Special Assistant

Purpose of Role

This role sits at the heart of CIFF's CEO Office, supporting and directly working with the CEO, and shaping and delivering work on the External Enabling Environment as part of our Partnerships and Development Finance strategy. You will strengthen CIFF's external relationships and positioning by tracking the political environment, managing high-value government relationships, and supporting senior leadership — particularly the CEO — with strategic advice, briefings and communications. Working across the CEO Office, External Affairs and programmatic teams, you will ensure CIFF is positioned effectively to unlock partnerships, and advance mission outcomes in a complex and evolving political landscape.

Your Key Responsibilities

·        Provide strategic advice and support to the CEO and senior leadership on government and multilateral relations, political dynamics and advocacy positioning; and lead preparation of high-quality briefings, talking points, speeches and background notes.

·        Monitor and analyse political, policy and regulatory developments relevant to CIFF's priority geographies and thematic areas; provide forward-looking analysis on risks and opportunities; and synthesise complex external dynamics into clear, actionable insights for senior leadership.

·        Develop and manage strategic relationships with key government stakeholders, including ministers, senior officials and advisers; coordinate and deliver high-quality government engagement plans aligned to CIFF CEO priorities; and support senior leadership engagement, including preparation, follow-up and relationship stewardship.

·        Support the design and implementation of advocacy strategies and tactics to influence change, coordinating across CIFF teams including the CEO Office, Partnerships and Development Finance Centre of Excellence, External Affairs, and programme teams.

·        Work closely with External Affairs to ensure alignment between government engagement and wider external affairs and communications strategy, including in particular CEO communications outputs; and act as a key interface between the CEO Office, External Affairs, partnerships and programme teams.

Essential Criteria

1. Ability to analyse political and policy environments and translate complex developments into clear, actionable insight for senior leaders
2. Demonstrable ability to manage strategic relationships with senior government stakeholders and deliver structured government engagement plans
3. Ability to produce high-quality briefings, speeches and talking points for use by a CEO or equivalent senior leader
4. Experience supporting or delivering advocacy strategies aimed at influencing policy, financing or systemic change
5. Ability to anticipate senior leadership needs, manage competing priorities, coordinate stakeholders, and enable effective decision-making and execution

Nice to Have

1. Familiarity with multilateral institutions and their role in international policy and financing decisions
2. Experience working in or alongside international NGOs, think tanks or philanthropic organisations
3. Understanding of CIFF's priority thematic areas (e.g. global health, climate, children's rights)
4. Experience working across complex, matrixed teams to coordinate external engagement
5. Ability to anticipate senior leadership needs, manage competing priorities, coordinate stakeholders, and enable effective decision-making and execution

Personal Attributes

1. High degree of discretion, professionalism and the ability to operate with autonomy in sensitive and fast-moving environments
2. Proactive and solutions-focused, with the ability to prioritise and adapt when political circumstances change quickly
3. Genuine commitment to CIFF's mission and values

Available Upskilling

CIFF has a collaborative culture which promotes peer to peer learning. CIFF employees also have an annual allowance for relevant upskilling to support learning in the role.

CIFF offers a flexible, hybrid model of working which seeks to accommodate the individual needs of our people and enhance employee wellbeing.

CIFF operates a hybrid work policy across all locations, which means employees work in the office and some of the time from home. We are happy to provide more information on this as part of the recruitment process.

The starting salary for this role is £63,790, alongside which we offer a generous benefits package here at CIFF that includes, but is not limited to the following.

• Annual leave - 25 days per annum. Increasing by 1 day after each year of service to a maximum of 30 days.
• Bonus - CIFF currently operates a discretionary bonus scheme.
• Training allowance
• Wellbeing allowance
• Life insurance
• Medical insurance

Please submit your application on or before the2nd August 2026. CIFF reserves the right to close the job advert early if we receive a high number of suitable applications.