Welcome to a special bonus edition of Career Hub! This week is Devex’s Career Week, in which we’re focusing on the needs of job seekers in global development. So far, we’ve explored how recent aid cuts are reshaping key roles across the sector, how artificial intelligence is affecting the development jobs market, and how the U.S. job landscape has shifted in response.
Later this week, we’ll take a look at how consultants have been affected, and we’ll unpack the impact on the African jobs market.
Here are some of the takeaways from our coverage so far. Plus, the best new job opportunities from Devex’s board, from leading organizations such as the Mercy Corps, the Gates Foundation, and many others.
+ In the spirit of Career Week, we’re offering a one-time 50% discount on an annual Career Account membership. Take advantage of this offer today if you are not yet a member to enjoy the full suite of content and events this week.
Hiring cycles
Data from the Devex jobs platform shows a steep decline in postings — down roughly 25% compared with last year. We’ve compiled the data on some of the key jobs in the sector, and looked at them in more depth.
We found that there were many changes — fewer jobs advertised, lower salaries for most roles, more junior positions, and more short-term contracts.
The report shows that while most roles have seen a dip in the number of positions advertised, the roles of project director and chief of party have been particularly seriously hit, with the total number of roles posted for these titles falling from 630 last year to 105 this year.
The number of roles has dropped sharply almost everywhere, except in the United Kingdom, where the number of positions advertised has remained almost constant. Among popular locations, Kenya and Ukraine have been badly hit.
Strangely, while job postings in the United States are down sharply, as might be expected, the U.S. has not fared worse than other locations.
The only roles to show some positive news? Fundraising salaries are up marginally, while ICT roles are growing in number.
Read: What happened to key development roles in 2025? (Career)
Download the full report: Assessing the US development job market (Career)
Top full-time staff jobs this week
1. Country Director
Mercy Corps
Sudan
2. GEDSI Manager
DT Global
Papua New Guinea
3. Investment Manager
Cowater International
Cambodia
4. Chief Financial Officer (Based in Beijing, China)
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Worldwide
5. Principal Transport Specialist
OPEC Fund
Austria
6. Vice President for Finance and Administration
LifeNet International
United States
Devex Talent Solutions, our boutique recruitment agency, is assisting CARE in its search for a country director to be based in Rwanda. This opportunity is open until Nov. 20.
+ See more roles DTS is helping to fill.
Putting the robots to work
Anyone can tell you to not outsource your cover letters to ChatGPT. You’re not doing that … right? A little trickier is to know how future employers might actually want you to use AI. Writing for Devex, Katrina Lane runs down the most useful ways you can incorporate AI tools into your development work.
The key is hybrid skills, putting your own human judgment and empathy to work alongside the analytical power of chatbots and AI learning platforms. Educating yourself on specific tools is less important than showing yourself able to adapt to new technologies — “learning faster than the system changes,” as global development career coach and AI generalist Alok I. Ranjan puts it.
Another key way to put yourself ahead of the pack? Educate yourself on AI ethics and policy, as organizations accustoming themselves to this brave new world will have a need for such expertise.
Read: 4 ways AI is changing the development job market (Career)
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The business of business development
The global development world’s funding structures have been turned upside down over the past year, and finding new sources of capital is key for the sector. That means that business development expertise is in huge demand as organizations go looking for money in the couch cushions.
One thing that will be more key than ever is human connections: networking, to use an often-disdained term. But where government connections may once have been king, BD professionals will now need to get trusted contacts and relationships among global foundations and high net worth individuals. Another key demographic will be local networks, especially as the localization boom appears to still be going strong.
Read: How BD roles have changed in development in 2025 (Career)
Top consulting and short-term jobs
1. Energy Experts
CoST – the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative
Zambia (remote)
2. Consultancy for Writing of Commonwealth Gender Flagship Report
Commonwealth Secretariat
Worldwide (remote)
3. Head of Resilient Infrastructure and Territorial Planning
World Bank Group
Madagascar
4. Implementation Mapping Consultant
International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness
Worldwide (remote)
5. Senior Engineer, Information Security
Gates Foundation
United States
6. Consultant for Low Carbon Building Investments
Global Green Growth Institute
Thailand
+ For more opportunities, check out the weekly Devex Jobs Alert newsletter on LinkedIn and Devex’s Job board.
Around the watercooler
News and views from around global development worth knowing about.
• The World Bank’s deep cuts. According to an internal presentation seen by Devex, the bank plans to eliminate all short-term consultant positions by 2027, with no new appointments allowed after next July. These jobs currently make up about one-quarter of the institution’s workforce.
• Storm brewing. Hurricane Melissa, which has caused scores of deaths across the Caribbean, has also served as a test of the State Department’s ability to respond to a disaster in a post-USAID world.
• Eyes on the prize. Ikea’s outgoing CEO Jesper Brodin, backed by Sweden, is vying to become the next U.N. high commissioner for refugees.
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About the authors
Fiona Zublin
Fiona Zublin is Devex's Deputy Managing Editor. Prior to joining the Devex team, she worked at OZY, NPR, and The Washington Post. Originally from the United States, she now lives and works in Paris.
David Ainsworth@daveainsworth4
David Ainsworth is business editor at Devex, where he writes about finance and funding issues for development institutions. He was previously a senior writer and editor for magazines specializing in nonprofits in the U.K. and worked as a policy and communications specialist in the nonprofit sector for a number of years. His team specializes in understanding reports and data and what it teaches us about how development functions.
