Chief/Principal Investment Officer - Subnational Finance Sector

At the World Bank Group (WBG), you’ll join a diverse, global community working across cultures, disciplines, and borders to address the world’s most pressing development challenges. With 1.2 billion young people reaching working age in the decade ahead, the challenge of job creation has never been greater.

Through partnerships across 145 countries and more than 182 offices worldwide, we work with governments, private sector, development partners and other stakeholders to invest in people, strengthen markets, and deliver scalable, data-driven solutions that generate more and better jobs and improve lives. For more information, visit The WBG is renewing its approach to knowledge as the Knowledge Bank, ensuring that the best global knowledge drives development, scales impactful solutions, and shapes global conversations.

Part of the push to become a better Bank involves improving how we collect, store, and share knowledge to help countries stay on track with their development goals. The vision of the Knowledge Bank focuses on four key areas (i) New and updated knowledge products (ii) Strategic partnerships (iii) Enhanced learning opportunities and (iv) Cutting-edge systems.

The Knowledge Bank’s Urban, Subnational Land Solutions and Impact team is responsible for ensuring that the right mix of best practice, investment and advisory solutions are made available to subnational/ municipal clients and WBG operational teams to promote commercial financing and private capital mobilization. The team is looking to recruit a Principal Investment Officer (PIO) or Chief Investment Officer (CIO) covering the subnational finance sector.

The PIO/CIO will lead business delivery and growth in the sector contributing to business development, market opening and addressing regulatory, client capacity or other challenges. The PIO/CIO will lead the Knowledge Bank input as the focal investment specialist providing guidance to management and investment teams globally in project structuring, execution and portfolio management. He or she will lead thought leadership, knowledge sharing and dissemination across the WBG, with an emphasis on curated knowledge to support business development, market creation, innovation, and risk management.

The PIO/CIO will lead the development of scalable solutions and advisory products which will help teams on the ground in business development, client capacity building and client relationship management. He or she will take responsibility to ensure best practices from regional operations are shared and, where possible, replicated in other regions. The PIO/CIO will leverage a small, dedicated team with direct people management responsibilities.

The selected candidate will be based in Washington DC and will report to the Manager for Urban, Subnational Land Solutions and Impact. The position will have a global focus and involve regular travel commitments.

Duties and Accountabilities

• Ensure that WBG and IFC is at the forefront of the development debate, and a premier private sector financier and thought leader in the subnational finance sector.
• Lead the development of integrated IFC-World Bank replicable and scalable solutions and knowledge products that combine investment, advisory, and upstream engagement to strengthen client impact and pipeline development, working in tandem with public sector financing colleagues on the World Bank side and IFC regional colleagues.
• Leading business delivery and growth in IFC’s subnational investments. Being the focal investment specialist providing guidance to management and investment teams globally in business development, project structuring, execution and portfolio management.
• Lead Knowledge Bank’s and IFC’s global business strategy development and implementation in subnational finance, working closely with the unit manager, senior colleagues from other WBG units, and external stakeholders.
• Lead thought leadership, knowledge sharing and dissemination across WBG, with an emphasis on knowledge to support IFC business development, market creation, innovation, and risk management.
• Lead fundraising efforts for advisory and blended finance, working with donors, Blended Finance teams, and other external stakeholders to develop business and promote visibility for the sector. Oversee the strategy and work of the Global Cities Platform.
• Manage relationships with key stakeholders in the Cities space such as other multilateral development banks, and city organizations.
• Actively monitor industry and market trends, participate in industry functions, and build sector relationships globally.
• Lead a dedicated team of and be responsible for their deliverables, mentoring, coaching and career development.