Max Baiden is a Senior Manager in the Sustainable Growth team, with more than 10 years of experience working in International Development in both the private and non-governmental sectors. His technical areas of expertise include Enterprise Development, early-stage start-up investments, incubator and accelerator development and management, Business Development Services, impact measurement and management and project design and management. Max currently directs multiple projects within the Sustainable Growth portfolio for DAI UK’s business unit, including projects funded by Defra and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation.

Max started his International Development career at DAI as part of the team managing the Climate, Environment, Infrastructure, Livelihoods Professional Evidence and Applied Knowledge Services (CEIL PEAKS), funded by what is now the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. This is one of the predecessors to the Expert Advisory Call Down Services (EACDS 2). Max worked closely with senior government advisors and DAI consortium members to run innovation projects, particularly related to disaster risk financing and social protection.

Max joined Save the Children UK in 2018, where he worked as a Humanitarian Operations Officer, supporting humanitarian teams working in the Rohingya Crisis and on the Cyclone Idai response. He led the design of the Collaborative Cash Delivery (CCD) Network in Ethiopia and led Save the Children’s efforts to create the infrastructure to invest in and support early-stage start-ups.

Max re-joined DAI in 2023 to become Project Director of the Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC) and Udaya in Nepal.

B.A., International Development, University of East Anglia.