Which development roles are advertised most frequently?

  The global development job market continues to feel the aftershocks of the USAID funding freeze, which triggered widespread layoffs and halted many projects. To help job seekers understand where demand remains, we analyzed all the 19,000 job postings on the Devex job board over the past three months — a 21.77% drop compared to the same period last year, when more than 24,000 jobs were available. While overall opportunities are down, certain roles and sectors are still seeing activity, particularly roles in consultancy; project or program management; and finance and research. In this article, Devex breaks down which development job roles are most in demand right now. Most in-demand roles Project or program coordination. Project management remains the backbone of development hiring, with over 2,000 roles posted in the past quarter. These range from managing health and WASH programs to coordinating urban development and agriculture projects. Current openings include a program manager for geo analytics at the World Resources Institute, supporting data-driven urban infrastructure work, and a project manager/team leader role at the Education Development Center focusing on training teachers in Sudan. Finance and investment. Reflecting the growing importance of blended finance and development finance institutions engagement, over 600 finance-related roles are currently open. Example job postings include the head of innovative finance partnerships at The Ocean Cleanup, who will be tasked with developing new funding mechanisms, and an assistant manager for impact investing at the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, focused on Asia’s social investment space. Traditional finance roles — such as a financial specialist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, focusing on handling pricing models and the overall financial planning of the institution — are still popular. Research and analysis. Research remains essential, particularly as organizations seek data-driven approaches in a changing landscape. Roles range from the research and innovation director at Coptic Orphans — developing research agendas to validate program strategies — to a research analyst at the International Monetary Fund, analyzing economic data to support multiple departments. Social services and community development. Opportunities in social services are still available, especially for professionals with expertise in protection, community engagement, and gender equity. Openings include a GESI adviser at Mercy Corps, offering technical leadership across program areas, and a community development coordinator at Sinergia Animal, working to build volunteer networks in Indonesia. Consultancy roles. Consultancy remains the dominant hiring model, particularly for multilateral development banks and U.N. agencies. Roles are often short-term and project-specific, spanning sectors from education to gender inclusion. Recent listings include an individual consultant, monitoring and evaluation specialist for the World Bank’s PERSE project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a project assistant for the gender and social inclusion unit in Bangladesh for the Asian Development Bank. Aside from MDBs, there are also traditional implementers such as Expertise France looking into individual consultants to support their work in donor-funded projects, such as the strengthening the rule of law and justice for Central African citizens. Spotlight: Philanthropy With public funding facing deep cuts, the spotlight moves toward philanthropic organizations. While the volume of philanthropy-specific job postings remains smaller than in other sectors, these roles are strategic, often blending fundraising, partnerships, and high-level donor engagement. Current openings illustrate the diversity within this area. The philanthropy coordinator job posting for Open Briefing focuses on building partnerships with philanthropists and individuals with high net worth, emphasizing relationship management and fundraising strategy. Similarly, the director of partnerships for fundraising opening at Pew Charitable Trusts is tasked with identifying new sources of philanthropic and partnership revenue, while roles such as the regional philanthropy manager from Operation Blessing International highlight the importance of cultivating donor relationships and conveying the organization’s impact for planned and unplanned gifts. While this remains a niche hiring space, professionals with experience in relationship-building, grantmaking, and partnership strategy will find growing opportunities here as philanthropy continues to step in to fill funding gaps. What sectors are hiring the most? In addition to analyzing hiring trends by role type, we also looked at demand by sector, reflecting the thematic focus of each job. These sector categories, selected by employers when posting to the Devex job board, give us insight into what kinds of work are currently prioritized across organizations, regardless of job function. While many of the same fields appear, such as project management and finance, viewing the data through a sector lens highlights broader operational and thematic priorities within organizations. Project management. This remains the largest sector, encompassing everything from program oversight to monitoring and evaluation, procurement, and environmental and social safeguards. The senior program officer role at the Gates Foundation, for example, translates data into actionable insights. While the national project coordinator position in Armenia for the Food and Agriculture Organization manages a range of tasks from procurement, human resources to project reports. Banking and finance. The banking and finance sector has carved out a strong presence, driven by the rise of blended finance, impact investing, and private-sector engagement. These roles go beyond traditional finance management, often involving capital mobilization, risk analysis, and collaboration with DFIs and private investors. The analyst, capital market products role at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, for example, analyzes financial and capital markets and improves related databases. More traditional roles — such as finance and budget officer from the U.N. Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement, which will prepare cost estimates and budget proposals — are also available. Democracy, human rights, and governance. Roles in this sector delve into the more political and legal dimensions of global development. They focus on making an impact on the overall well-being of a certain target group, whether part of a larger project or not. Like the political affairs officer from the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs, who will work on analyzing political issues of assignment. Then, there’s the human rights officer for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who will work with the UN on integrating human rights in programs. Beyond these key sectors, the job market continues to show pockets of niche demand. Recent listings range from highly specialized roles such as an avocado oil consultant at the One Acre Fund to climate-focused positions such as the reducing emissions campaign manager at the Climate Reality Project. There are also policy-oriented openings, including a senior director for policy at Elevate Energy, reflecting how organizations are blending technical expertise with advocacy. While fewer in number, these roles underscore the breadth of skills still sought across global development, even in a constrained funding environment.