About this role
Chief of Staff to the CEO
Location: Dakar, Senegal; Delhi, India; Lusaka, Zambia; Manila, Philippines; Nairobi, Kenya; or Rabat, Morocco
IDinsight is hiring a Chief of Staff (CoS) to the CEO. This role sits within IDinsight's Global Executive Team, which drives the organization's strategy, operations, and growth to maximize social impact across all regions and functions. The Executive Team is accountable for three things: the social impact of IDinsight's project portfolio, the organization's contributions to improving the global development sector, and the overall strength of the organization, including team health, financial performance, and operational effectiveness.
About IDinsight
We amplify social impact by partnering with leaders to develop tailored solutions. Our mission is to improve lives with data and evidence. We transform how the world fights poverty.
IDinsight is a global nonprofit that equips leaders with the data, evidence and technology to improve lives at scale. We partner with governments, NGOs, multilaterals, and funders to support decisions at every stage of their impact journey – from bold pilots to nationwide scale-ups. Our teams bring rigorous evidence and practical insights so leaders can make informed decisions that truly change lives. With our partners, we are pioneering the next frontier of social impact, where data and technology accelerate progress for millions. We help leaders overcome the three main barriers to impact:
• Figuring out what works
• Learning and improving
• Reaching and operating at scale
We work in multiple countries across Asia and Africa. Our work spans a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, education, health, governance, sanitation, financial inclusion, and other areas.
We have expertise in a variety of rigorous approaches and methodologies, which we tailor to each client depending on their needs and constraints. To achieve a positive social impact we:
• Support our partners with the full ‘data and evidence’ value chain – from primary data collection to data systems, monitoring evaluation and learning tools, and data science
• Inform funding decisions – toward high-impact initiatives and away from less effective programs or approaches
• Create cutting-edge AI-for-good products that make the delivery of social interventions and learning tools more cost-effective and scalable
Our diverse, growing team of roughly 250 outstanding colleagues operate in nearly two dozen countries around the world. Learn more about our mission, values, and principles at www.IDinsight.org.
About the Chief of Staff to the CEO role
The Chief of Staff is the CEO's strategic partner — the person who ensures IDinsight's leadership is focused on the right things, moving at the right pace, and operating with clarity across a complex global organization.
Reporting directly to the CEO, the CoS works at the intersection of strategy, communications, and organizational effectiveness. This is not an administrative role — the CEO has an Executive Assistant who manages scheduling and logistics. The CoS operates at a different altitude: shaping priorities, driving execution against IDinsight's most important goals, and serving as a trusted thought partner to the CEO and Executive Team.
The role spans four core areas:
Strategy and Performance
The CoS owns the architecture of how IDinsight sets, tracks, and delivers on its goals — ensuring the organization's multi-year strategy translates into clear priorities, measurable progress, and honest reporting to the Board. This includes:
• Owning and driving IDinsight's goal-setting and performance framework (currently OKRs), from annual target-setting through Board reporting
• Developing quantitative analyses and cross-functional consultations to monitor and refine strategy implementation
• Translating strategic priorities into actionable plans and coordinating execution across regions and functions
• Tracking developments in the evidence, evaluation, and AI landscape and surfacing strategic opportunities or risks
Executive & Board Management
The CoS ensures the CEO's time and attention are directed toward IDinsight's highest-leverage work — and that the Board and senior stakeholders stay informed, engaged, and aligned. This includes:
• Managing the CEO's priorities and information flow to protect strategic focus
• Leading Board engagement end-to-end: meeting design and execution, governance and compliance processes, knowledge management, and ongoing relationships with individual Board members
• Supporting Executive Team engagement with the Board of Advisors, funders, clients, and other external stakeholders
Communications & Representation
The CoS serves as a voice proxy for the CEO — someone trusted to communicate on their behalf with precision and judgment. This includes:
• Drafting and managing CEO communications across internal channels, board materials, and stakeholder updates
• Developing talking points, presentations, and written materials that synthesize complex information into clear, compelling narratives
• Shaping how organizational priorities and strategic decisions are framed and understood across the organization
• Representing the CEO's perspective directly in internal and external settings when needed
Organizational Coordination & Effectiveness
The CoS strengthens the connective tissue between IDinsight's leadership and its regional and functional teams — ensuring the organization operates with the alignment, speed, and culture it needs to deliver on its mission. This includes:
• Facilitating senior leadership forums around organizational challenges and opportunities
• Leading or contributing to cross-team working groups, special projects, and change management initiatives
• Designing strategic talent and leadership development programs (e.g., rotational programs, onboarding frameworks) that build organizational capacity
• Planning and executing high-impact events including executive retreats, leadership summits, CEO roadshows, and Board convenings
• Leveraging AI and technology tools to streamline executive workflows, information management, and organizational coordination
The thread through everything: thought partnership. The CoS pressure-tests strategic decisions, surfaces risks and trade-offs, offers candid counsel, and synthesizes information from across the organization to give the CEO and Executive Team a clear, current picture of where IDinsight stands and where it needs to go.
Why being CoS is a great opportunity!
This is one of the highest-exposure positions in the organization. The CoS will be in the room for the conversations that shape how IDinsight, and increasingly, the broader evidence and AI-for-development sector thinks, operates, and grows.
You'll build skills that compound. Strategic thinking, organizational design, executive communications, Board management, stakeholder navigation — these are capabilities that transfer to almost any leadership role in the social sector and beyond. IDinsight's CoS alumni have moved into significant leadership positions, both within the organization and across the sector, with deliberate mentorship from the CEO built into the role.
