Chief of Staff

• Context of Role
• For candidates based outside the UK, countries: France, Germany, Switzerland remuneration will be aligned to IPPF's approved salary scale for the employee's contractual location and may differ from the London salary £65,025-91,033 range advertised.

The Mexico salary range is MXN 1,069,148 -1,817,552 / Tunisia salary range TND 220,234-385,409

• Please note, candidates must have the Right to Work in the respective country this role will be based in.
• Frequent travel to London office as required where Director General is based.
• Role Purpose

The Chief of Staff serves as the Director General’s adviser and partner in advancing IPPF’s mission, strategy and organisational priorities.

The role supports the Director General’s effectiveness by providing high-quality strategic advice, shaping cross-organisational initiatives, enabling effective executive decision-making and supporting disciplined follow-through on agreed priorities.

Working in close partnership with the Director's Leadership Team (DLT) and senior leaders across the Federation, the Chief of Staff combines executive support, strategic partnership coordination, and programme management to ensure the Director General’s highest-priority initiatives are effectively coordinated, implemented, and monitored.

Working across the Federation, the postholder will coordinate the DG’s engagement and participation in strategic initiatives and global platforms, and support the implementation and follow-through of cross-organisational projects sponsored by the Director General.

The role requires exceptional strategic thinking, stakeholder management, political judgement, and the ability to work effectively across a complex, federated international organisation and across diverse institutional and cultural contexts.

The role operates through influence, credibility and trusted relationships rather than through routine line authority.

It will work closely with DLT members, senior technical and functional leaders, Member Associations and selected external partners.

Any direct reports or project teams will be determined by the approved operating model and the requirements of specific initiatives.

• Role boundaries
• The Chief of Staff does not line-manage, evaluate or direct DLT members unless a separate, explicit reporting arrangement is formally approved by DLT.
• Institutional ownership of external relationships, policy, communications, resource mobilisation and technical portfolios remains with the relevant accountable functions.
• The Executive Assistant retains responsibility for diary management, executive administration, travel, logistics, routine meeting coordination and day-to-day management of the Director General’s office.
• Deliverables
• Strategic advice and executive decision support
• Originate and develop strategic analysis, options and recommendations on emerging organisational priorities, opportunities and risks for the Director General.
• Shape decision papers, briefings, presentations, speeches and talking points, drawing together the expertise and evidence of relevant Secretariat teams.
• Anticipate matters requiring executive attention and establish proportionate approaches for analysis, consultation, decision and follow-through.
• Provide candid, evidence-based advice while exercising a high level of discretion, judgement, and organisational awareness.
• Executive strategy and cross-organisational initiatives
• Lead and oversee a portfolio of high-priority initiatives sponsored by the Director General that cut across established functions or regions.
• Establish fit-for-purpose frameworks and ways of working that enable initiative owners and contributing teams to deliver collectively.
• Identify material risks, dependencies, resource implications and implementation barriers, and bring forward practical options for resolution by the appropriate accountable leaders.
• Lead selected special projects commissioned by the Director General, with accountability for their quality, pace, scope and organisational value.
• Develop concise strategic updates, progress reports and executive dashboards highlighting achievements, challenges and decisions required.
• DLT effectiveness and leadership alignment
• Partner with the Director General and DLT to strengthen collective focus, strategic coherence and shared visibility of the Federation’s most important priorities.
• Shape the strategic agenda and substantive preparation for DLT meetings, retreats and other executive forums, in collaboration with the Director General, DLT members and the Executive Assistant.
• Facilitate alignment across divisions, regions and functions where priorities, dependencies or resource constraints require collective leadership attention.
• Maintain an executive-level view of agreed strategic commitments and support accountable leaders to surface progress, decisions required and barriers to delivery.
• Promote constructive collaboration and timely information flow without duplicating line-management, governance or functional accountabilities.
• Strategic partnerships and external positioning
• Advise on and help shape selected high-level partnerships and collaborative initiatives linked to the Director General’s priorities.
• Work in partnership with relevant teams to assess strategic opportunities, clarify institutional objectives and maximise value to IPPF.
• Coordinate the Director General’s participation in selected external platforms and ensure that commitments, intelligence and opportunities are translated into appropriate internal action.
• Support the development of strategic partnership opportunities arising from the Director General’s engagement, while preserving the institutional ownership of the relevant functions.
• Represent the Director General only where specifically delegated and in agreement with the function accountable for the relevant relationship, policy or technical area.
• Organisational insight, monitoring and learning
• Establish concise executive dashboards and reporting approaches that provide meaningful insight into strategic progress, dependencies, risks and decisions required.
• Synthesise complex information from across the Federation into clear, decision-ready advice for the Director General and DLT.
• Capture learning from executive-sponsored initiatives and recommend practical improvements to organisational effectiveness, collaboration and execution.
• Ensure that relevant intelligence and outcomes from the Director General’s engagements are shared with the teams accountable for action and institutional relationship management.
• Promote an evidence-led culture of prioritisation, learning and follow-through.
• Key performance indicators
• The Director General receives timely, high-quality strategic advice and decision support on priority organisational issues.
• Executive-sponsored initiatives have clear outcomes, proportionate governance and demonstrable progress against agreed milestones.
• The DLT has stronger collective visibility of priorities, dependencies, risks and decisions requiring leadership attention.
• Cross-organisational barriers are surfaced early and addressed through the appropriate accountable leaders and governance routes.
• Selected strategic partnerships and external engagements generate clear institutional value and effective internal follow-through.
• Briefings, decision papers, dashboards and strategic communications are concise, evidence-based and decision-ready.
• The role strengthens, rather than duplicates, the accountabilities of DLT members, functional teams and the Executive Assistant.
• Colleagues across the Federation experience the Chief of Staff as a credible, collaborative and enabling strategic partner.

