(Senior) Operations Officer - The Data and AI Department

(Senior) Operations Officer - The Data and AI Department

Job #: req37370 Organization: IFC Sector: Digital Development 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: 7/12/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Build a career with impact. Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help countries solve their greatest development challenges. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, the WBG is a unique partnership of five global institutions dedicated to ending poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the WBG works with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges.

Digital technologies offer a unique opportunity to transform development through digital solutions. The Digital and AI Vertical Vice Presidency and its global and regional teams support client countries in building their capacities for digital transformation and AI use. The WBG Digital and AI Vertical is led by a Vice President and was established in July 2024. WBG recently published its Digital and AI Strategy which includes four pillars: access, affordability, ecosystem and AI readiness. The strategy identifies the priorities that WBG will engage across the client segment over the next five years.  The implementation plan is currently under preparation.

The Vertical will deploy a range of products, services, and partnerships to advance global knowledge across the four pillars of the Strategy through: 

• Supporting World Bank regions that provide financing to governments in the form of grants, loans, guarantees, and risk management products to support digital investment projects and implement policy reforms.
• Supporting World Bank regions that provide advisory services including targeted policy guidance, technical assistance, and capacity building. 
• Knowledge products include data and diagnostics to provide actionable insights at regional, country, and local levels, research and thought leadership to expand the global knowledge base, as well as thematic operational toolkits. 
• Convening services that bring together key stakeholders, from both public and private sectors as well as international and non-governmental organizations involved in advancing global digital transformation. 

For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/digitaldevelopment.

Within this structure, the Data and AI Department (WKDAI) supports the design and delivery of the WBG’s Digital and AI strategy in the areas of data ecosystems, AI readiness, practical AI adoption, and scalable digital and AI solutions. The departments leads and supports the development and operationalization of replicable and scalable solutions to build national AI and data ecosystems that support the development of practical ‘small AI’ solutions and drives value creation and jobs. A growing area of focus is supporting firms building Small AI: task-specific AI systems that can run locally, work in low-resource settings, and support practical use cases in sectors such as agriculture, education, health, and fintech and beyond.

The Data and AI Department is looking for a Washington, D.C. based (Senior) Operations Officer with deep operational fluency in the World Bank Group, relevant industry experience, and strong technical knowledge of AI solutions. The selected candidate will help translate the WBG’s AI agenda into lending and non-lending products and operational approaches that are practical, replicable, and scalable. The role requires strong knowledge of lending and non-lending instruments, project preparation and implementation processes, internal review and quality assurance requirements, and the practical realities of working across regions, Global Practices, CMUs, and corporate functions. It also requires the ability to engage credibly on technical aspects of AI and digital solutions, including solution design, implementation requirements, infrastructure considerations, and operational fit across different sector contexts. The position will report to the Director of Data and AI in the Digital and AI Vice Presidency and work closely with WBG teams across regions and disciplines.

Duties and accountabilities: 

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