Plan International
Senior Strategic Initiatives Lead
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Role Purpose
The Senior Strategic Initiatives Lead will provide senior-level strategic, analytical, and delivery capacity to the Executive Office and the Leadership Team. The role will lead and support a defined portfolio of priority initiatives, with an initial focus on global strategy extension and reframing, future strategy development approach, governance/stakeholder engagement required, and other cross-organisational priorities requiring dedicated senior attention.
This is a fixed-term role designed to provide additional capacity during a critical transition period. The role will not replace functional ownership or existing leadership accountabilities, but will work across teams to connect work, strengthen coherence, develop high-quality strategic outputs, and support timely decision-making.
Dimensions of the Role
- Lead or coordinate a portfolio of time-bound strategic initiatives on behalf of the CEO and Executive Office.
- Support Leadership Team strategic coherence across major organisational change initiatives, including strategy, operating model, financial sustainability, and leadership priorities.
- Drive the development of key strategic outputs, papers, engagement materials, and decision products for senior leadership and governance audiences.
- Support the CEO and Chief of Staff in preparing complex issues for Leadership Team, International Board, Members’ Assembly, and other senior forums.
- Work across Leadership Team functions, regions, National Organisations, and Country Offices to gather insight, test thinking, and support alignment.
- Ensure that strategy-related processes are efficient, inclusive, proportionate, and responsive to the external environment.
- Bring external insight, peer benchmarking, and sector practice into internal strategic thinking and process design.
Accountabilities
1. Lead priority strategic initiatives for the CEO and Executive Office
- Lead and coordinate a portfolio of time-bound strategic initiatives agreed with the CEO and Chief of Staff and other Leadership Team members as required.
- Translate broad leadership priorities into clear workplans, milestones, deliverables, and decision points.
- Ensure that complex cross-organisational issues are progressed with clarity, discipline, and appropriate senior engagement.
- Identify dependencies, risks, and sequencing issues across related organisational initiatives.
- Support timely decision-making by developing clear options, recommendations, and next steps.
2. Strengthen strategic coherence, engagement, and decision-making
- Work across strategy, operating model, financial sustainability, programme, funding, governance, and leadership priorities to secure alignment.
- Connect related initiatives so they reinforce each other and support the organisation’s wider direction.
- Bring external insight, peer benchmarking, and sector practice into strategic thinking.
- Develop high-quality papers, briefings, options analyses, and recommendations for leadership and governance audiences.
- Synthesise complex inputs into clear, accessible, and actionable products.
- Design focused and proportionate engagement approaches, involving the right stakeholders at the right moments.
- Use digital tools, and where appropriate AI-enabled synthesis, to support efficient insight gathering, broader participation, and timely decision-making.
- Surface strategic choices, trade-offs, risks, and tensions requiring Leadership Team or governance attention.
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3. Contribute to Executive Office effectiveness
- Work closely with the Executive Office team to align strategic initiatives with CEO priorities, governance moments, and leadership communications.
- Support stronger ways of working for managing cross-cutting strategic priorities, including tracking, follow-up, and coordination.
- Provide flexible senior capacity on emerging priorities requiring rapid strategic re-framing or revised narrative.
- Operate with discretion, sound judgement, and strong political awareness in a complex global organisation.
Indicative deliverables
The role will be expected to deliver a defined portfolio of outputs over the fixed-term period. This will include, but not be limited to, the following:
1. Global strategy extension decision pathway
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Lead the work required to support a clear organisational and governance recommendation on whether Plan International should extend the current global strategy or move directly into development of a new global strategy. Indicative outputs may include:
- Stakeholder engagement plan aligned with governance timelines.
- Options paper setting out whether an extension is advisable, including rationale, risks, implications, and alternatives.
- Materials for Leadership Team, International Board, and Members’ Assembly discussions.
- Synthesis of stakeholder input and recommended decision pathway.
If a strategy extension is agreed, this deliverable will include development of a concise global ambition or guidance paper for the bridge year. Indicative outputs may include:
- Global ambition paper building on the current strategy and emerging medium-term vision pillars.
- Practical guidance for Country Offices, National Organisations, Regional Hubs, and Global Hub teams during the extension period.
- Narrative framing that clarifies continuity with the current strategy while preparing the organisation for the likely direction of the next strategy cycle.
- Governance-ready drafts and final materials for endorsement or approval.
2. Future global strategy development approach
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Lead a review of Plan International’s approach to global strategy development and propose a future-fit model. Indicative outputs may include:
- Lessons review from previous global strategy cycles.
- Peer benchmark and sector practice review, including more agile, phased, rolling, or layered strategy models.
- Assessment of whether Plan should continue with traditional five-year strategy cycles or move toward a different strategic framework.
- Recommended strategy development approach, including principles, sequencing, consultation model, digital tools, governance milestones, and accountabilities.
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This would also include development of a clear governance and engagement approach for the next global strategy cycle. Indicative outputs may include:
- Proposed governance architecture and decision timeline.
- Stakeholder roles and engagement approach for LT, IB, MA, NDT, CDs, RDs, NOs, COs, youth, partners, and relevant functional leads, keeping mind accelerated timelines, balancing effective and meaningful input.
- Practical approach to digital participation and AI-enabled insight gathering where appropriate.
3. Other strategic initiatives: Lead or support additional CEO or Leadership driven strategic initiatives as agreed during the fixed-term period.
Technical expertise, skills, and knowledge required
Essential
- Solid experience in strategy, organisational transformation, policy, executive advisory, or senior programme/business leadership roles.
- Strong understanding of international development, humanitarian affairs, global civil society, or federated international organisations.
- Proven ability to lead complex, cross-organisational strategic initiatives from concept through to decision and delivery.
- Strong analytical and synthesis skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear options, recommendations, and decision products.
- Experience developing strategy papers, board materials, executive briefings, options papers, or organisational guidance documents. Excellent communication skills.
- Strong understanding of governance processes, stakeholder engagement, and senior decision-making in complex organisations.
- Strong facilitation and engagement skills, including the ability to design focused and efficient consultation or input processes.
- Ability to connect strategic, operational, financial, and organisational considerations into coherent advice.
- Ability to work at pace, manage ambiguity, and exercise sound judgement in a high-pressure environment.
- Strong interpersonal skills, diplomacy, and discretion, with the confidence to work effectively with senior leaders.
Desirable
- Experience in global strategy development, strategy refresh, or organisational planning processes.
- Experience working in a complex, networked, and multi-entity international organisation.
- Familiarity with peer benchmarking, foresight, digital engagement, or AI-enabled synthesis tools.
- Experience with operating model change, financial sustainability, or organisational transformation initiatives.
- Understanding of feminist leadership, anti-racism, localisation, youth participation, and power-shift agendas.
- French, Spanish, or Arabic language skills.
Location
The location of this role can be flexible where Plan International has an office* that can employ on behalf of the Global Hub, and you have the pre-existing right to work and live. Working hours that align with the UTC timezone are preferred.
Type of Role
Fixed term 12 – 18 months
Reports to
Chief of Staff (with close day-to-day collaboration with the CEO)
Closing Date
Monday 17 August 2026 at 23.59pm UK
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