IIM Mumbai TEJAS CEO and Project Manager Recruitment 2026

IIM Mumbai TEJAS Recruitment 2026: Overview

Indian Institute of Management Mumbai (IIM Mumbai) is building the leadership team for TEJAS — Talent, Empowerment and Journey Advancing Startups, its startup incubation and acceleration initiative, and has advertised two professional posts on contract under advert number Tejas/Rectt/2026/37. One is the Chief Executive Officer who will own the five-year vision for TEJAS, and the other is a Project Manager for Venture Growth and Impact who will run the incubation journey of individual founders. Both sit on the institute's Powai campus in Mumbai, and the notice is clear that the two positions are meant to work as one lean team, with duties overlapping wherever a founder needs a seamless experience. If you have built, funded or scaled ventures rather than only studied them, this is the sort of opening that asks for exactly that record.

Posts and Disciplines

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – TEJAS: the head-of-institution role for the incubator. IIM Mumbai wants someone who has led an incubator, accelerator or technology business incubator, worked in venture capital or angel funding, raised money through CSR, grants or philanthropy, built an entrepreneurship ecosystem, or founded and scaled a company — at least two of those five worlds, not just one. A doctoral degree is an added advantage, and the contract runs for an initial term of five years.
• Project Manager – Venture Growth and Impact: the hands-on role that sits with founders through idea, validation, MVP, first customers, revenue, funding, pilot and scale. Experience of running structured incubation cohorts or accelerator programmes, and a live network of mentors and early-stage investors, count for a lot here. The initial contract term is three years.
• Common ground: both posts are purely contractual, renewable as per the terms of the offer of appointment, and both are expected to be comfortable with Startup India, the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, NIDHI and DST / MeitY / Atal Innovation Mission style incubation norms.

Post-wise Duties

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – TEJAS

You will write and then execute the five-year strategic roadmap for TEJAS, and you will be the face of it — building relationships with corporates, government bodies, investors, foundations, universities and ecosystem partners. A large part of the job is raising money, through CSR, grants, philanthropy and industry partnerships, and then running it with financial discipline and clean institutional reporting. You will also grow the mentor, investor and expert bench, give direction to the incubation and entrepreneurship programmes, and represent TEJAS at national and international forums.

Project Manager – Venture Growth and Impact

You will manage the end-to-end incubation journey of each venture: assessing what a founder actually needs, writing an individual incubation roadmap, fixing milestones and reviewing progress. You will match founders with mentors and domain experts, help sharpen the business model and MVP, and open doors to corporate pilots, customers and investors. When a venture stalls, spotting it early and stepping in is your call, and you will keep the venture performance and impact dashboards current.

Service Conditions and Caveats

• Contract only: the engagement is purely contractual, through the institute or an outsourcing agency, and confers no right or claim to regular appointment, absorption or continuation in the institute's service.
• Renewal: performance-linked review is an integral part of contract renewal, so each extension depends on what you delivered.
• Citizenship: only Indian citizens may apply.
• Working hours: 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, six days a week with Sunday off, and hours can change as the institute needs. Work beyond office hours or on holidays carries no extra payment.
• No campus housing: accommodation on the Powai campus is not provided for these posts, though PF, medical benefits and TA/DA for approved official travel follow institutional policy.
• Shortlisting: meeting the eligibility bar does not guarantee a call — the institute can restrict the shortlist to a reasonable number using higher qualifications or experience, and may drop or change any assessment stage without giving a reason.
• Email only: every communication about the selection process goes to the email ID you give, so a valid and active address is not optional. The institute takes no responsibility for a wrong or inactive email ID.
• Marks: enter your exact percentage in the form — rounding off is not allowed.
• Other caveats: no TA/DA for attending the selection process, the number of posts may go up or down, the institute may decide not to fill a post at all, canvassing is a disqualification, and any dispute falls within Mumbai jurisdiction.

Application Submission Notes

This one is by email, not through a portal. Send your application to career.support@iimmumbai as given in the notice, with the subject line "Application for the post of ______ – TEJAS, IIM Mumbai". Along with your CV, the institute asks for a Statement of Purpose of up to 1,000 words setting out why you suit TEJAS and what you would contribute, plus self-attested certificates, a recent photograph and the contact details of two professional referees. Keep an eye on www.iimmumbai.ac.in — the institute says any update, amendment or corrigendum will be posted only on its own website.

• Drive the strategic plan and growth roadmap of the TEJAS incubation initiative
• Build partnerships with corporates, government bodies, investors, foundations and universities
• Raise funds through CSR, grants, philanthropy and industry collaborations
• Manage the end-to-end incubation journey of startups from idea to scale
• Match founders with mentors, domain experts and early-stage investors
• Track venture milestones and maintain performance and impact dashboards
• Ensure sound governance, financial discipline and institutional reporting
• Represent TEJAS at national and international startup forums