Recent political violence research has explored how militant leaders’ backgrounds influence their decision-making while in power. However, existing scholarship primarily analyzes the biographical attributes of individuals in command of rebel organizations. This focus on rebel organizations excludes leaders of smaller yet highly lethal and influential armed groups in civil wars as well as commanders of militant organizations operating outside of civil war contexts. To help bridge this gap, we developed the Jihadist Leaders Dataset (JLD). The JLD contains novel information on 180 leaders of jihadist groups operating across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East between 1976 and 2023. Examining Arabic, English, French, German, Turkish, and Urdu language sources, we collected biographical data on numerous variables surrounding jihadist leaders’ backgrounds and life experiences. In addition to outlining our research methodology and descriptive statistics on the characteristics of jihadist leaders, we demonstrate the dataset’s practical value through a quantitative analysis of suicide bombings. This dataset contributes to research on militant leaders, individuals involved in conflict processes, and a prominent subset of armed groups that continue to influence conflict dynamics across multiple regions.