Upstream Officer (Global) (including water)

International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Washington, DC, US

Description

IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2019, we invested more than $19 billion in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org

IFC has embarked on an ambitious new growth strategy (IFC 3.0) to stimulate more investment activity, especially in Low Income Countries (LICs) and Fragile and Conflict affected Situations (FCS). This strategy calls for generating our own opportunities by proactively working “Upstream” to create, deepen, and expand markets and to imagine, design and implement investment projects. It requires taking a systematic approach to understanding the regulatory and sector bottlenecks that prevent the flow of private capital into productive investment in our member countries, and addressing these bottlenecks through World Bank Group engagement on policy reforms and programmatic interventions at the country and sector level. It also requires capacity to leverage WBG programs and projects to develop our own proactive sector interventions and to imagine and design projects even in the absence of reforms.

IFC is seeking Investment Officers or Operations Officers for Upstream with expertise in one or more of the following sectors: Banking, Microfinance, Housing Finance, Insurance, Transport, Telecommunications, Media, Technology, Water and Wastewater, Urban Development and Municipal Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Agribusiness, Health, Education, Tourism, Retail and Property. The selected candidate will focus on supporting the development of high-quality Upstream pipeline under the supervision of the Global Upstream Manager. S/he will also support policy work and other interventions across the World Bank Group to prioritize various initiatives and to maximize the impact of Upstream efforts.

Role & Responsibilities:

The roles and responsibilities of the position will include but not be limited to:

• Support the identification and assessment of Upstream opportunities based on country and sector strategies and market creation potential.

• Contribute to the development of feasibility studies and implementation plans for Upstream projects that lead to IFC investments.
• Assist in designing and implementing scalable solutions and platforms that can be replicated across markets.
• Help identify game-changing trends, technologies and business models that can bring solutions to emerging markets.
• Produce regular reports on the assigned Upstream portfolio including monitoring progress against project milestones and KPIs.
• Contribute to sector-specific data analysis and stress-testing of various operating models to help generate ideas for new projects, new products and platform businesses.
• Work with the World Bank to analyze sector and regulatory reforms that are needed to unlock opportunities for private investment.

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree or equivalent professional qualification in Business, Finance, Economics, International Relations, Science, Engineering, or other relevant field.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in project and/or program development, producing feasibility studies, hands-on advisory and/or consulting functions, ideally in emerging markets.
• Genuine commitment to development and to the World Bank Group and IFC’s mission, strategy and values.
• Capacity to innovate and challenge the status quo and experience in new idea generation, business development, and creating projects/ programs from scratch. 
• Ability to work across stakeholder groups to achieve a common objective; experience working with private sector clients and governments to promote new business opportunities a strong plus.
• Ability to work in a flexible, entrepreneurial environment as part of a new team and iterate while learning.
• Understanding of relevant IFC sectors and ability to link policy reforms, advisory interventions, investment, and mobilization to unlock and catalyze private investment at scale.
• Experience in project/program management, including executing against implementation plans with defined business development milestones.
• Experience in monitoring, reporting and analyzing a portfolio of projects/programs/initiatives to identify trends and inform decisions.
• Outstanding analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills in English.

POSITION TYPE

ORGANIZATION TYPE

EXPERIENCE-LEVEL

DEGREE REQUIRED

IHE Delft Institute for Water Education - MSc in Water and Sustainable Development