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Current V10 mid-level associate in capital markets/corpgov in NY. Long-term goal is to work in international development, in governmental/quasi-governmental organizations like the World Bank and USAID. I am, however, not quite ready to transition into those roles now or in the near future, as 1) I see them as the end of the line in terms of career change, as in I would not expect to (be able to) transition back to firm/private sector once I make the change, 2) I am not ready to give up the biglaw/in-house salary as my goal is to be financially independent as soon as possible and 3) I am afraid of being stuck in government bureaucracy for 20+ years without viable exit options. Has anyone considered a similar move and decided to stick it out in biglaw until 5-6th year and/or considered in-house options that may be relevant to international development work down the line?

I won't be able to answer your question directly, but have you also looked at some development banks like OPIC? From what I understand, they put together deals in developing countries (i.e. malls in Afghanistan). It seems like interesting work and would be a little more transferable if you wanted to go back into the private sector (uncertain though). The pay would almost definitely be better than USAID or another government agency on the GS scale. Again, I could be wrong on both points but it might be something you'd be interested in.

Thanks! Yes, I have an ongoing alert for jobs at usajobs for relevant entities along with alerts for WB, IMF, UN, etc. If I am ultimately targeting WB, I am wondering if it makes sense to lateral/go in-house at places focusing on energy/infrastructure/agriculture, etc. because doing vanilla CM transactions/disclosure review over and over doesn't feel like it is preparing me if this is my end-goal.