Como dizer "Comer um dobrado" em inglês

To slog someone's way (to/through/across)

He slogged his way to becoming a solicitor via night school and a degree taken by correspondence course, and only landed the parliamentary seat of Bury North after three failed attempts. The Guardian

(...) then slogged his way through endless auditions, rejections, bit parts and "breakout parts" that didn't quite live up to their promise. The Guardian

I remember a young Afghan who had slogged his way across Uzbekistan to escape from Afghanistan and had been abandoned and raped on the way. The Guardian

Cf. Como dizer "Comer o pão que o diabo amassou" em inglês

O novo secretário da educação deverá comer um dobrado para pôr os projetos em ordem e fazê-los funcionarem.

And also (in colloquial ways):
It will be a hard/tough nut to crack for the secretary to implement his ideas/to plan and implement the projects/initiatives.

Less colloquial:
It will be a challenging task for the secretary the implementation of the initiatives/programs.
OR more neutral or positive
The secretary will have to overcome a lot of hurdles/challenges to implement the initiatives/programs/projects.

To state that something will be a 'challenging task' could scare a few people, and the 'overcome' stuff would encourage. But this is just a way to express, where many people see a challenge others will se opportunity to shine!