Senior Communications and External Relations Officer

Senior Communications and External Relations Officer

Job #: req37655 Organization: World Bank Sector: External Affairs & Corporate Relations Grade: GG Term Duration: 4 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: Washington, DC,United States Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 7/29/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

The World Bank Group's Planet Vertical brings together some of the most pressing development challenges of our time — spanning water security, food and agricultural systems, climate action, and environmental sustainability — all united by a shared ambition to support a livable planet. The Communications and External Relations (CER) function plays a critical role in ensuring that Planet’s role in delivering on these challenges  – on food, water, climate and nature – is understood and amplified as fundamental to how people everywhere will live, move, breathe, and be productive. 

This position consolidates the thematic communications leadership for both the Climate Global Department and the Environment Global Department into a single, integrated role. The Senior External Relations Officer, Thematic Lead for Climate & Environment, is responsible for developing and executing a unified communications strategy that elevates WBG's standing on both agendas, advances coherent "One WBG" narratives, and drives outcomes aligned with corporate priorities.

Role Purpose

The Senior External Relations Officer (GG) leads strategic communications across the Climate and Environment departments of the Planet Vertical. The role is responsible for:

• Elevating the visibility of WBG's work on climate and environment at global, regional, and country levels.
• Influencing policy debates and protecting the institution's reputation on high-profile, complex issues.
• Driving communications outcomes aligned with WBG corporate priorities through integrated stakeholder engagement, risk management, and campaign planning.
• Ensuring a coherent, consistent "One WBG" narrative across global and regional delivery channels.
• Serving as the primary communications advisor to Climate and Environment Global Department leadership.

Reporting and Collaboration

Reports to: External Relations Manager, Planet Vertical VPU
Key Internal Interfaces: CER Vertical and regional counterpart teams; Climate and Environment Global Directors and Practice Managers; Country/Operations teams; Risk Management and Issues team.
Key External Interfaces: Media, civil society organizations, think tanks, academic institutions, parliamentary offices, donor communications counterparts, and private sector stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategy & Planning
• Develop and maintain a unified annual communications strategy and editorial calendar spanning both the Climate and Environment Global Departments, with clear prioritization of flagship initiatives, high-impact reports, and corporate moments.
• Conceptualize and supervise the production of all communication products, including media packets, news releases, briefing notes, speeches, social media content, blogs, infographics, and multimedia assets.
• Define audience segmentation strategies and ensure all campaigns are data-driven and audience-centered.
• Advise Global Department leadership across Climate and Environment on advocacy, branding, positioning, and issues management.
• Identify synergies between the climate and environment agendas to develop integrated narratives and joint flagship campaigns.

2. Team Supervision & Coordination
• Provide editorial and content leadership to Trust Fund (TF) and, where applicable, Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) communications teams embedded within both departments; TF staff should maintain a dotted reporting line to this role.
• Guide hiring, vetting, and TOR development for TF communications staff across both departments.
• Coordinate closely with the Climate and Environment Department Front Offices and the Planet External Relations Manager to align communications with departmental priorities.
• Foster a collaborative, one-team culture across the communications staff serving the two departments. This can include GF staff assigned to work on the Climate and Environment portfolio as well as trust fund communications staff.

3. Campaigns & Advocacy
• Lead external positioning on climate-smart development and environmental sustainability i