Join Belongg’s Inclusive Tech Mission: Transforming Technology for All

About Belongg

Billions of people across the world face prejudice and sub-optimal access to products and services on account of their identity – gender, disability, race, caste, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, or other markers.

Belongg focuses on research and innovation to drive intersectional inclusion in a) Technology products and b) Global development programs to better serve the needs of these users. We believe in inclusive research and design processes and engage extensively with partner organisations and individual experts who have both topical expertise and the lived experience of identity-linked marginalisation.

We are a team of talented and passionate innovators and changemakers and love to engage with similar organisations and individuals. You can read more about us here – https://belongg.net/

Inclusive Tech at Belongg

Technology products — all the way from mobile phones, grocery apps, mental health apps, edtech platforms, jobs matching platforms, podcasts, and news streaming services — bring incredible value to people who use them. Similarly, B2B and B2C digital tools that we use — spell checkers in Google docs or Microsoft Word, project management tools, curriculum management tools, organisational HR applications – have the power to shape how their users make choices, how they can be alerted to implicit and explicit biases, and thus drive more inclusive behaviours.

At Belongg, we believe in the value of ensuring technology services and products that are more inclusive, that better serve the needs of users with marginalised identities.

Our work makes this actionable in two ways –

Designing and building inclusive technology products and services along with our partners in academia and industry

Developing research-based digital tools that facilitate and drive inclusive behaviour and choices by their users.

You can read more about our work on inclusive technology here – https://belongg.net/belongg-inclusive-tech/

Roles & Job Descriptions

Position 1

Program Manager – Inclusive Tech

Job Description

The Role

We are looking for a Program Manager to lead, shape and strengthen our growing work in Inclusive Tech. Your responsibilities would include the following.

Responsibilities

• Delivering Key Inclusive Tech Programs: Belongg has conceptualised and is delivering innovative programs focused on inclusive tech. These include BelonggAI, a winner of the Bill & Melinda Gates Grand Challenge, engagements with leading technology product companies such as Wysa and Evolve, and a soon-to-be-launched program focused on Inclusive Product Management within Indian technology companies. The program manager will be responsible for leading overall delivery of 1-2 such programs and ensuring really high quality outcomes, constant innovation and will own project schedules, planning, and key metrics on growing the impact through such programs.
• Partnerships for Inclusive Tech: The Inclusive Tech vertical at Belongg will require constant partnerships with inclusive design companies, centres of excellence in Indian universities (such as ARTPARK) and international universities, technology product companies, networks such as The Product Folks, investors who believe in inclusive tech, researchers, and NGOs focused on this. The Program Manager will work with Belongg leadership members and other key managers on fostering and managing these partnerships.
• Managing the team: The role will involve managing a (growing) team of Associates and Senior Associates focused on Inclusive Tech work. In steady state, we expect the Program Manager to manage a team of 3-5 associates.
• Business development and fundraising support: Assist the leadership team in developing and writing partnership and funding proposals.
• Thought leadership & workshops: Drive innovation by constantly identifying relevant topics, themes, and organisations relevant for the sector. Writing op-eds, supporting and growing a podcast on Inclusive Tech that Belongg is launching soon, conceptualising and helping execute workshops, panel discussions on this theme in partnership with organisations such as NASSCOM, Product Folks, a range of investors and industry bodies.

We are a young, growing startup where you may be required to adapt to additional responsibilities, in consultation with the leadership team.

Requirements

• At least 7-8 years of experience in innovative roles within technology for impact and product management. You must deeply understand processes of developing technology products, working closely with designers, user-researchers, and engineers to work across the product life cycle.
• At least 2 years of experience managing a full-time team of at least 2-3 people.
• At least 2 years of experience in external-facing partnerships and/or business development.
• A track record of and a deep interest in diversity & inclusion and working on issues related to gender, LGBTQ rights, equity for religious and caste-based identities, and disability rights. This is a common denominator for all our colleagues and you must be able to facilitate the same as the manager of a growing team.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to switch contexts between domain areas, stakeholders, and internal and external-facing responsibilities.
• An undergraduate or graduate degree in technology from a leading college in India or abroad. We are also open to graduates without technology degrees but who have through experience and self-learning, become experts at technology and products.
• You must have a deep understanding of technology from a first principles level. We would highly prefer people who have developed products, coded, developed UX/ UI in the past.
• Experience working with UX tools such as Figma, and familiarity with programming languages such as Python is really important.
• Experience with AI/LLMs would be highly preferred.
• Being a self-starter with the willingness and ability to roll-up your sleeves and take on substantial responsibility. This is critical. We are a young organisation and will have rapidly evolving demands on time beyond regular working hours, hence, we are looking for people who are willing to make this commitment.
• Comfortable in startup environments and see this opportunity aligned to your long-term goals.

