VPU Context:

The WBG Digital and AI Vertical Vice Presidency is responsible for getting the right public and private sector solutions to our operational teams and to our clients, and to produce scalable impact.  Its mandate is to deliver knowledge for impact and business to enable and support the WBG to achieve its goals in support of our mission and specifically: providing guidance on creating more and better jobs; supporting foundational infrastructure and human capital, policy environment, and private sector mobilization; focusing on agribusiness, healthcare, infrastructure, manufacturing, and tourism; and digital and AI interventions play a critical part in the achievement of specific targets including for digital connectivity and verifiable credentials. The VPU’s objectives in driving outcomes include replicating and scaling effective solutions, enhancing thought leadership and innovation, and delivering timely knowledge to client teams.

WBG Director, Data and AI – Solutions and Impact

The WBG Digital and AI Vertical is led by a Vice President and was established in July 2024. It consists of four departments: Access, DPI and Services, Applications, Data and AI.  These Departments will be headed by Directors/Managers who will report to the WBG Vice President. The four departments will be responsible for Solutions and Impact for their business areas and will collaborate closely with the Manager for Policy and Regulations, who will support the Vice President to provide thought leadership for the Vertical. This position will report to the WBG Vice President, Digital and AI Vertical, who is accountable to IBRD/IDA, IFC, and MIGA Managing Directors.  The Data and AI – Solutions and Impact Department is comprised of 30+ staff.  WBG recently published its Digital 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.

Duties and accountabilities:

The WBG Director will lead a diverse and multidisciplinary team of staff with skills from across IBRD/IDA, IFC, and MIGA institutions and business contexts.

The WBG Global Director will be accountable for modeling WBG leadership values and managerial behavior and ensure that the unit delivers on its commitments. Accountability means being answerable for making strategic choices, managing quality, risks, results, institutional initiatives, external and internal resources, and compliance with WBG policies and procedures.

Key responsibilities include:

Strategic Leadership:

• Lead the new WBG approach Solutions and Impact in Data and AI, and drive the organizational change needed to build a new Department that will bring together teams from different parts of WBG.

• Lead and coordinate the implementation of sector/thematic/industry strategies and global targets with the Manager for Policy and Regulations.

• Provide vision and direction for the team to deliver scaling and replication solutions and impact for public and private sector clients that help unlock private sector financing and drive impactful changes. Mobilize and lead Solutions and Impact teams and ensure alignment between policy and regulations and solutions and impact

• Guide scaling and replication of small AI and cybersecurity solutions including through testing and adaptation and the development of platforms. Collaborate with WBG Directors of other sectors, verticals, and horizontals, Regions, and with DEC to capture, scale, replicate and monitor innovative and multi-sectoral solutions.

• Represent the VPU on WBG corporate strategic issues.

Operational Delivery:

• Support pipeline and project development across Regions, ensuring that the most promising WBG development solutions get scaled and replicated, in partnership with Regions.

• Provide top-notch specialized knowledge and expertise on sectoral context and solutions and guidance on operational design by producing, curating, validating, and sharing knowledge (global, regional and country) with operational teams, clients, and partners

• Oversee the delivery of timely, high quality advisory services led by Vertical teams to public and private sector clients.

Relationship Management:

• Foster a culture of partnership and trust, whereby all internal and external parties appreciate the mutual benefits of working together.

• Coordinate and collaborate with the Vertical’s Partnership Team and work with public and private sector partners across the WBG institutions and globally to strengthen delivery of solutions for impact.

• Strategically engage with and manage senior-level relationships with governments, the private sector and other key stakeholders.

Global Engagement:

• Lead global engagement efforts, advocacy and partnership initiatives on Data, AI and cyber security issues.

• Position the WBG as a global leader for solutions and impact in Data, AI and cybersecurity by understanding and influencing major directional trends

Internal Engagement and Capacity Building:

• Engage with operational counterparts to support a culture of WBG knowledge and delivery of joint public and private sector solutions to clients. Build internal understanding of WBG Digital and AI Vertical engagement on policy and regulations, and solutions and impact. 

• Empower teams to work with WBG regions to develop client capacity, including facilitating "south-south" learning through WBG Academy on global lessons, analytical tools and technical frameworks.  Enhance the quality of client work, particularly for high-risk projects, and increase contestability across the WBG.

