Lead Transport Specialist
Apply NowCompany: The World Bank Group
Location: Fort Washington, MD 20744
Description:
Lead Transport Specialist
Job #:
req31747
Organization:
World Bank
Sector:
Transportation
Grade:
GH
Term Duration:
4 years 0 months
Recruitment Type:
International Recruitment
Location:
Washington, DC,United States
Required Language(s):
English (additional French or Portugues would be an asset)
Preferred Language(s):
Closing Date:
2/28/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at theWorld Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clientssolve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of thelargest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty,increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public andprivate sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data,research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent globalchallenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
Eastern and Southern Africa
Home to about half a billion of Africa's people, Eastern and Southern Africa is a geographically, culturally, and economically diverse region of 26 countries stretching from the Red Sea in the North to the Cape of Good Hope in the South. Children under 18 make up almost half of the total population. The subregion boasts of some of the world's richest human and natural resources and, apart from South Africa, the countries are predominantly raw material exporters.
The subregion harbors some of Africa's protracted conflicts, rendering many of its countries fragile, while significant gaps in education, health, and skills development continues to keep people from reaching their full potential. This creates a huge development challenge, impacts heavily on the lives and livelihoods of people, and hinders regional integration and trade. But it also creates an opportunity to work closely with country leaders, civil society, development partners, and young people to chart a brighter course for the future.
The World Bank's Eastern and Southern Africa Region, comprised of approximately 1,300 staff, mostly based in 26 country offices, has been helping countries realize their considerable development potential by focusing on the following priorities:
- Creating Jobs and Transforming Economies: We are working with countries across Africa to stimulate job creation and economic transformation by leveraging all sources of finance, expertise, and solutions to promote investment.
- Building up the Digital Economy: We are supporting Africa's vision to ensure that every African individual, business, and government is connected by 2030 - a vision that, if realized, can boost growth by up to 2 percentage points per year, and reduce poverty by 1 percentage point per year in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.
- Supporting more Efficient and Accountable Institutions: Our support is helping governments strengthen public policy processes, manage resources effectively, and reinforce fair and reliable delivery of public services.
- Investing in People: We are at the forefront of helping African countries accelerate human capital gains and empower women by improving their access to education and skills acquisition, sexual and reproductive health services, and employment opportunities.
- Supporting Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption: In the face of increasing climate-related risks, we are working with African countries to advance efforts to adopt renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and green infrastructure.
- Addressing the Drivers of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence: Given the cross-border nature of conflicts in Africa, we are employing an approach that simultaneously focuses on the drivers of fragility while also supporting well-targeted regional initiatives to create opportunities for peace and shared prosperity.
- Building Partnerships and Working across the African Continent: We are scaling up our work on regional integration, taking a holistic view of the continent that covers both North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Bank is a dedicated partner for Eastern and Southern African countries, helping them deliver strong development outcomes for their people. A brighter future for Africa is a better future for the world.
Infrastructure Practice Group
Globally, one billion people live more than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 685 million people lack electricity, and nearly 4 billion people lack Internet access. Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities for the poor. The Infrastructure (INF) Practice Group within the World Bank is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies. The INF Vice Presidential Unit (VPU) currently consists of four global practices (GPs): Energy & Extractives (EEX); Transport (TRA); Urban, Resilience and Land (URL), and Infrastructure Finance Practice (IFP). It oversees the World Bank's work across energy and transport sectors, urban development, as well as efforts to promote energy transition, low-carbon transportation, livable cities, disaster risk resilience, land management, and quality infrastructure services through public-private partnerships. Infrastructure represents around $110 billion of the Bank's portfolio. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/infrastructure.
Transport Practice Group in Africa East
The Africa East (AFE) Transport Practice Group consists of two units (Eastern Africa and Southern Africa) led by two Transport Practice Managers who report to a Regional INF Director under the AFE Vice Presidency.
