Diego Vallejo
United Nations Political Affairs Professional
Chicago,IL
Summary
Government/Political Affairs and Policy Analysis professional with 4+ years of experience in fast-paced and dynamic environments translating complex legislative, political, and regulatory developments into concise, decision-ready analysis for senior leadership. Proven record of cross-sectoral coordination, stakeholder engagement, forecasting and establishing response processes and protocols. Adept in legislative monitoring tools (similar to FiscalNote, Quorum, StateNet) and strong familiarity with digital policy, taxation policy and AI legislation. I bring understanding of the US legislative processes from a global perspective, strong political and technical writing skills, and private-sector regulatory exposure relevant to digital governance, taxation, and emerging technologies. Skilled in digital collaboration (Microsoft Office Suite, Google Workspace), R programming language and AI. Fluent in Spanish, French and working knowledge of Russian.
Overview
7
7
years of professional experience
4
4
Certifications
5
5
Languages
Work History
Associate Political Affairs Officer
United Nations (UN)
New York City (Deployed To Haiti), NY
09.2023 - 09.2025
- Acted as Policy Advisor and Special Assistant for Political Affairs to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti (SRSG) and Deputy SRSG, accompanying and preparing for over 50 high-level diplomatic and political engagements across the world, including with the U.S Government (Department of State and Congress).
- Produced time-sensitive and concise political briefs for the UN senior leadership by monitoring legislation, decrees, U.S. federal sanctions regimes, UN and OAS resolutions, and executive actions affecting security, UN policy priorities and governance—directly analogous to triaging and prioritizing high-impact state bills.
- Synthesized complex legal and policy texts into concise, decision-ready memos used in UN Security Council reporting by senior UN advocacy leaders, and external communications—mirroring Netflix’s need for clear summaries of dense legislative language for legal and leadership teams.
- Maintained live tracking systems of political developments, incidents, and regulatory actions, enabling leadership to anticipate risks, adjust public positioning, and coordinate responses across stakeholders—comparable to managing a multi-state legislative dashboard.
- Coordinated cross-functional inputs from political, human rights, security, communications, and legal pillars to ensure consistent institutional messaging and policy alignment under pressure—directly relevant to aligning policy, legal, communications, and public policy teams through protocols and processes.
- Flagged emerging policy trends and reputational risks (e.g., restrictions on media, digital freedoms, taxation measures, sanctions exposure) and escalated them early to senior decision-makers—core to issue forecasting and risk identification at Netflix.
- Drafted hundreds of public-facing talking points and speeches for senior leadership’s engagements in high-level forums (UN Security Council, UN Economic and Social Council) alongside internal guidance, and formal correspondence that balanced legal precision, political sensitivity, and reputational considerations—highly transferable to drafting testimony, comment letters, and policy positions.
- Operated in a fast-paced, high-stakes and volatile security environment—often in crisis conditions—where missed signals or delayed analysis had real operational, security and reputational consequences, demonstrating the urgency, independence, and judgment required for following state legislative landscapes.
Research Analyst for Human Development Reports (Digital Policy)
United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
New York City, NY
01.2023 - 07.2023
- Contributed to policy analysis of UN global flagship publications by analyzing how digitalization, automation, and data governance shape labor markets and state capacity across 190+ countries, informing policy debates directly relevant to AI regulation and digital governance.
- Synthesized large, multi-source datasets (World Bank, OECD, national statistical offices) into policy-ready analytical notes, translating complex technical evidence into concise insights.
- Drafted and edited policy summaries and background briefs for engagements with governments, donors, academics and international forums, requiring clarity and political sensitivity similar to state-level advocacy work.
- Maintained structured research repositories (bibliographic databases, methodological notes), ensuring traceability and consistency across outputs, directly transferable to maintaining legislative tracking and policy dashboards.
- Engaged with academic and policy experts on emerging digital governance challenges, including algorithmic bias, digital divides, and regulatory gaps in rapidly evolving technologies—laying conceptual groundwork for AI policy assessment even where formal legislation was still emerging.
- Delivered outputs under strict timelines tied to global publication cycles, demonstrating the ability to manage concurrent deadlines and rapidly evolving policy contexts.