Essential Skills

Education

• Advanced university degree in international development, public health, international relations, political science, business administration, public policy or another relevant field.

Experience

• Significant progressively responsible experience, typically 15 years or more, in strategy, organisational leadership, executive advisory work, partnerships, programme leadership or comparable roles, including substantial experience at senior level.
• Demonstrated experience advising a chief executive, Director General or executive leadership team on complex strategic and organisational matters.
• Proven success originating, shaping and leading complex cross-functional initiatives involving multiple countries, regions or organisational functions.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders and achieving results without relying on formal authority.
• Experience developing and sustaining high-level partnerships and supporting senior external engagement in politically sensitive environments.
• Experience in an international, federated, membership-based, civil-society or similarly complex organisation is highly desirable.
• Experience in advancing Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Health and Justice agenda is highly desirable.
• Experience advancing social justice, inclusion and intersectional approaches is highly desirable.
• Knowledge and skills
• Exceptional strategic thinking, political judgement and ability to connect organisational context with practical execution.
• Strong ability to originate ideas, define approaches and convert ambiguity into clear choices, frameworks and action.
• Outstanding analytical skills and the ability to synthesize complex information into concise recommendations for senior decision-makers.
• Advanced programme and project leadership skills, including governance, risk, dependency and benefits management.
• Excellent facilitation, influencing, negotiation and relationship-building skills across diverse institutional and cultural contexts.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in English; proficiency in French and/or other languages relevant to IPPF’s work is highly desirable.
• High levels of discretion, integrity, resilience and sound judgement.
• Substantive understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, feminist leadership and the realities of working in contested political environments is highly desirable.
• IPPF values and personal competencies
• Commitment to IPPF’s mission, values, safeguarding principles, diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Strategic and systems thinking.
• Collaborative, enabling leadership and respect for distributed accountability.
• Courage, diplomacy and sound judgement.
• Initiative, accountability and disciplined follow-through.
• Adaptability, curiosity and continuous learning.
• Ability to build trust across difference and operate effectively in ambiguity.

About Us

IPPF is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers, contractors and partners to share this commitment.

Anyone employed with IPPF agrees to sign and adhere to IPPF’s Code of Conduct and Safeguarding (Children and Vulnerable Adults) Policy.

IPPF is a global movement delivering sexual and reproductive health services and rights.

We are a diverse, feminist, and values-driven workplace - multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-lingual, and intergenerational.

We are an equal opportunities employer and appoint on merit through open competition.

We actively encourage applications from people with lived experience and from the communities we serve, especially those from marginalised groups.

WHY JOIN IPPF?

• IPPF offers meaningful work, an inspiring environment, professional growth, and the chance to make a lasting impact on the lives of individuals and communities around the world.

Working for IPPF offers a compelling value proposition

• Mission-Driven

Organization: IPPF is a globally recognized leader.

By joining IPPF, you become part of a mission-driven organization dedicated to empowering individuals and communities, advancing gender equality, and improving access to comprehensive healthcare services.

• Bringing
• Positive

Change: IPPF brings positive change to the lives of millions of people worldwide.

Reducing maternal mortality, preventing unintended pregnancies, combating gender-based violence, promoting comprehensive sexuality education, and advocating for the realization of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice for all, and especially marginalized people.

• Global Reach and Influence: IPPF works across all continents, providing a unique opportunity to work on a global scale to shape change and innovative approaches to combat racism.
• Commitment to Diversity and

Inclusion: IPPF is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of its work.

You will play a crucial role in building an inclusive and equitable organization that respects and values individuals’ backgrounds, experiences, and identities.

• At IPPF, our values guide how we work, how we lead and how we partner
• Uphold dignity by championing bodily autonomy and the full realisation of sexual and reproductive rights for all.
• Champion equality through feminist, anti-racist, anti-ableist and intersectional practice.
• Demand justice for all by challenging structural inequalities and standing alongside social movements for change.
• Celebrate pleasure, recognising sexual and reproductive health as a positive state of wellbeing, joy and fulfilment.
• Build global and local community, led by those most affected and powered by youth, volunteers and partners.
• Act with integrity, holding ourselves accountable to people, partners, donors and each other.
• Foster resilience by learning, adapting and persevering in complex and changing contexts.
• YOUR ETHOS
• Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding in a local and international context.
• Demonstrates ability and willingness to work in a diverse, multicultural, multilingual and intergenerational environment that is anti-racist and respectful of others.
• An intersectional (pro) feminist passionate about sexual reproductive health care rights + justice, including safe abortion.
• Supportive of people’s rights regardless of sexuality or gender identity/expression and supportive of workers’ rights and access to health care in sex work.
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