The Transport Unit in Eastern Africa is now seeking an internationally recruited Lead Transport Specialist based in Washington, DC to lead the design, preparation, and supervision of lending operations and technical assistance activities and new business development in the transport sector across the three CMUs covered in Eastern Africa (DRC, Kenya and Tanzania). The position will be based in Washington DC and will require frequent travel to the countries in these CMUs.
If the selected candidate is a current World Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment and current term.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Lead Transport Specialist will report to the Practice Manager, Transport, Eastern Africa, and will work closely with the other transport unit covering AFE, the two transport units in AFW, as well as the Infrastructure Program Leaders based in the Country Management Units (CMUs). He/she will be expected to provide leadership on key technical transport agendas in the sub-region by providing strategic technical and operational contributions to complex transport lending operations and providing leadership on portfolio and performance to ensure that lending operation and ASA activities are well coordinated, deliver quality to the client, and are delivered in a timely manner. The Lead Specialist must demonstrate a solid track record as a team leader with broad infrastructure and transport sector knowledge. Working experience in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS) would be an asset, along with proficiency in French or Portuguese. She/He will actively participate in the relevant CMU discussions, particularly on the preparation of possible policy reform actions, SCDs, CCDRs, and CPFs. She/He will also liaise and work with other global practices and on cross-cutting solutions areas, as relevant. The candidate should have:
(i) Solid operational experience leading multiple regional operations with a client-oriented and regional integration perspective
(ii) Strong entrepreneurial skills and energy to develop business opportunities and a pipeline of projects in line with the Africa Transport Strategy
(iii) Experience in regional integration (infrastructure, transport services, logistics, etc.);
(iv) Strong track record of delivering high-level flagship analytics
(v) Strong communication and people skills with an ability to lead, mentor, and support staff in the sub-region in a diverse and multidisciplinary team.
Key responsibilities include:
Leadership role for the Transport Practice
* Serve as a lead transport specialist for the Eastern Africa Transport Program, with a focus on regional integration, providing sound advice to management and staff on relevant transport sector policy interventions, strategic directions, and high-level recommendations on technical and operational issues.
* Lead and/or influence the design and implementation of transformational policy and/or research initiatives. This responsibility will encompass the design of national or regional development policy operations (DPLs) towards addressing the underlying policy shortcomings that are currently preempting a more effective achievement of development goals in the connectivity and trade facilitation areas-and advancing effectively the region's ambition of a continental trade area. In these efforts, the lead specialist is expected to engage with country/lead economists as required.
* Play an active role in the World Bank's policy dialogue with the authorities, development partners, and others on strategic transport sector issues. The Lead Specialist will also provide leadership in enhancing the policy and institutional content of investment operations in the transport sector in line with the new focus of the Practice and the World Bank on knowledge and results.
* Conceive, develop, and promote innovations in the design of policies and projects and in project implementation arrangements and management towards improving project performance and the impact of institutional development initiatives.
* Develop collaboration and partnerships between Government and the World Bank and other development partners in the transport sector as well as other regional entities and donors.
* Lead and/or participate in key business development missions and in developing innovative practical approaches to difficult policy and operational issues at the regional, country, or sector levels.
* Mentor/coach staff/consultants as directed by the Practice Manager and represent the Practice Manager in key meetings in Washington DC.
* Work on business development to expand unit's project pipeline and to develop new lines of business if the transport sector.
Knowledge and Learning
- Support the formulation and implementation of policy and institutional reforms and capacity building initiatives in cooperation with responsible entities at the central and sub-national levels, as relevant, and with other development partners.
- Lead initiatives at the country level to establish framework and approach to knowledge dissemination and/or the development of knowledge products.
- Organize/facilitate flow of knowledge and exchange of ideas to benefit clients on key issues relevant to their development concerns.
- Play a significant role within sector in guiding/mentoring and as a key contributor in design of professional and operational training or development activities in field of expertise.
- Stay abreast of key developments in various areas of corporate agenda and in cross-cutting issues affecting the performance of the transport sector.
- Engage through transport country teams with the Country Management Units to provide advice as necessary on cross-practice issues.
