Description
Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity to help client countries solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending poverty on a livable planet.
With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the World Bank Group works with public and private partners, invests in groundbreaking projects and uses data, research, and technology to develop solutions to pressing global, regional and local challenges. For more information, please visit http://www.worldbank.org.
The organization has undertaken an ambitious exercise to revise its mandate, products and structure to adjust to the multiple, intertwined crises affecting the world today (see Evolution Roadmap), in the move to becoming a better Bank.
Business Unit Overview
The mission of the Information and Technology Solutions (ITS) Vice Presidential Unit (VPU) is to leverage information and technology as a force multiplier to accelerate, deepen, and sustain development impact. Their vision is to harness information and technology for a world free of poverty on a livable planet. For more information on ITS, check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=VTFGffa1Y7w.
The Director and Chief Information Officer, Operations and Country Engagement Solutions is a critical role responsible for partnering closely with business leadership to deliver transformative Operations and Country Engagement technology solutions that enable the WBG to scale capabilities needed to achieve their mission of creating a world free of poverty on a livable planet.
In this role, this leader will lead, manage, and coach a global and diverse team of cross-functional resources to efficiently and effectively deliver technology solutions while fostering a culture of innovation, sustainability, and agility. The Director and Chief Information Officer, Operations and Country Engagement Solutions will collaborate with other members of the ITS Management and Leadership teams to continually evolve the ITS organization and maximize the value of technology investments at the WBG.
This role stands at the center of business and technology and requires an experienced strategic advisor who can forge deep relationships with the business and extended ecosystem to fully leverage the force multiplier effect of technology on driving business value. This leader will be a strategic visionary, collaborative leader, and change agent.
Duties & Responsibilities
The primary role and responsibility of the WBG Director and Chief Information Officer, Operations and Country Engagement Solutions:
Strategy & Business Engagement
•Collaborate with business and corporate partners to develop and execute a multi-year strategy and roadmap for the Operations and Country Engagement technology portfolio that drives measurable value for the business in alignment with the broader ITS strategy and WBG priorities.
•Be a trusted advisor for business partners, driving strategic discussions and influencing decisions on technology selection, design, and use. Create clear feedback loops with task team leaders (TTLs) and countries.
•Maintain deep understanding and knowledge of relevant business and technology trends, leading practices, and how the relevant WBG business areas run on a day-to-day basis to identify opportunities to deliver technology-driven business value.
•Represent ITS on different institutional bodies and governing forums.
•Manage relationships with owners of surrounding / interfacing solutions to ensure continued integration and minimize change impacts.
Business Solutions Leadership
•Maintain end-to-end accountability and ownership for technology products and solutions in the Operations and Country Engagement portfolio while effectively managing and mitigating risks and ensuring compliance with policies, standards, procedures, and security requirements.
•Continually assess and evaluate the impact of emerging technologies against strategic business needs and interpret business value for the leadership team.
•Manage successful delivery and operations of Operations and Country Engagement portfolio and associated capital and administrative budgets.
•Track and report portfolio performance against business value metrics jointly agreed with business partners, ensuring transparency into budget spend, cost allocations, and value delivered.
•Accelerate business digital transformation and scalability of WBG capabilities by embedding AI, ML, and other intelligent technologies into business solutions.
Business Solutions Delivery
•Lead the planning, design, configuration, and deployment of systems and business solutions in support of core organizational functions and processes.
•Lead the overall Solution Development Life Cycle (SDLC) from business/technical requirements including architecture through design, code delivery, testing and deployment
•Lead modernization of the SDLC function by adopting standard ITS agile ways of working and tools, rationalizing application architectures, and consolidating platforms. Maintain Kanban practices across the department.
•Coordinate implementation of system enhancements, upgrades, updates, patches, and fixes to assure optimal system performance, data integrity, and reliability.
Within the first year, this leader will be specifically responsible for:
•Evaluate current capabilities, strategies, roadmaps and staff, providing an informed current state assessment and future state proposal within 120 days.
•Develop framework to aggressively apply automation and/or AI to development activities including requirements discovery, transaction tracing, process discovery, coding, retrofitting, testing, deployment, and complete pilot. Establish baseline and set KPI for automation.
•Complete lean process redesign for at least two critical operational processes, in partnership with business colleagues. Quantify improvements.
•Create clear feedback loops with TTLs and Client Countries. Publish adoption and satisfaction metrics. Implement Client Ease Score, setting baseline and annual improving KPI targets.
•Deploy digital copilots for operations staff with high adoption rates. Quantify adoption and time efficiencies.
•Improve psychological safety in the unit.
•Publish the Knowledge Bank technology strategy within the first six months.
Selection Criteria
In addition to having a strong work ethic and unquestionable integrity, this leader will have the presence to establish immediate credibility with Senior Management and a complex group of stakeholders. They will possess outstanding intellect, leadership and analytical abilities as well as excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills. A successful candidate will possess qualifications such as:
•Master’s degree in computer science, engineering, or relevant discipline with 15+ years of experience in business-facing IT executive leadership position in a global financial services organization or equivalent combination of education and experience.
•Thorough understanding of application development and maintenance, business processes, and required technology capabilities in a global organization.
•Deep experience in banking, capital markets, or related industries with broad knowledge of industry-specific technologies.
•Expertise in Operations, enterprise portal, and country engagement leading practices, technologies, and solutions. Understanding of automation including expertise in code development and testing, as well as measurement reporting.
•Strong understanding of industry and technology leading practices, emerging technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and how to apply them to drive digital and business transformation.
•Proven ability to effectively partner with business stakeholders to build strong partnerships, foster good governance, ensure strategic business/IT alignment, and transform relationships at the senior level.
•Ability to direct and organize IT-related projects, to recruit and direct IT staff members, and mastery at establishing strategic service provider partnerships.
•Advanced knowledge and experience in IT management practices, agile software development practices, and global IT delivery models.
•Demonstrated success designing, leading, and executing technology strategies and large-scale IT-enabled business transformation initiatives across a global organization.
•Demonstrated ability to lead an IT delivery organization including solution design, development, and configuration as well as drive business partner satisfaction, quality, and improvement.
•Proven experience in managing and negotiating with global and niche IT service vendors, including leveraging fixed price contracts, managed service contracts, staff augmentation frameworks, and other sourcing models to ensure optimal delivery of expertise at the right price point.
•Strong knowledge of application delivery technologies and trends, including proven experience modernizing application portfolios across business and technology aspects.
•Excellent understanding of portfolio and project management principles, including applicability of SDLC, Agile, and DevOps. Expertise in software technical design, planning, project management, implementation, and support for a variety of Enterprise Applications Solutions (including Enterprise Resource Planning, business process optimization, information and knowledge management, and business intelligence domains).
•Experience in deployment, integration, and on-going management of Enterprise Applications.
•Knowledge and practical experience across a formal systems development life cycle, from business requirements analysis through to day-to-day management.
•Proficiency in managing risk in IT application delivery environments.
•Solid understanding of data analysis, budgeting, and business operations, including the timely management and delivery of large capital programs.
•Strong collaborator with outstanding interpersonal and diplomatic skills, including the ability to facilitate, negotiate, and influence for successful outcomes. Ability to influence decision makers through collaboration, education, and working partnerships.
•Demonstrated ability to lead and manage diverse multi-functional teams in multiple locations globally.
•A deep passion for the mission of the WBG.
WBG Managerial Competencies
World Bank Group Core Competencies
The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.
Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.