Knowledge Management and Communications:

• Cultivate an environment of openness that encourages innovation and rewards knowledge sharing and dissemination to drive impact.

• Support country teams to apply global knowledge and adapt them to local contexts, incorporating complexities of local political economy.

• Disseminate best practices and lessons learned and manages learning and knowledge flows, including full suite of WBG products and solutions.

• Ensure the implementation of the access to information policy.

• Lead on communicating the results of engagements internally and externally, in coordination with the communications team.

• Build a strategic, focused and selective program of analytical and knowledge work that responds to the priorities of WBG clients and responds to global challenges, develop engagement and dissemination efforts that support take-up and use of knowledge for results.

• Lead efforts to collect, curate, validate and disseminate AI and Cybersecurity data, including contributions to the Data360; and work with partners (e.g. UN agencies) to support data for policy making.

• Help clients scale proven solutions, and design, implement and deliver training, learning and capacity building programs for staff and clients, including through the WBG Academy.

People/Talent Management:

• Model exemplary WBG leadership values and managerial behavior and reinforces these qualities in the management team and staff

• Lead, mentor, and support a high-performing team in the Department. Foster a culture of rigor, inclusion, collaboration, and ethical leadership.

• Drive and encourage technical excellence within the team by creating an environment of learning and innovation that attracts and develops the best talent reflective of the diversity of our clients.

• Foster and lead a strong and collaborative management team including Regional and Global Managers and working closely across the WBG.

• Coordinate talent management efforts across the WBG.

• Lead talent review for all mapped staff and support performance and talent mobility by convening and chairing regular meetings of all WBG Managers that manage and advise on the career of all mapped staff. This body also focuses on ensuring that technical staff maintain sharp and current technical skills while being exposed to an ample set of experiences – operational, analytical, and leadership.

• Serve as member of Digital and AI Leadership Team who along with other Directors in the Regions support talent management and career development for staff in the Vertical and ensure a technically strong and diverse pipeline for technical and managerial leadership across the institution.

• Coordinate and support management in developing and implementing appropriate strategies for global staffing, deployment, staff learning and development as well as career progression and talent and performance management.

Resource Management:

• Manage the department’s budget to support the implementation of the Directorate strategy.

• Ensure Management accountability for delivering the agreed-upon work program through cost-effective use of resources (human and budget) within the agreed parameters and in compliance with internal WBG fiduciary and safeguard controls and policies and ensures timely delivery and overall quality of the region’s outputs.

• Ensure implementation of an appropriate risk management framework to meet unit’s objectives.

Required qualifications and experience

• Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in engineering and/or technology studies and/or MBA with a minimum of 15 years of experience in positions of increasing responsibility and complexity and having excellent technical understanding of data science, machine/deep learning, natural language models, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

• Recognized leader in the field of AI and cybersecurity in private sector or development institutions or governments with a proven track record of applying technical and operational knowledge to deliver impactful, sustainable development outcomes.

• Demonstrated ability to engage at senior levels with government counterparts, private sector leaders, and international stakeholders, and to represent the institution effectively in high-level policy discussions and global forums.

• Proven leadership on scalable and replicable technology solutions —reflected in strategic influence, internal advisory roles, public speaking, or recognized contributions to research, policy development, or operational reform.

• Significant country-level experience working in WBG client countries across regions, with familiarity of policies and operations and policies of international financial institutions or regulatory bodies.

• Demonstrated ability to work across institutional and disciplinary boundaries, with experience coordinating across sectors and with diverse stakeholders to build consensus and drive results.

• Extensive experience in managing complex, multi-institutional portfolios, including responsibility for strategy, staffing, budgets, and performance oversight of large-scale or complex programs.

• Proven track record of building and managing teams, achieving a mutually supportive, team-oriented mindset across a large unit or units, and creating an enabling work environment that delivers results.

• Proven ability to effectively work with colleagues and integrate the work of multiple business units covering diverse activities.

• Proven capability to lead and implement organizational change and reform initiatives, with a focus on improving efficiency, accountability, and clarity in roles, processes, and institutional culture.

WBG Managerial Competencies