Other Details

We are an equal opportunity employer. We actively encourage applications from candidates with diverse identities. We also strive to ensure a safe, judgement-free environment for our team with respect to your health and mental health. We provide a hybrid work environment, wherein the work is split across in-office days and days where you can work remotely. The position is based out of Bangalore, India.

The base pay range for this position is between INR 18,00,000 – INR 24,00,000 per annum based on experience. A performance linked bonus is additional.

How to Apply

If this opportunity excites you and aligns with your qualifications and long-term goals, we would love to interview you. Please send a thoughtful cover letter (mandatory) and your resume to us at contact@belongg.net with the subject line “Program Manager – Inclusive Tech” on or before 31st January, 2024.

Position 2

Design Researcher – Inclusive Tech

Job Description

The Role

We are looking for a Design Researcher who will play a key role in both of our inclusive tech initiatives – The Inclusive Product Management Fellowship Program & BelonggAI.

As a Design Researcher in the Inclusive Tech team, you will play a key role in the Inclusive Product Manager Fellowship (IPMF), a collaborative initiative with partners such as Dalberg, The Product Folks, and Mission Accessibility.

Your work will involve engaging with 18-20 IPMF Fellows (product managers and designers from leading technology product companies) and working with them through the process of user research with marginalized users, and guiding them through the process of creating more inclusive products for such diverse user groups.

Specific responsibilities would include the following.

Responsibilities

• User Immersion and Empathy Building: Facilitate immersive sessions with diverse users, helping Fellows build empathy and gain insights into overlooked needs. Ensure in-depth interactions between Fellows and marginalized users, relevant to their products.
• Inclusive Feature Ideation: Based on these user sessions and stated goals of the Fellows, supporting them in inclusive feature ideation and helping come up with feature ideas that would add value to marginalized users. Structuring and driving ideation sessions and workshops to this end.
• Support for Prototyping and Design Sprints: Provide research, design, and prototyping support to Fellows, focused on their specific product-related problem statements. Assist in creating minimum viable solutions and conducting market research to build business cases for inclusive innovations.
• Inclusive Design Training Facilitation: Help a well-curated set of experts conduct training sessions for IPMF Fellows on inclusive design methodologies, covering participatory design, algorithmic bias, data collection, and interface accessibility. You will provide research support to these experts as needed.
• Thought leadership & workshops: Drive innovation by constantly identifying relevant topics, themes, and organisations relevant for the inclusive design sector. Writing op-eds, supporting and growing a podcast on Inclusive Tech that Belongg is launching soon, conceptualising and helping execute workshops, panel discussions on this theme in partnership with organisations such as NASSCOM, Product Folks, a range of investors and industry bodies.

We are a young, growing startup where you may be required to adapt to additional responsibilities, in consultation with the leadership team.

Requirements

• Experience: At least 4-6 years of rigorous design research experience with at least 1-2 years of experience working on design research for technology products. You must be familiar with tools such as Figma, UI/UX principles, and other related topics.
• Proven expertise in working on field research projects including planning, data collection, analysis, and application.
• User Research Proficiency: Demonstrated ability in conducting immersive user sessions, facilitating empathy building, and guiding inclusive feature ideation. Experience in structuring and driving ideation sessions and workshops.
• Prototyping and Design Support: Strong skills in providing research, design, and prototyping support, especially in creating minimum viable solutions and conducting market research.
• Inclusive Design Knowledge: Familiarity with inclusive design methodologies, such as participatory design, understanding algorithmic bias, and ensuring interface accessibility. Experience in facilitating training sessions on these topics.
• A track record of and a deep interest in diversity & inclusion and working on issues related to gender, LGBTQ rights, equity for religious and caste-based identities, and disability rights.
• Educational Background: An undergraduate or graduate degree in a relevant field such as Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, or similar.
• Collaboration Skills: Proven ability to work effectively with diverse teams, including product managers, designers, and external partners.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Being a self-starter with the willingness and ability to roll-up your sleeves and take on substantial responsibility. This is critical. We are a young organisation and will have rapidly evolving demands on time beyond regular working hours, hence, we are looking for people who are willing to make this commitment.

