Director of External Affairs

This is a rare opportunity to shape how a globally respected research organisation speaks, connects, and grows. As Director of External Affairs at Impact Global Health (IGH), you will lead the planning and execution of everything that determines our external presence in the world: how we communicate, how we build partnerships, and how we grow a funding base that sustains high-impact global health research.

You will join IGH’s Senior Leadership Team, reporting to the CEO, and lead a small team spanning communications, external engagement and business development. Based in Europe, you will be positioned at the centre of the global health conversations that matter most, building the relationships and influence that translate our research into real-world change.

This is a full-time, permanent role (although we can be flexible for the right candidate). The position is fully remote, with regular domestic and international travel to key conferences, convenings and stakeholder meetings.

Impact Global Health (IGH) is an internationally respected non-profit research and policy organisation. We provide data and strategic analysis on innovation for global health to some of the world's most influential organisations, including funders, product developers, advocates and policymakers.

We deliver targeted research across the biomedical R&D landscape for neglected infectious diseases, emerging infectious diseases and women’s health issues: from funding trends and product pipelines to health and economic impact modelling and resource mobilisation strategies.

Our work directly informs where money goes, what gets prioritised, and how the global health community holds itself accountable. We're a small, expert team with a big impact.

Strategy and organisational leadership

• Lead IGH’s external affairs strategy, setting direction across communications, partnerships and business development to deliver concrete outcomes aligned with organisational priorities.
• Serve as a senior member of the leadership team, contributing to organisational strategy and bringing external insight from funders, partners and the broader global health landscape.
• Build and lead a high-performing External Affairs team, fostering accountability, capability and a culture where people are supported to do their best work.

External engagement and partnerships

• Leverage IGH’s brand, capabilities and expert staff to build the profile of the organisation as a trusted thought leader in global health R&D, generating new opportunities for organisational funding, as well as more direct policy influence.
• Lead on curating, rationalising and prioritising IGH’s external engagements, setting and reinforcing criteria for selecting and prioritising external engagements.
• Represent IGH at major conferences, policy forums and sector events, strengthening our profile as a thought leader and opening doors to new funding and influence opportunities.

Business development and resource mobilisation

• Lead the vision and direction of IGH’s business development strategy and strategic efforts, including the development and implementation of a robust, trackable and ambitious plan for diversifying and strategically growing our funding as an organisation.
• Continually scope and assess IGH’s business development landscape, making recommendations to the leadership team and board on new or changing workstreams and/or investment opportunities. 
• Lead and oversee the full bid lifecycle from opportunity identification and concept development through to proposal sign-off, ensuring quality, strategic alignment and competitive positioning. 

Strategic communications

• Shape the vision and direction of IGH’s external communications strategy ensuring our voice is consistent, credible and reaches the audiences that matter.
• Support systems improvements and innovation, providing strategic insight and creative thinking to strategic discussions on communications growth and development. 
• Work closely the team to develop our annual engagement profile, helping to identify engagement strategies that will focus our voice and the reach of our project work. Contribute to this as an active, regular voice for IGH on social media and other platforms.

Skills & experience

• You have deep, demonstrated experience leading external affairs, communications and business development functions in a global health or international development organisation.
• You have a strong personal network of contacts in the global health sector, are well connected, and are able to network effectively. 
• You are a skilled public speaker with excellent written and verbal communication skills, including authoring op-eds, keynote addresses and other thought leadership content.
• You have a proven track record in business development and resource mobilisation, including leading pitches, developing proposals and winning competitive funding from a range of donors.
• You have built and managed high-performing teams, with the people leadership skills to develop capability and create an environment where others thrive.

Knowledge

• You have a solid understanding of the global health ecosystem, including its key funders, policy institutions, and R&D stakeholders.
• You are current on global health financing trends, thematic priorities and the evolving landscape in which IGH operates.
• You have an intimate understanding of how policy, funding and research decisions are made within major global health stakeholders across sectors, and pathways and the levers of change that exist to translate data and policy insights into meaningful impact.
  

Competencies & behaviours

• You balance strategic vision with hands-on execution, comfortable setting direction one moment and rolling up your sleeves the next.
• You communicate complex ideas with clarity and authority, able to translate technical research into narratives that resonate with funders, policymakers and partners alike.
• You build trust quickly, lead with empathy, and create environments where diverse perspectives are genuinely valued and people feel safe to contribute their best.

Desirable (but not required)

• Experience with global health R&D, health product development, or global health data and analytics.
• Established relationships with major global health funders (e.g. Wellcome, Gates Foundation, bilateral agencies or philanthropic donors).

Importantly, this role specifically involves regular domestic and international travel to conferences, meetings and sector events, and we are looking for someone who is genuinely comfortable with that pace. Travel frequency will be guided by strategic value and available budget, but the ability to travel at this level is essential to the role's success.

IGH’s head office is in Sydney, Australia and we have staff in Australia, Europe, USA and Africa. For this role we will only be considering candidates based in Europe. The successful candidate will work fully remotely.

This is an exciting time to join a small, but impactful global team. We’re in an inspiring period of organisational change — deliberately building better ways of working, investing in technology and systems that reduce friction, and creating a culture where people are supported to thrive. This manifests in many ways, particularly in our commitment to employee wellbeing. All employees have access to an Employee Assistance Program and individual learning opportunities, including through the day-to-day exchange that comes from working alongside a small, global team, where expertise is both broad and deep. We are also committed to upholding healthy work-life balance: all employees are either partially or fully remote, and we encourage flexible working hours where this suits the role and team. As a global organisation, our people span multiple time zones, and we work to support reasonable flexibility that accommodates both personal needs and operational requirements.

We are also committed to fair recruitment processes and working arrangements. Inclusivity and representativeness are core to IGH's organisational identity — not as an aspiration, but as a priority embedded in our strategic plan. We strive to build a team that reflects the regions and communities our work serves, across all levels of the organisation. We are happy to discuss any adjustments you may need in either the recruitment phase or beyond.

For this role, you will work your core hours predominantly aligned to your European time zone, but with largely flexible working arrangements.

However, the role also requires real-time collaboration with the extended IGH team, who work across Australia, Europe and Africa, so working hours must include regular availability from 4pm AEST – which falls in the early morning in most European time zones – on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. There may also be the need for availability to cover collaboration with staff and funders in the US (West Coast). We balance this with a flex time policy, and work with you to protect your overall workload and wellbeing.

Application link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DirectorEA

What to include: A current CV and a cover letter addressing your interest and suitability for the role. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Process & timeline: We will not acknowledge individual applications during the open period. You will hear from us shortly after the closing date regarding next steps. Applications close on Wednesday 3 June at 11:59pm BST.

Questions: For role-specific questions, email info@impactgh.org. Please do not contact us to check on the status of your application or send applications via email.