Enterprise Competitiveness Policy Research Analyst
ACDI/VOCA – US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Washington D.C (Deployed To Kyrgyzstan), DC
06.2022 - 08.2022
- Developed a policy impact methodology on USAID's Enterprise Competitiveness program in Kyrgyzstan, analyzing how tax policy, customs regimes, and regulatory compliance affect SMEs’ ability to formalize, scale, and access markets, directly relevant to understanding how incentives and tax structures shape business behavior.
- Conducted policy analysis on fiscal and regulatory barriers producing policy notes used by USAID and government counterparts to inform regulatory reform discussions.
- Mapped alignment gaps between national tax practices and international standards, including donor and U.S.-funded compliance requirements, reinforcing an understanding of how U.S. federal policy objectives translate into state-level or partner-country regulation.
- Supported stakeholder engagement with government ministries and private-sector actors, translating technical tax and regulatory concepts into clear, actionable language.
- Contributed to reporting and compliance documentation for USAID, ensuring alignment with U.S. federal funding rules, transparency standards, and accountability mechanisms—experience directly relevant to navigating U.S. regulatory and compliance ecosystems.
- Analyzed large volume of data to identify patterns, trends and correlations.
Internal Controls Trainee (Spain & Latin America)
SUEZ Environment (Aguas de Barcelona)
Barcelona, Spain
05.2021 - 05.2022
- Analyzed regulatory and fiscal frameworks affecting water and wastewater infrastructure investments across 7 Latin American countries and all provinces of Spain, including tax incentives, tariff structures and ESG-linked compliance requirements, directly relevant to assessing how state tax and incentive policies shape corporate operations.
- Reviewed and synthesized country- and state-level regulatory changes (tax treatment of utilities, concession frameworks, subsidy mechanisms), producing internal briefing materials used by senior management to assess policy risk and investment exposure a parallel with legislative and policy triage.
- Supported internal audit and compliance processes by tracking how changes in tax policy, environmental regulation, and reporting standards affected operations, helping leadership anticipate financial, legal, and reputational risks—a direct parallel to evaluating state legislation impacts on Netflix.
- Worked with ESG, legal and operations teams to align operational practices with evolving regulatory expectations, including transparency, reporting, and governance standards, experience transferable to navigating privacy, AI governance, and digital regulation trends at the state level.
- Translated complex regulatory and fiscal information into concise executive summaries and dashboards, enabling non-technical stakeholders to make informed decisions—core to drafting actionable policy memos and recommendations.
Economic Policy Research Intern
MOHAN Foundation
Chennai, India
06.2018 - 08.2018
- Conducted policy research on organ donation regulation and anti-trafficking frameworks, analyzing how legal loopholes, regulatory fragmentation, and enforcement gaps create risk.
- Produced analytical briefs on regulatory inconsistencies across Indian states, highlighting how differences in compliance standards, oversight mechanisms, and administrative capacity affect implementation.
- Drafted advocacy and policy-facing materials for academic, medical, and civil-society audiences, translating complex ethical and legal issues into clear narratives. a direct parallel to drafting policy memos, testimony, and comment letters.
- Supported engagement with regulators, medical institutions, and NGOs, strengthening coalition-based approaches to policy reform— applicable to working with state lawmakers, agencies, and advocacy groups.
- Tracked legislative and regulatory developments related to bioethics and human rights, identifying emerging risks and reform opportunities, skills aligned with forecasting trends in AI, privacy, and emerging technology policy.
Education
Master of Arts - Political Science and International Relations
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA01.2023
Master’s - International Development
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (IBEI)
Barcelona, Spain01.2022
B.Sc. - Economics
University of Navarra
Pamplona, Spain01.2020
Skills
Certification
Creative and Innovative Methodologies for Inclusive Facilitation. Swisspeace, November 2025
Timeline
Associate Political Affairs Officer
United Nations (UN)
09.2023 - 09.2025
Research Analyst for Human Development Reports (Digital Policy)
United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
01.2023 - 07.2023
Enterprise Competitiveness Policy Research Analyst
ACDI/VOCA – US Agency for International Development (USAID)
06.2022 - 08.2022
Internal Controls Trainee (Spain & Latin America)
SUEZ Environment (Aguas de Barcelona)
05.2021 - 05.2022
Economic Policy Research Intern
MOHAN Foundation
06.2018 - 08.2018
Master’s - International Development
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (IBEI)
B.Sc. - Economics
University of Navarra
Master of Arts - Political Science and International Relations
University of Chicago