Chief of External Affairs

About Malala Fund

Registered in the U.K., U.S. Nigeria, and Pakistan, Malala Fund is working toward a world where all girls can learn and lead. Malala Fund advocates for resources and policy changes needed to give all girls a secondary education. The girls we serve have high goals for themselves and we have high expectations for leaders who can help them. We invest in local education leaders and front-line organizations, the people who best understand girls in their communities in regions where most girls are missing out on secondary school. We give girls the tools they need to advocate for education and equality in their communities and a platform for the world to hear their voices. We believe girls should speak for themselves and tell leaders what they need to learn and achieve their potential.

About the position

The Chief of External Affairs (CEA) at Malala Fund will help us to fulfill our mission to ensure all girls can access and complete 12 years of education. The CEA will report directly to the CEO, serve as a member of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), and lead the External Affairs department. The CEA is charged with helping advance Malala Fund’s 2025 - 2030 strategic plan by developing and leading a best-in-class external affairs department — composed of two interrelated work areas: global advocacy and strategic and brand communications — centered around securing girls’ right to education and increasing finances towards education. This department works hand in hand with all teams at Malala Fund —from grants to country teams to fundraising—to build advocacy strategies and partnerships for meaningful global impact for girls' education.

The ideal candidate is a bold, strategic leader with a proven track record of driving high-impact change on a global scale. They bring top-tier communication skills, a strong executive presence, and the ability to engage and influence decision-makers at the highest levels—whether in government, multilateral institutions, or the private sector. They have a deep understanding of the education and gender sectors and will leverage existing relationships on behalf of Malala Fund’s advocacy strategy.

The Role

The Chief of External Affairs is a strategic powerhouse who seamlessly integrates advocacy, storytelling, and communications to not just amplify conversations but to own the narrative and set the agenda. They move beyond Western-centric frameworks, bringing a global majority lens that ensures solutions are locally led, globally relevant, and built for real, lasting impact.

They have the clout and connections to open doors, broker high-stakes partnerships, and turn ideas into action. They know how to leverage media, digital platforms, and key convenings to mobilize support and drive commitments that lead to systemic change.

This is a high-velocity leader who thrives in fast-moving environments, leads with integrity and inspires change. And through it all, they never lose sight of the most important factor: centering girls in everything we do.

As Chief External Affairs Officer (CEA), you will be at the forefront of Malala Fund’s efforts to influence decision-makers, shift narratives, and secure commitments that advance education equity worldwide.

🔹 Global Advocacy & Policy Influence – Spearhead Malala Fund’s advocacy strategy, championing groundbreaking policy initiatives such as codifying gender apartheid as an accountability mechanism for Afghan girls’ education and advocating for reforms to international financing architecture to expand education investment in the global south.

🔹 Strategic Communications & High-Profile Engagement – Oversee Malala Fund’s communications strategy to ensure our messaging fuels advocacy impact and brand building. This includes leveraging traditional and social media, cultivating relationships with influential figures, and strategically positioning the Malala Fund brand to advance both advocacy and fundraising efforts.

🔹 Government & Multilateral Relations – Strengthen Malala Fund’s relationships with governments, policymakers, and global institutions, deploying a range of tactics to ensure that our priorities are shaping public policy at the highest levels.

🔹 Aligning Messaging with Global Strategy – Ensure all advocacy, policy, and communications efforts are strategically aligned with Malala Fund’s 2025 - 2030 organizational strategy.

🔹 Impact Measurement & Learning – Lead the departments monitoring, learning & evaluation, supporting efforts to establish clear benchmarks, measure progress, and continuously refine advocacy strategies to maximize impact.

Location: Washington, DC/Hybrid

Responsibilities:

As CEA, you are responsible for Malala Fund’s representation globally as the head of external affairs and within the organization. That means you will be accountable for:

Externally:

• Maintaining an astute pulse on geopolitical dynamics and changes, and guiding the organization’s brand and advocacy strategies to be as effective and relevant as possible.
• Serving as a spokesperson to key external audiences.
• Establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships with other organizations and coalitions in the sector to amplify our impact.
• Ensuring that proactive media, PR, and thought leadership strategies are designed and executed to stimulate media interest, build brand identity and awareness, and further global advocacy objectives.
• Cultivating deep and effective relationships with key governmental stakeholders and proactively initiating engagement.

Internally:

• Strategic leadership of the External Affairs Department to deliver against Malala Fund's Strategic Plan and External Affairs Strategy. Oversee the development of and approve strategies that work across three workstreams:
  • Realising Education Rights (priority initiative - global advocacy to end gender apartheid in Afghanistan)
  • Securing Education Resources (priority initiative - global advocacy for debt relief and investment in girls' education)
  • Strategic Communications including media advocacy, brand-building, fundraising and public awareness
• Collaborating with the CEO’s office to ensure that the CEO and co-founders’ voices and time are strategically leveraged in service of global advocacy goals.
• Collaborating with the ELT to share learnings across advocacy efforts and seek out opportunities for advocacy collaboration or amplification across teams.
• Collaborating with Chiefs of Pakistan and Nigeria to ensure coordinated and consistent messaging across countries and programs.
• Coordinating with the Development team to ensure advocacy and comms work is reflected well in donor relations and materials.
• Coordinating with the MEL team to ensure data related to advocacy and communications progress and impact is captured and that the team is on track to achieve strategy/impact goals.

