Senior Manager/Manager

Role Overview

This role sits at the intersection of strategy, change management, and innovation — not in the abstract, but in practice. You will lead complex, high-stakes engagements that directly shape how billions of development dollars are spent and how governments serve millions of citizens.

Key Responsibilities

• Own high-impact partnerships: Take full ownership of multi-year engagements with MDBs, bilaterals, and philanthropies — from problem structuring through implementation. Diagnose how institutions invest and manage performance, structure strategic options, and build the analytical case for the recommended path. Translate sophisticated analysis into clear recommendations that senior decision-makers can act on.
• Structure and pressure-test innovation bets: Take ambiguous, frontier problems — from AI-enabled tools for government reformers to new financing mechanisms for climate outcomes — and structure them into testable hypotheses and workable pilots.
• Manage complex stakeholder environments: Build trusted relationships with senior counterparts in governments, development agencies, and philanthropic organizations. Navigate multi-stakeholder dynamics with confidence, knowing when to push, when to listen, and how to build coalitions for change.
• Lead teams and delivery: Manage multidisciplinary teams across workstreams, geographies, and time zones. Own budgets, timelines, and the quality bar of every deliverable — and develop the people around you.
• Contribute to thought leadership: Help shape Instiglio’s intellectual contributions in results-based financing, performance management, and global partnership strategy, feeding into a growing body of work that influences policy and practice globally.

Who You Are

You combine the structured rigor of a top-tier strategy consultant with a deep, credible commitment to development impact. You are energized by complexity, undaunted by ambiguity, and comfortable being the person in the room responsible for the answer.

Experience

• A strong strategy consulting background is required — typically 3+ years at a top-tier or leading strategy firm (MBB, a Big Four strategy practice, or a specialized development strategy firm) — paired with meaningful exposure to international development.
• Significant total professional experience: typically 9+ years for Manager, 11+ for Senior Manager, and we welcome candidates whose experience exceeds these thresholds.
• Demonstrated experience working with or inside multilateral and bilateral institutions, large philanthropies, or global development organizations.
• A track record of leading multi-stakeholder, multi-country engagements from problem structuring through implementation.
• Experience designing strategic initiatives or large-scale programs — not just advising on them.
• Exposure to results-based financing, performance management, or impact measurement is highly desirable.

Education

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Public Policy, Economics, Business, Development Studies, or related fields.

Languages

• Excellent fluency in English (written and verbal).
• French or Spanish is a plus.

Core Skills & Competencies

• Structured problem-solving & strategic thinking: You break down complex, ambiguous problems quickly and develop clear, actionable recommendations — the kind that a minister or a multilateral VP can act on.
• Change management & implementation: You understand that strategy without implementation is just paper. You know how to design for adoption, manage resistance, and build institutional ownership.
• Entrepreneurial & builder mindset: You can take an idea from whiteboard to pilot. You are comfortable with unstructured environments and motivated by building something, not just delivering it.
• Stakeholder management & communication: You engage credibly at the highest levels — with government ministers, donor executives, and foundation leadership — while remaining effective across teams and cultures.
• Project & team leadership: You manage multiple concurrent workstreams without dropping the ball, develop junior colleagues, and hold yourself and your team to a high bar.
• Global & cross-cultural collaboration: You have worked across geographies and cultures, and you know how to coordinate distributed teams effectively.
• AI-enabled working: You are genuinely curious about — and actively embrace — AI-powered workflows. At Instiglio, AI is not a future aspiration; it is central to how we research, synthesize, analyze, and deliver. The ideal candidate is already integrating AI tools into their daily work and is excited to push further.
• Adaptability & resilience: You thrive in ambiguity, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, and bring a low-ego, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude to whatever the work demands.