With 90 percent of jobs created by the private sector, new solutions to support firm growth, higher productivity, innovation, and competitiveness are critical. The practice partners with governments, the private sector, donor agencies, and civil society to improve the business and trade environment, promote competitiveness across key industries, and encourage productive and responsible investments.
Economist. The specific roles and responsibilities are:
- Conducting and delivering technical assistance and analytical work one of the core areas of the T&C agenda (Trade, Investment Climate, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Competitive Sectors).
- Carrying out responsibilities for a variety of operational tasks, for example, technical analyses, design of technical assistance interventions, participation in loan negotiations.
- Participating in developing and implementing sector strategy and assists in country-specific policy work.
- Participating in missions in area of specialization; providing technical inputs and guidance to counterparts on one of the core areas of the T&C agenda; preparing terms of reference for project- or sector-related work.
- Developing knowledge pieces, as well as indicators and statistics on the relevant topics.
- Contributing to the development of collaborative partnerships with external and internal partners and contributing to a coherent strategy across teams for the benefit of the client country.
- Contributing to the development of monitoring and evaluation of relevant indicators for as well as analyse the impact of policy interventions.
- Working independently, seeking guidance on complex projects/issues from senior specialists.
Senior Private Sector Specialist. The specific roles and responsibilities are:
- Providing intellectual leadership on topics of at one of the core areas of the T&C agenda (Trade, Investment Climate, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Competitive Sectors).
- Leading the policy dialogue with senior government officials on complex economic issues concerning the T&C areas of expertise.
- Overseeing the design and delivery of the T&C program in selected countries in terms of both policy and programmatic interactions with internal (the CMU, in particular the Program Leaders overseeing the T&C programs, and other practices within the country team) and external country-level partner.
- Engaging with task teams from other practices working in the respective countries to support the operationalization of the WBG’s twin goals by identifying opportunities to enhance the private sector development impact of specific operations through more granular analyses using micro data.
- Mentoring and guiding junior members of the teams working on various T&C programs.
- Working actively on knowledge generation and dissemination of relevant good practices and lessons learned across countries.
- Providing quality control of projects, recruiting and supervise consultants and managing program implementation, monitoring the budget and spent on each program, and reporting on progress, activities, outputs and outcomes.
- Contributing to country and sector strategy; and making recommendations on strategies and policy options for member countries.
Selection Criteria
Demonstrated extensive relevant professional experience on trade and competitiveness issues, at the analytical, policy level, as well as on operational projects:
Senior Private Sector Specialist – at least 8 years + advanced degree
Economist – at least 5 years + advanced degree
- Advanced Degree (Masters or PhD) in a relevant field; ideally economics, business administration, trade, industrial organization, or a related discipline, and with a focus on competitiveness or private sector development.
- Expertise in one or more of the following areas in the public or private sector (government, international organization, private company, non-government organization): trade, investment climate, competitive industries, innovation and entrepreneurship, competitiveness diagnostics, value chain analysis, diversification, etc.
- Good command of microeconomics, industrial organization, or related fields is strongly preferred, as are econometric skills. International experience is an advantage.