Organization-Wide Leadership:

As CEA, you are accountable for the organisation’s advocacy and communications, managing the and setting the overall direction of the External Affairs (EA) department as well as the day-to-day management of the organization in collaboration with the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). That means that you will be accountable for:

• Partnering with the ELT in developing annual organizational goals and key results (and reporting against them), budgets, revenue projections; present updates at Board meetings, and collaborate with senior staff members on other relevant organization-wide initiatives.
• Building a culture of excellence based on our core values; setting strategic direction in our advocacy, communications and engagement with girls within the framework of Malala Fund’s global strategy,
• Overseeing safety and safeguarding of Malala Fund’s engagement with activists.
• Ensuring that EA team has clear and realistic goals and objectives; and is involved in key decision-making processes.
• Ensuring an open and trust-based dialogue through regular working groups across the organization to ensure alignment with the overall global strategy.

Qualifications

Essential:

• 15+ years in senior leadership roles encompassing significant experience across global advocacy, communications, and campaigns.
• Proven knowledge of global institutions and global policy processes, and a track record of contributions to influencing them through advocacy or strategic communications
• Familiarity with one or more of our priority issue areas
• Exceptional team and people management skills; deep commitment to and belief in developing others, with an ability to influence, inspire trust, and motivate others to achieve objectives, both internally and externally.
• Strong analytic and strategic-thinking skills with a demonstrated ability to create, implement, and monitor complex initiatives, and translate those plans into goals and concrete strategies.
• Skilled and well-networked stakeholder manager—ability to develop and maintain relationships with policymakers, activists, non-profits, academic thinkers and researchers, private sector leaders, journalists, media agencies and others.
• Impeccable cross-cultural sensitivity, diplomacy, communicative skills, and discretion.
• A creative, open, and innovative mind energetically searching for new solutions.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trust and relationships with diverse audiences.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience in crafting compelling messaging and managing media relations.
• Passion for our mission and a commitment to using your skills to make a positive impact on behalf of girls.

Desirable:

• Experience working with global funds or foundations.
• Experience working with or for high-profile principals or organizations.
• Ability to travel internationally approximately 25% of the time.
• Specific familiarity with the global education and/or girls’ rights sectors and relevant relationships across private sector, CSO, UN, and government stakeholders.

Supervisory Responsibilities

Leads and supervises the External Affairs team:

• Oversees three units within the External Affairs team encompassing global advocacy and communications, managing three Senior Director roles, ensuring alignment of their work streams with the External Affairs strategy.
• Recruits, interviews, hires, and trains new staff.
• Provides constructive and timely performance feedback and performance evaluations.
• Handles discipline and termination of employees in accordance with company policy.

Travel Required

Up to 25% travel internationally.

Why work at Malala Fund?

• Make an impact: Malala Fund works for a world where all girls can learn and lead.
• Great company culture: We are a collaborative, global team with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, London, Islamabad and Abuja. Our values inform our fun, welcoming work culture and the work we do for girls:
  • We set ambitious goals
  • We dare to be brave
  • We seek and amplify diverse perspectives
  • We think creatively
  • We act with integrity
• Flexible hybrid work models: Hybrid work options with one or two days in the office and a monthly stipend by country to support work from home expenses.
• Fully paid health, income protection and life benefits: Based on country and legal requirements.
  
• Retirement plan options: Based on country and legal requirements.
  
• Rest and relaxation: Generous paid time off and country-specific paid public holidays including sick leave and birthday leave.
  
• Paid parental leave: Generous paid parental leave.
• Employee assistance and mental health benefits
• Give back: Get paid to volunteer in your community.
  
• Professional development and educational benefits: Annual company contribution towards professional development or higher education and free LinkedIn Learning access to 20,000+ online courses.

If fighting for girls’ education excites and inspires you, we might be the perfect fit!

____________

Malala Fund is an equal opportunity employer and inclusive organisation that welcomes applications from under-represented and intersectional groups including BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and persons with disabilities. We are seeking people with different backgrounds, cultures, ages, experiences and identities to provide a wide range of experience, ideas, views and insights into the strategy, policies, culture and ambitions of Malala Fund.

Malala Fund is also committed to ensuring the safety of those involved in our work. Our first priority is protecting everyone who comes in direct or indirect contact with our organisation.

Malala Fund has a zero-tolerance approach to abuse and exploitation by any of our staff, representatives or partners. We commit to ensuring that those who work with Malala Fund or on our behalf are able to work in an environment that is free from harm. To this end, Malala Fund reserves the right to conduct background checks on prospective and current employees.