Private Sector Specialist

At the World Bank, a member of 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 https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are/ibrd The East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region has made strong progress in reducing poverty and expanding opportunity, yet important challenges remain, including uneven access to basic services, infrastructure gaps, and vulnerability to climate and disaster risks. In the Philippines, these challenges are heightened by the country’s archipelagic geography, which raises the cost and complexity of delivering services and infrastructure at scale. To learn more, visit: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/eap The Finance, Competitiveness and Investment (FCI) practice brings together finance and private sector development expertise to support private sector-led growth, investment and job creation. Guided by the Country Partnership Framework, FCI has a substantial and growing Philippines program that combines policy dialogue and analytics with major financing operations to improve the business environment, strengthen firm productivity, expand access to finance, integrate SMEs into value chains, and enable private investment. The Private Sector Specialist will be an integral member of the Philippines country team, reporting to the FCI Practice Manager for East Asia and the Pacific. Key duties include: • Contribute to and progressively lead Investment Project Financing (IPF) and Development Policy Financing (DPF) operations on private sector development, competitiveness, investment and jobs, from preparation through supervision, working closely with implementing agencies to translate project design into effective delivery systems. • Support private-sector policy dialogue with government and the private sector on reforms that improve the environment for investment, productivity, innovation and enterprise growth. • Serve as a primary point of engagement with implementing agencies and private sector stakeholders, facilitating coordination across government institutions, development partners, industry associations, financial institutions, and firms. • Lead work on SMEs and firm capabilities, including access to markets and finance, value-chain integration, supplier development, entrepreneurship, technology adoption and quality infrastructure. • Help design reforms, public investments and institutional strengthening that mobilize private investment, working with IFC to connect policy reforms with investment opportunities. • Undertake analytical and advisory work and translate findings into actionable policy recommendations, operations and technical assistance. • Support implementation and portfolio management, resolve bottlenecks with implementing agencies, and prepare high-quality briefs and notes for Country and senior management. • Build effective relationships with ministries, agencies, firms and financial institutions, and collaborate across practices and with development partners to bring global knowledge to the Philippines program.