Selection Criteria
Technical Competencies
* Master's degree or higher in civil/transport engineering, planning, economics, environment, public policy, finance or other related disciplines;
* Minimum of 12 years proven experience in the transport sector or in a related infrastructure field (either with a government's transport authority, contractor(s), design or supervision consultant(s), or development institutions), with demonstrated ability to work on developing and implementing transport master plans and sector capacity building plans;
* In-depth background with adequate education, expertise and demonstrated leadership and competence in at least two of the following functional areas, in the transport sector: (a) regional corridors; (b) urban mobility; (c) railways; (d) road asset management (including output-based contractual approaches); and (e) port and/or maritime transport. Experience in addressing cross-cutting issues in transport, such as gender, impact evaluation, and climate change/decarbonization.
* Proven strategic skills and ability to integrate institutional, technical, economic, and financial elements in helping clients formulate institution-building strategies and viable implementation sequences, including social inclusion and accountability.
* Robust experience in working with cross-GP/sectoral teams, including teams for safeguards and fiduciary aspects, and knowledge of key cross-cutting issues that impinge on the performance of the transport sector and on which the development of transport sector infrastructure and services needs to create positive effect, including environmental and social impacts, land acquisition and resettlement, gender equality, road safety, climate change, and the interplay with digital technologies for enhance transport sector performance.
* Experience with design and implementation of transport programs, and experience of working on programs financed by the World Bank or other development partners, multilateral or bilateral, and demonstrated track record of successful business development activities.
* Demonstrated project/program management skills and aptitude to lead teams, and ability to promote client/beneficiary participation to ensure implementation and long-term sustainability of project/programs.
* Familiarity with the challenges facing the transport sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and particularly FCV countries would be a plus.
* High degree of dynamism and self-motivation, as well as the ability to work independently.
* Fluency in English in writing and convincing verbal articulation skills are essential. Knowledge of French and/or Portuguese would be a plus.
This internal requisition is open to WBG and IMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/ temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case an external candidate applies, their application will not be considered.
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.
Job #:
req31747
Organization:
World Bank
Sector:
Transportation
Grade:
GH
Term Duration:
4 years 0 months
Recruitment Type:
International Recruitment
Location:
Washington, DC,United States
Required Language(s):
English (additional French or Portugues would be an asset)
Preferred Language(s):
Closing Date:
2/28/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at theWorld Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clientssolve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of thelargest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty,increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public andprivate sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data,research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent globalchallenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
Eastern and Southern Africa
Home to about half a billion of Africa's people, Eastern and Southern Africa is a geographically, culturally, and economically diverse region of 26 countries stretching from the Red Sea in the North to the Cape of Good Hope in the South. Children under 18 make up almost half of the total population. The subregion boasts of some of the world's richest human and natural resources and, apart from South Africa, the countries are predominantly raw material exporters.
The subregion harbors some of Africa's protracted conflicts, rendering many of its countries fragile, while significant gaps in education, health, and skills development continues to keep people from reaching their full potential. This creates a huge development challenge, impacts heavily on the lives and livelihoods of people, and hinders regional integration and trade. But it also creates an opportunity to work closely with country leaders, civil society, development partners, and young people to chart a brighter course for the future.
The World Bank's Eastern and Southern Africa Region, comprised of approximately 1,300 staff, mostly based in 26 country offices, has been helping countries realize their considerable development potential by focusing on the following priorities:
- Creating Jobs and Transforming Economies: We are working with countries across Africa to stimulate job creation and economic transformation by leveraging all sources of finance, expertise, and solutions to promote investment.
- Building up the Digital Economy: We are supporting Africa's vision to ensure that every African individual, business, and government is connected by 2030 - a vision that, if realized, can boost growth by up to 2 percentage points per year, and reduce poverty by 1 percentage point per year in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.
- Supporting more Efficient and Accountable Institutions: Our support is helping governments strengthen public policy processes, manage resources effectively, and reinforce fair and reliable delivery of public services.