You'll work at a unique intersection. IDinsight sits where rigorous evaluation, applied evidence, and frontier AI meet — partnering with organizations like the Gates Foundation, GiveWell, Google.org, Anthropic, the Hewlett Foundation, and the IKEA Foundation, alongside implementers like Educate Girls, GiveDirectly, and Evidence Action. The CoS has direct exposure to these relationships and the strategic conversations behind them.
You'll be stretched — by design. The role moves fast. One day you're preparing the CEO for a Board meeting, the next you're leading an organizational change initiative or synthesizing a landscape analysis on AI in development. The range is the point — and it's what makes this a genuine leadership accelerator for people who want to run mission-driven organizations in the future.
Must- Have Qualifications
• 6–12 years of professional experience, including meaningful time working in or with LMIC contexts, and a strong understanding of development policy and the social sector.
• Sharp judgment and problem-solving in ambiguous, fast-moving environments — this person defaults to action, not escalation.
• Exceptional project management skills — able to run multiple concurrent workstreams across time zones while switching fluidly between strategy and execution. High level of independence and sharp attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communicator, including comfort ghostwriting for senior executives and adapting tone across audiences and channels.
• High integrity and discretion with sensitive information, Board matters, and organizational dynamics.
• Experience with Board engagement, governance processes, or executive-level stakeholder management
• Deep commitment to IDinsight's mission and ability to serve as a culture carrier across teams and contexts.
• Strong desire for professional growth and development, with a track record of openness to give and receive feedback.
Nice to have
• People management experience, including mentoring, onboarding, or managing junior team members
• Comfort with AI and technology tools for workflow automation and executive support
• Experience managing vendor relationships, procurement, or consultant engagements
• Background in or exposure to evidence, evaluation, or data science in a development context
Professional development
Skill and career development are core to IDinsight's values and long-term impact strategy, and have been noted highlights of teammates’ experiences. IDinsighters receive significant mentorship from IDinsight leadership, support from talented peers, and are given considerable autonomy when ready. They maintain professional development plans and are given "stretch" opportunities designed to strengthen a variety of skills. Real-time feedback is embedded in our culture and formal structure enables maximum professional growth. Additionally, teammates have access to an annual professional development stipend that they are encouraged to utilize to explore their career interests and develop their skills.
Nuts & bolts
Location
This position is based in IDinsight’s Dakar, Senegal; Delhi, India; Lusaka, Zambia; Manila, Philippines; Nairobi, Kenya; or Rabat, Morocco office(s). This position is not eligible for remote work, or otherwise, from the United States. Preference will be given to those with pre-existing work authorization in these countries; however, IDinsight will seek work permits where possible for exceptional candidates.
Work Hours
Desired work hours: at least 3-4 hours’ overlap with US EST; this would require heavier evening work hours for India or SEA candidates, with lots of flexibility.
Level
Manager to Associate Director. This role is designed for professionals with approximately 6 to 12 years of experience. We are unlikely to consider candidates significantly more junior or more senior than this range.
Start date
The start date of this position is 15th August 2026 with preference for candidates that can start immediately. We expect a two-year minimum commitment, with regular professional development conversations and potential for a long-term career at IDinsight.
Work authorization
IDinsight is able to sponsor employment visas for all nationalities in these locations; however, we will prioritize candidates who do not require IDinsight to sponsor work authorization in the aforementioned countries. All candidates who are not currently located in our country offices listed above will be expected to relocate to their office locations at the onset of their employment.
Compensation
Compensation and benefits are commensurate with the qualifications and experiences IDinsight is hiring for, and competitive within the global development sector. We are especially proud of the people-focused benefits we offer including comprehensive international health insurance, including mental health coverage; paid vacation, sick, and parental leave; relocation benefits; a travel stipend; technology and work from home stipends; a professional development budget; and more.
Salary ranges by location (USD):
• India: 24,400–64,600
• Southeast Asia: 36,100–88,200
• Kenya: 45,500–95,000
• Zambia: 43,100–86,300
• Senegal: 60,300–109,900
• Morocco: 56,700–97,900
Please note, as a non-profit, we are unable to provide compensation similar to leading private sector organizations.
How to apply
Please click the "Apply for this job online" button at the top. Applications are due on Tuesday July 21, 2026 at 11:59 (PST). We will review on a rolling basis. The application asks various questions in order for us to get to know you, and requires a CV.
Please ensure that your CV includes relevant professional and personal experience as well as details on academic qualifications. CVs can range from one to two pages. Please note, headshot photographs, parental details, birth dates, marital status and other personal information not relevant to the application do not need to be included in your CV.
More information, including details on IDinsight’s hiring process and frequently asked questions, can be found online at IDinsight Careers. Any questions should be directed to [email protected].
IDinsight’s commitment to reducing power asymmetries
IDinsight is committed to reducing power asymmetries in the social sector. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion reflects our understanding of the need for the sector to abandon unhealthy practices of the past. We wish to be part of a new generation of international NGOs who are honest about this history and transparent about our role in the present. Our commitment is also aligned with the impact of our work.
We seek a workforce that is inclusive of a variety of perspectives that will help us refine and improve our methods and relationships, and strengthen the services we provide our clients and their communities or constituencies. The following commitments represent our vision for the IDinsight team:
• IDinsight will have greater representation from the populations with whom we work and clients we serve.
• IDinsight will have greater representation from the countries in which we work.
• Across all countries in which we recruit, we will seek greater representation from historically excluded communities.
• IDinsight will foster an inclusive work culture that empowers a diverse team to do their best work.
IDinsight is committed to non-discrimination in our recruitment, employment practices, and organizational culture, regardless of people’s age, disability, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation, or any other status protected by applicable law.