Plan International
Policy and Positioning Lead
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The Organisation
Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.
Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and we enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.
For over 85 years, we have rallied other determined optimists to transform the lives of all children in more than 80 countries.
We won’t stop until we are all equal.
Role Purpose
The Policy & Positioning Lead provides strategic support to the Executive Director of Global Affairs to strengthen and elevate Plan’s organisational voice through high-quality policy positioning, strategic communications, and compelling external products. It ensures that Plan’s flagship initiatives, evidence, and impact are consistently articulated, packaged, and communicated across the organisation and externally to build recognition of the impact on girls of Plan’s work and expand partnerships and investments in girls programming. This position is attuned to developments within the sector and helps position the externally facing communications material to current and potential partners (including institutional, academic, governments, donors and foundations).
The role translates complex internal analysis, data, and intelligence into powerful, accessible narratives—supporting speeches, proposals, opinion pieces, and communications that influence priority stakeholders and position Plan as a leader in the sector.
This role reports to the Executive Director of Global Affairs, with close interactions with the Office of the CEO (OCEO). The Global Affairs department has multiple teams that together provide strategic guidance and high-level coordination to strengthen external communications and alignment across Plan International. It contributes to advancing Plan’s global strategy by ensuring effective external communication and engagement, particularly during times of change. Aligned with the ‘One Plan’ approach, the Global Affairs department fosters transparent and inclusive messaging, amplifies diverse leadership voices, and supports integration of local insights into global messaging and action.
Dimensions of the Role
Organisational influence
- Works across the Global Affairs department including External Communications, engaging with programme teams, the Office of the CEO, regional hubs, and country offices to enhance Plan’s global positioning.
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Scope of work
- Leads on packaging major flagship initiatives for organisational positioning, business cases, and external engagement strategies.
- Supports leadership’s relationships with external stakeholders to facilitate critical collaborations and opportunities.
Outputs used by
- CEO
- Executive leaders including Executive Director of Global Affairs
- Regional offices (ROs)
- Country offices (COs)
- National organisations (NOs)
Cross-functional coordination
- Aligns with external communications for profile-raising while ensuring programmatic and policy substance is reflected in strategic messaging.
Geographical reach
- Global – drawing from country-level impact, regional intelligence, and global analysis for technical impact narratives.
Internally
- Represent Global Affairs in various internal networks when needed.
Accountabilities
Strategic Positioning & Policy Packaging
- Develop unified, high-level positioning for Plan’s flagship initiatives and priority areas.
- Produce powerful and compelling narrative and statements on Plan’s impact and value proposition.
- Create polished packaging for business cases, proposals, and strategic briefs for external audiences (e.g., donors, multilaterals, partners).
- Coordinate leadership messaging for high-profile events, conferences, and strategic engagements in partnership with key internal technical expertise.
- Source timely geopolitical and sector insights from technical experts across the organisation to ensure the Plan is well positioned and prepared for external engagements.
Evidence Translation & Thought Leadership
- Translate complex programmatic evidence, data, and internal intelligence into clear narratives and policy-ready content.
- Compile problem/solution sets demonstrating how Plan adds value and contributes to transformational change.
- Ensure coherence and consistency in messages shared across the organisation and externally.
Leadership Communications
- Lead, edit and coordinate the development of high-quality contextually attuned speeches for the CEO and senior executives ensuring consistency, clarity, and impact in all communications.
- Develop op-eds, expert-driven arguments, and other written materials that reflect Plan’s strategic priorities.
- Ensure that external communications consistently integrate power-shifting narratives that centre youth perspectives and reflect Plan’s purpose.
- Work with communications colleagues to align speech opportunities with key external moments.
Positioning Planning & Engagement Mapping
- With the Executive Director of Global Affairs and communications teams, identify upcoming opportunities for message amplification across venues, events, and platforms.
- Develop targeted communications plans for major research releases, flagship initiatives, and sector interventions.
- Identify entry points for influence across thematic areas (e.g., education, health, climate).
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Cross-Organisational Coordination
- Work across teams to harvest high-quality insights, analysis, and impact stories from COs, ROs, and program teams.
- Ensure external packs and messaging are accessible and usable by COs, ROs, and NOs to maintain one organisational voice.
- Support internal alignment between strategic communications and programmatic evidence.
- Manage multiple projects simultaneously, ensuring responsiveness to evolving organisational needs.
Technical expertise, skills and knowledge required
Essential
- Significant experience in strategic communications, policy positioning, and influencing in external forums with a focus on international development.
- Experience developing positioning plans linked to major initiatives, research releases, or organisational strategic priorities.
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex programmatic evidence, research, and internal analysis into clear, compelling narratives for external audiences.
- Proven experience drafting high-quality speeches, op-eds, policy briefs, and strategic positioning materials for senior leaders.
- Strong track record of working cross-functionally with programme teams, communications functions, and senior leadership supporting organisational messaging.
- Experience working in a global, complex organizational environment, with a strong understanding of stakeholder management.
- Knowledge of geopolitical and sector trends, experience in strategic analysis and positioning against trends, with the ability to provide informed insights for external narrative, communication and engagements.
- Knowledge of and experience in the development and humanitarian sector, both the donor community and programming.
- Experience producing content tailored for donors, multilaterals, or sector-wide engagement (e.g., investment cases, flagship initiative positioning).
Desirable
- Experience working with or within international NGOs, multilateral institutions, or global development organisations.
- Experience in global governance, advocacy, or external relations.
- Familiarity with thematic areas such as girls’ rights, education, health, or climate change.
- Formal training or qualifications in communications, public policy, international relations, or related fields.
- Understanding of feminist leadership principles and anti-racism approaches.
- Additional language skills, particularly French and/or Spanish
Location
The location of this role can be flexible, but given the nature of the interactions and engagements, preferably based out of the USA or our global hubs in UK or Kenya aligned with where you have the pre-existing right to work and live.
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