secretary general
Secretaries general head international governmental or nongovernmental organisations. They supervise staff, direct policy and strategy development, and function as main representative of the organisation.
secretary general secretaries general head international governmental or nongovernmental organisations. They supervise staff, direct policy and strategy development, and function as main representative of the organisation. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include project management principles, bookkeeping regulations, good governance, audit techniques, budgetary principles.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £99,944 a year for Chief executives and senior officials (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £63,161 to £151,903 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 1111). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Managers” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only secretary general, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 1. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Administration and Management
- Personnel and Human Resources
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Economics and Accounting
- Public Safety and Security
- Computers and Electronics
- Sales and Marketing
What you'd actually do
- Direct or coordinate an organization's financial or budget activities to fund operations, maximize investments, or increase efficiency.
- Confer with board members, organization officials, or staff members to discuss issues, coordinate activities, or resolve problems.
- Prepare budgets for approval, including those for funding or implementation of programs.
- Direct, plan, or implement policies, objectives, or activities of organizations or businesses to ensure continuing operations, to maximize returns on investments, or to increase productivity.
- Prepare or present reports concerning activities, expenses, budgets, government statutes or rulings, or other items affecting businesses or program services.
- Implement corrective action plans to solve organizational or departmental problems.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does secretary general do?
Secretaries general head international governmental or nongovernmental organisations. They supervise staff, direct policy and strategy development, and function as main representative of the organisation.
What skills does secretary general need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include project management principles, bookkeeping regulations, good governance, audit techniques, budgetary principles, apply conflict management. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace secretary general?
Our AI-durability model gives secretary general a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.