, including prioritizing time and focus
• Draft emails, briefs, and internal/external communications
• Support meetings by capturing notes, decisions, tracking action items, and following up
• Coordinate across leadership and teams to ensure alignment on priorities
• Support management of the Founder’s and PSL’s social media presence

2). Strengthen day-to-day operating rhythms

• Set up simple, reliable systems (e.g., trackers, templates, shared spaces)
• Prepare for partner meetings, reviews, and events
• Ensure clarity on decisions, timelines, and ownership across workstreams

3). Fundraising and donor engagement support as and when required

• Maintain a donor pipeline and follow-up tracker, manage outreach, and schedule meetings
• Draft and refine various fundraising collateral, including pitch decks, pre-reads, etc.
• Support in creating impact reports for existing partners

4). Support special projects and priorities as and when required

• Recruitment: Screening candidates, maintaining a hiring tracker, and providing onboarding support
• Monitoring and evaluation: Tracking tasks and timelines, ensuring all staff adhere to their monitoring responsibilities
• Preparation of program strategies: Brainstorming ideas, data analysis, curating documents

Note that the Founder splits her time between working out of India and the US, hence the position

may require flexibility in working hours to accommodate time zones

Skills and Experiences

Essential

• Deep commitment to education, especially empowering low-income students
• At least 3-4 years of professional experience in programmatic or functional roles
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
• Entrepreneurial, ownership-driven mindset with the ability to independently own tasks
• Organized, thoughtful, and highly detail-oriented in execution
• Strong collaborator who works effectively with partners across the education ecosystem.

Preferred

• Prior experience of working closely with or supporting senior leadership
• Passionate about mathematics and joyful problem-solving

Mindset and Values

The person who thrives here will be someone who:

• Is excited to work in a fast-evolving, adaptive nonprofit startup environment
• Is steady, thoughtful, and organized during periods of rapid growth
• Is able to manage ambiguity and shifting priorities
• Moves work forward proactively without needing reminders

What We Offer

• Tackle a critical education challenge with the potential to impact millions of students
• Be part of a startup environment that fosters autonomy, creativity, and growth
• Opportunity to work with senior leaders from the non-profit and corporate sectors
• Exposure to diverse partners, expand your network, and understanding of the ed-sector
• Receive a competitive compensation aligned with experience and skills