Other Details

We are an equal opportunity employer. We actively encourage applications from candidates with diverse identities. We also strive to ensure a safe, judgement-free environment for our team with respect to your health and mental health. We provide a hybrid work environment, wherein the work is split across in-office days and days where you can work remotely. The position is based out of Bangalore, India.

The base pay range for this position is between INR 12,00,000 – INR 15,00,000 per annum based on experience. A performance linked bonus is additional.

How to Apply

If this opportunity excites you and aligns with your qualifications and long-term goals, we would love to interview you. Please send a thoughtful cover letter (mandatory) and your resume to us at contact@belongg.net with the subject line “Design Researcher – Inclusive Tech” on or before 31st  January, 2024.

Position 3

Communications & Community Associate – Inclusive Tech       

 Job Description

The Role

As the Communications & Community Engagement Specialist at Belongg, you will use the power of storytelling to promote and advance our inclusive tech initiatives. You will be instrumental in crafting and disseminating narratives that resonate with diverse audiences, emphasizing the importance of inclusion in technology.

Specific responsibilities would include the following.

Responsibilities

• Social media storytelling 

  • Develop and share compelling stories across platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Medium to the importance of inclusion in technology, showcase innovations for this, and some of Belongg’s work, and convey the experiences of marginalized communities and the transformative power of inclusive technology.

  • Work with the Belongg team and other partners to create monthly content plans and then execute them thoughtfully on social media

  • Identify and follow key organisations doing important work related to inclusive tech and engage with them on social media and tease out opportunities and implications for Belongg’s programs

• Op-Ed writing:

  • Work with the Belongg team and partners and craft insightful op-eds that articulate the narrative of inclusion in tech, targeting publications such as Mint, Indian Express, The Wire, IDR and other similar publications.

• Podcasting:

  • Work on a couple of key podcasts focused on inclusive tech that are being developed by Belongg.

  • You would be responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of this including coming up with themes for different seasons, writing up episode descriptions and topics, identify suitable guests, scheduling the recordings, working with the Belongg team host and guests to ensure smooth recordings, creating a first-cut using tools such as Descript, and then liaising with a professional editor to produce the final cut.

  • Launching the podcast on Spotify and other channels.

• Community Events and Engagement:

  • Organize monthly events and meetups (small scale with 15-20 people attending) focused on inclusive tech products and inclusion in SDG programs.

  • At these events, create interesting programming (activities, speakers, film screenings, using storytelling) to foster a sense of community and shared purpose among participants and also support and engage with different Belongg programs.

  • Create event experiences that tell the story of Belongg’s mission and the broader narrative of inclusion.

We are a young, growing startup where you may be required to adapt to additional responsibilities in consultation with the leadership team.

Requirements

• Experience: 2-4 years in communications, journalism, public relations, or a related field, with a strong focus on storytelling. At least 1-2 years of this must be in the field of social impact.

• Storytelling Skills: Exceptional ability to craft and share stories across various mediums; experience in creating content that resonates with diverse audiences.

• Podcasting: Experience in podcast production will have end-to-end responsibilities in terms of topic finalisation, guest coordination, hosting, and post-production.

• Community Engagement: Experience in hosting meetups and cultivating communities of like minded social-impact focused people.

• A track record of and a deep interest in diversity & inclusion and working on issues related to gender, LGBTQ rights, equity for religious and caste-based identities, and disability rights.

• Educational Background: An undergraduate or graduate degree in communications, journalism, or a similar field.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. 

• Being a self-starter with the willingness and ability to roll-up your sleeves and take on substantial responsibility. This is critical. We are a young organisation and will have rapidly evolving demands on time beyond regular working hours. Hence, we are looking for people who are willing to make this commitment.

Other Details

We are an equal-opportunity employer. We actively encourage applications from candidates with diverse identities. We also strive to ensure a safe, judgement-free environment for our team with respect to your health and mental health. We provide a hybrid work environment, wherein the work is split across in-office days and days where you can work remotely. The position is based out of Bangalore, India.

The base pay range for this position is between INR 7,00,000 – INR 10,00,000 per annum based on experience. A performance-linked bonus is additional.

How to Apply

If this opportunity excites you and aligns with your qualifications and long-term goals, we would love to interview you. Please send a thoughtful cover letter (mandatory) and your resume to us at contact@belongg.net with the subject line “Communications & Community Associate – Inclusive Tech” on or before 31st  January, 2024.