- Investing in People: We are at the forefront of helping African countries accelerate human capital gains and empower women by improving their access to education and skills acquisition, sexual and reproductive health services, and employment opportunities.
- Supporting Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption: In the face of increasing climate-related risks, we are working with African countries to advance efforts to adopt renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and green infrastructure.
- Addressing the Drivers of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence: Given the cross-border nature of conflicts in Africa, we are employing an approach that simultaneously focuses on the drivers of fragility while also supporting well-targeted regional initiatives to create opportunities for peace and shared prosperity.
- Building Partnerships and Working across the African Continent: We are scaling up our work on regional integration, taking a holistic view of the continent that covers both North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Bank is a dedicated partner for Eastern and Southern African countries, helping them deliver strong development outcomes for their people. A brighter future for Africa is a better future for the world.
Infrastructure Practice Group
Globally, one billion people live more than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 685 million people lack electricity, and nearly 4 billion people lack Internet access. Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities for the poor. The Infrastructure (INF) Practice Group within the World Bank is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies. The INF Vice Presidential Unit (VPU) currently consists of four global practices (GPs): Energy & Extractives (EEX); Transport (TRA); Urban, Resilience and Land (URL), and Infrastructure Finance Practice (IFP). It oversees the World Bank's work across energy and transport sectors, urban development, as well as efforts to promote energy transition, low-carbon transportation, livable cities, disaster risk resilience, land management, and quality infrastructure services through public-private partnerships. Infrastructure represents around $110 billion of the Bank's portfolio. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/infrastructure.
Transport Practice Group in Africa East
The Africa East (AFE) Transport Practice Group consists of two units (Eastern Africa and Southern Africa) led by two Transport Practice Managers who report to a Regional INF Director under the AFE Vice Presidency.
The Transport Unit in Eastern Africa is now seeking an internationally recruited Lead Transport Specialist based in Washington, DC to lead the design, preparation, and supervision of lending operations and technical assistance activities and new business development in the transport sector across the three CMUs covered in Eastern Africa (DRC, Kenya and Tanzania). The position will be based in Washington DC and will require frequent travel to the countries in these CMUs.
If the selected candidate is a current World Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment and current term.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Lead Transport Specialist will report to the Practice Manager, Transport, Eastern Africa, and will work closely with the other transport unit covering AFE, the two transport units in AFW, as well as the Infrastructure Program Leaders based in the Country Management Units (CMUs). He/she will be expected to provide leadership on key technical transport agendas in the sub-region by providing strategic technical and operational contributions to complex transport lending operations and providing leadership on portfolio and performance to ensure that lending operation and ASA activities are well coordinated, deliver quality to the client, and are delivered in a timely manner. The Lead Specialist must demonstrate a solid track record as a team leader with broad infrastructure and transport sector knowledge. Working experience in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS) would be an asset, along with proficiency in French or Portuguese. She/He will actively participate in the relevant CMU discussions, particularly on the preparation of possible policy reform actions, SCDs, CCDRs, and CPFs. She/He will also liaise and work with other global practices and on cross-cutting solutions areas, as relevant. The candidate should have:
(i) Solid operational experience leading multiple regional operations with a client-oriented and regional integration perspective
(ii) Strong entrepreneurial skills and energy to develop business opportunities and a pipeline of projects in line with the Africa Transport Strategy
(iii) Experience in regional integration (infrastructure, transport services, logistics, etc.);
(iv) Strong track record of delivering high-level flagship analytics
(v) Strong communication and people skills with an ability to lead, mentor, and support staff in the sub-region in a diverse and multidisciplinary team.
Key responsibilities include:
Leadership role for the Transport Practice
* Serve as a lead transport specialist for the Eastern Africa Transport Program, with a focus on regional integration, providing sound advice to management and staff on relevant transport sector policy interventions, strategic directions, and high-level recommendations on technical and operational issues.
