Upstream and Advisory Operations Officer - Financial Inclusion

at  International Finance Corporation

IFC

Sector:
Upstream
Grade:
GF
Term Duration:
3 years 0 months
Recruitment Type:
Local Recruitment
Location:
Vienna,Austria
Required Language(s):
English
Preferred Language(s):
Any language spoken in region (W. Balkans, Caucasus, Ukraine or Eastern Europe)
Closing Date:
2/21/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
IFC - a member of the World Bank Group - is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities. Our mission is to leverage the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet. For more information, please visit www.ifc.org.
IFC has embarked on an ambitious new growth strategy to stimulate more investment activity, especially in Low Income Countries (LICs) and Fragile and Conflict affected Situations (FCS). This strategy calls for generating our own opportunities by proactively working Upstream” to create, deepen, and expand markets and to imagine, design and implement investment projects. It requires taking a systematic approach to understanding the regulatory and sector bottlenecks that prevent the flow of private capital into productive investment in our member countries, and addressing these bottlenecks through World Bank Group engagement on policy reforms and programmatic interventions at the country and sector level. It also requires capacity to leverage WBG programs and projects to develop our own proactive sector interventions and to imagine and design projects even in the absence of reforms.
The Financial Institutions Group (FIG) is one of the major industry groups at IFC, responsible for managing roughly 40% of IFC’s overall business in terms of volume and capital at risk. FIG engages in a wide range of sub-sectors including Microfinance, SME, Gender, Climate, Insurance, Capital Markets, Housing, Distressed Assets, and other areas, with both investment and advisory services delivered to IFC’s clients through IFC’s global network.
The FIG Upstream/Advisory Unit seeks to create opportunities for new private sector led investments in the region by developing a pipeline of investment-ready opportunities made possible using distinct tools and interventions, including investment structuring, advisory and policy reform. The objective of the unit will be to enhance the next generation of FIG investments across priority sectors in the region.
IFC is seeking an Upstream and Advisory Operations Officer for its Financial Institutions Group in Europe to be based in Vienna, Austria.

In achieving its financial inclusion objectives FIG is recruiting for an Operations Officer (OO) to support FIG Upstream Advisory Services in the Europe region to scale up its financial inclusion consulting projects with financial intermediaries. Financial inclusion includes but is not limited to the following segments: women, forcibly and internally displaced populations (FDPs) and migrants, MSMEs, silver economy and youth. Specially, the OO will support the FIG US/AS team to partner with relevant financial intermediaries to: (i) Develop FIG’s expanding business operations for improved financial inclusion; and (ii) support in the delivery of advisory and upstream projects.

The OO will work with the FIG team to identify new financial inclusion upstream and advisory business opportunities that are in line with IFC’s objectives and implement these projects. This includes:

• Work with AS/US regional staff to develop advisory services opportunities with key partners in the region; including developing project proposals/client pitches; and meeting with potential clients and other market stakeholders to discuss business opportunities
• Apply human-centered methodologies to establish the desirability of new business concepts
• Conduct appraisals and/or workshops as part of business development or advisory project design
• Design projects that address key clients’ needs, in a sustainable way, aiming for capacity building and leveraging existing client resources
• Lead and / or support the implementation of (proposed) recommendations and oversee implementation of services/ solutions/ recommendations to clients, ensuring overall the quality control in line with corporate monitoring and evaluation requirements. Tasks could include: market and customer research; business model development; and value proposition development
• Work/ interact closely with IFC’s AS/US staff to build their technical capacity for the delivery of projects
• Contribute to IFC’s financial inclusion knowledge management and learning agenda

Selection Criteria

• At least 7 years of experience of client facing management consulting to financial institutions or banking in emerging markets; with proven track record in the field of Financial Inclusion - such as micro, small and medium enterprise finance, and/or additional segments as gender, forcibly displaced population, etc;
• Experience in helping companies/clients to develop new products/concepts/business models; piloting, measuring success and learning lessons from them for future roll-out plans
• Master’s degree in business, Finance, Economics, or related fields is preferred;
• Solid understanding of the trends in financial services considering different players;
• Strong project management, sales and external client relationship management skills, including the ability to develop and maintain mutually beneficial stakeholder relationships and ensure timely and appropriate follow-up;
• Highly motivated, energetic, team player with excellent interpersonal skills and client service skills with the ability to multi-task, deal with conflicting priorities and deliver high quality work on schedule;
• Ability to communicate ideas clearly and confidently, and credibly represent IFC with clients and

stakeholders, including at the senior executive level;

• Sound business judgment and problem solving, negotiation and commercial skills;
• Ability to interact directly and independently with the management of potential clients and of financial and technical partners;
• Solid people management and organizational skills;
• Ability to respond to situations of high demand and pressure in a timely manner;
• Willingness to travel as needed;
• Genuine commitment to sustainable development

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 ID req31744