January 2026
Brief
Starting the year together
As we step into 2026, we're reflecting on what this community accomplished last year. In 2025, consultants across our network chose action over inertia, tackling the world's biggest challenges head-on.
We supported 109 full-time career transitions, including 68 into especially high-leverage roles:
- Diego Pedulla-Smith left BCG for his first post-consulting role as Senior Program Associate at Innovate Animal Ag through career advising, job alerts, and a direct referral from our network.
- Jennifer Hegarty, on leave from McKinsey, used our Career Conversation program to clarify her priorities. Today, she's leading strategic initiatives at NALA to improve access to payments across Africa.
These transitions happened because of the work we do together: 500+ Career Conversations, 160 hiring rounds supported, and 500+ new members who joined. We've grown to reach over 24,000 people across our newsletter and social channels.
We also welcomed two new team members: Joe Maddens as Managing Director and Cindy Lin as Digital Marketing Specialist-strengthening our ability to serve you with more personalized support and clearer pathways to impact.
The world's biggest challenges need the best minds working on them. We can't wait to help the next wave get there in 2026.
Here's to your next chapter,
The Consultants for Impact Team
Headlines
Updates from the consulting industry + the world's biggest problems
Consulting demand falls for second year as AI disrupts the industry -Financial Review, archive
Trump administration to withdraw from dozens of international organizations including U.N. climate framework that funds climate action in developing nations -NPR
Global cases of trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness, fall below 100 million for the first time -World Health Organization
EU delays plant-based labeling decision that could hinder consumer shift from animal products -World Animal Protection
Shadow AI remains a major risk as employees use unsecured personal accounts, highlighting urgent need for governance -Cybersecurity Dive
Quick wins
Tools and resources to set you up for success in 2026
Interested in biosecurity work? Fill out this form to get connected with jobs, fellowships, and other opportunities -Coefficient Giving
Learn AI alignment concepts through this award-winning game that models race dynamics, coordination problems, and AI control challenges -The Choice Before Us
Make better decisions under uncertainty with this open source tool that turns rough estimates into powerful forecasts -Guesstimate
Track global development progress and poverty trends using The World Bank's data visualization platform-Poverty & Inequality Platform
Request this free stakeholder mapping tool to improve your strategic planning for animal advocacy campaigns -Te Protejo
Deep reads
Nuanced takes worth your time
Is AI a bubble...or something else? -The Daily Show
Follow GiveWell's rigorous decision-making process as they decide if they can fund Cameroon health facilities -Planet Money
Ten big wins in 2025 for farmed animals -Coefficient Giving
What skills are useful to succeed in policy careers? -Emerging Technology Policy Careers
Do you know the four pillars of biodefense? -Andrew Snyder-Beattie
Follow us on LinkedIn for more career insights, opportunities, and yes, memes.
Coming up
Events worth changing your Slack status to OOO for
January
- Davos Virtual: Axios House, January 19-22
- EA Summit: Philippines, January 31 (Apply by January 15)
February and beyond
- Sentient Futures Summit, February 6-8
- EA Summit Brussels, February 7
- Beacon Philanthropy and Impact Forum, February 11
- EA Global: San Francisco, February 13-15 (Apply by January 25)
- India AI Impact Summit, February 16-20
Meet the member
Former economic consultant Georg Arndt serves as Chief of Staff at GovAI, where he supports programs that can strengthen the field of AI governance worldwide.
Why did you leave consulting? The work was engaging and intellectually challenging, but it didn't align particularly well with my values. Something like Consultants for Impact would have helped me quite a lot.
What does your role look like? First, all the non-researchers at GovAI report to me. Second, I support our director with day-to-day decisions. Third, I maintain a high-level overview of everything happening at GovAI and make sure we are adequately staffed and resourced. Over the last two years, much of my time has gone into hiring - we're growing!
Jobs
Get paid to help solve the world's worst problems!
- Operations Manager / Senior Operations Manager / Head of Operations - Secure AI Project (Apply by January 18)
- Head of Community and Partnerships - GovAI (Apply by January 18)
- Community and Operations Manager / Associate - Impact First (Apply by January 18)
- Project Manager;Chief of Staff - Lead Exposure Elimination Project (Apply by January 18)
- Event and Operations Specialist - Principles of Intelligence (Apply by January 18)
- Head of Development Operations;Account Manager - Longview Philanthropy (Apply by January 18)
- Deputy Director - Mirror Biology Dialogues Fund (Apply by January 25)
- People and Culture Manager - The Good Food Institute (Apply by February 9)
- Senior Associate / Program Officer, AI Governance - Effective Institutions Project (Rolling)
- Executive Assistant - NuCicer(Rolling)
Member moves
Consultants taking off in new high-impact roles
- Bea Egido - Strategy, UK AI Security Institute (AISI)
- Brooke O'Connell - Senior Program Associate, Events and Operations, Horizon Institute for Public Service
- Henna Dattani - Alignment Technical Program Manager, Anthropic
- Jonathan Dannevig - Program Director, ERA:AI
- Justin Portela - Video, Giving What We Can
- Lawrence Juma - Director of Operations, Better Season Project
- Michael Kerrison - Executive Director, AI Safety Australia & New Zealand
- Mudit Tulsianey - GTM Strategy, Founding Team, Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company
- Noah Fishman - Research Operations Lead, Founders Pledge
- Rohan Chaudhary - Strategy Officer, Malaria, Gates Foundation
- Thomas Morris - FutureKind Fellow, AI for animal welfare, Electric Sheep
- Zoe Roy-Stang - Operations, Administration and Programs, Center for Reducing Suffering
Planning your 2026 career move?
With 23+ years of consulting experience and hundreds of professionals advised, our team can help you chart your path forward. Apply for a 1:1 Career Conversation to speak with one of our advisors.