* Lead and/or influence the design and implementation of transformational policy and/or research initiatives. This responsibility will encompass the design of national or regional development policy operations (DPLs) towards addressing the underlying policy shortcomings that are currently preempting a more effective achievement of development goals in the connectivity and trade facilitation areas-and advancing effectively the region's ambition of a continental trade area. In these efforts, the lead specialist is expected to engage with country/lead economists as required.
* Play an active role in the World Bank's policy dialogue with the authorities, development partners, and others on strategic transport sector issues. The Lead Specialist will also provide leadership in enhancing the policy and institutional content of investment operations in the transport sector in line with the new focus of the Practice and the World Bank on knowledge and results.
* Conceive, develop, and promote innovations in the design of policies and projects and in project implementation arrangements and management towards improving project performance and the impact of institutional development initiatives.
* Develop collaboration and partnerships between Government and the World Bank and other development partners in the transport sector as well as other regional entities and donors.
* Lead and/or participate in key business development missions and in developing innovative practical approaches to difficult policy and operational issues at the regional, country, or sector levels.
* Mentor/coach staff/consultants as directed by the Practice Manager and represent the Practice Manager in key meetings in Washington DC.
* Work on business development to expand unit's project pipeline and to develop new lines of business if the transport sector.
Knowledge and Learning
- Support the formulation and implementation of policy and institutional reforms and capacity building initiatives in cooperation with responsible entities at the central and sub-national levels, as relevant, and with other development partners.
- Lead initiatives at the country level to establish framework and approach to knowledge dissemination and/or the development of knowledge products.
- Organize/facilitate flow of knowledge and exchange of ideas to benefit clients on key issues relevant to their development concerns.
- Play a significant role within sector in guiding/mentoring and as a key contributor in design of professional and operational training or development activities in field of expertise.
- Stay abreast of key developments in various areas of corporate agenda and in cross-cutting issues affecting the performance of the transport sector.
- Engage through transport country teams with the Country Management Units to provide advice as necessary on cross-practice issues.
Selection Criteria
Technical Competencies
* Master's degree or higher in civil/transport engineering, planning, economics, environment, public policy, finance or other related disciplines;
* Minimum of 12 years proven experience in the transport sector or in a related infrastructure field (either with a government's transport authority, contractor(s), design or supervision consultant(s), or development institutions), with demonstrated ability to work on developing and implementing transport master plans and sector capacity building plans;
* In-depth background with adequate education, expertise and demonstrated leadership and competence in at least two of the following functional areas, in the transport sector: (a) regional corridors; (b) urban mobility; (c) railways; (d) road asset management (including output-based contractual approaches); and (e) port and/or maritime transport. Experience in addressing cross-cutting issues in transport, such as gender, impact evaluation, and climate change/decarbonization.
* Proven strategic skills and ability to integrate institutional, technical, economic, and financial elements in helping clients formulate institution-building strategies and viable implementation sequences, including social inclusion and accountability.
* Robust experience in working with cross-GP/sectoral teams, including teams for safeguards and fiduciary aspects, and knowledge of key cross-cutting issues that impinge on the performance of the transport sector and on which the development of transport sector infrastructure and services needs to create positive effect, including environmental and social impacts, land acquisition and resettlement, gender equality, road safety, climate change, and the interplay with digital technologies for enhance transport sector performance.
* Experience with design and implementation of transport programs, and experience of working on programs financed by the World Bank or other development partners, multilateral or bilateral, and demonstrated track record of successful business development activities.
* Demonstrated project/program management skills and aptitude to lead teams, and ability to promote client/beneficiary participation to ensure implementation and long-term sustainability of project/programs.
* Familiarity with the challenges facing the transport sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and particularly FCV countries would be a plus.
* High degree of dynamism and self-motivation, as well as the ability to work independently.
* Fluency in English in writing and convincing verbal articulation skills are essential. Knowledge of French and/or Portuguese would be a plus.
This internal requisition is open to WBG and IMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/ temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case an external candidate applies, their application will not be considered.
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.