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.

Within IFC, the Corporate Portfolio Management (CPM) Department, under the IFC Global Industries Vice President, is responsible for: (i) providing corporate and strategic level reports and reviews of IFC's investment pipeline, program and portfolio, including granular data and historical and forward looking analytics of trends, risks, and profitability; (ii) providing thought leadership on how IFC can create a portfolio that balances profitability, risk and development impact; (iii) systematically capturing lessons of experience, with the goal of these being incorporated into IFC's strategy and new investments, in order to improve IFC's performance and outcomes; (iv) developing, and supporting the management of, portfolio systems as well as portfolio related knowledge tools.

To meet IFC's 2030 ambitions as outlined in the capital increase commitments and the IFC 3.0 strategy, it is essential that IFC Operations possess the necessary tools, processes, and systems to ensure top-quality delivery to clients and maximize internal efficiencies. To achieve this, the CPM Core Operational Systems (CPMCO) vertical is dedicated to continuous business process improvement, operational systems, risk management, and change management. One of their flagship programs, Phoenix, aims to replace IFC's legacy operations systems (iDesk/iPortal) for Project Processing and provide tools for business development and external client interactions. COSR is a unified program with a phased delivery approach, integrating Client Portal, Client Management, and Project Processing into one cohesive system.

CPMCO is seeking a self-starter, entrepreneurial data scientist to provide leadership in the adoption of AI/ML in IFC operations. As part of Phoenix, CPMCO aims to include AI/ML for various activities, such as self-paced guides, policy and procedures self-help, and content recommendations.

• Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 3-year term appointment.

Duties and Accountabilities

The data scientist role will play a critical entrepreneurial role and will be responsible for developing advanced analytics and deep insights from IFC operations, as CPMCO's representative in the pan-CPM Portfolio Intelligence" initiative, consisting of data scientists and analysts from all CPM units. Focus for this initiative is gathering and developing AI/ML solutions for data and analytics challenges both internally for CPM as well as for operations staff across IFC. As such, you will work closely with the network of data scientists in the World Bank group, IT department, process owners and business stakeholders to deliver impactful data science solutions. You will have the opportunity to do your best work every day and deliver disruptive innovation by tapping into new datasets, leveraging the latest cloud technologies, and being supported by a robust analytics and IT team.

Specifically, the position will:

• Assist in Stakeholder Collaboration : Support senior team members in working with business and technical stakeholders to understand and formulate problem statements addressing their pain points,
• Data Preparation and Analysis : Help in gathering, cleaning, and preprocessing structured and unstructured data for analysis and modeling purposes.
• Model Development Support : Assist in developing, training, and evaluating machine learning models for analytics under the guidance of senior data scientists.
• Feature Extraction and Engineering : Perform basic feature extraction and engineering tasks, such as tokenization, stemming, and vectorization, to prepare data for modeling.
• Documentation and Reporting : Document methodologies, experiments, and results, and assist in preparing reports and visualizations to communicate findings.
• Learning and Development: Stay updated with the latest advancements in text analytics and NLP and participate in training sessions and workshops to enhance skills.
• Ad Hoc Analysis and Support: Handle ad hoc queries and provide support for various analytics tasks as needed, including user testing and basic application maintenance.

Selection Criteria

Candidates should be professionals with experience in data science skills and technical knowledge of portfolio and asset management related topics, ideally in the private sector. The candidate should meet the following criteria:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering or related field. Master's degree would be preferred, as well as equivalent combination of education (e.g. Bachelors in Computer science disciplines and a Master's in business (e.g., Business Administration, Finance, Economics).
• Minimum of 2-3 years prior experience working with text analytics, natural language, and non-structure AI/ML analysis.
• Demonstrated understanding of financial concepts, and application of data science in financial, corporate or investment operations domains.
• Strong analytical skills to critically evaluate gathered data and ability to link or associate with other datasets and data needs.
• Knowledge and experience in scripting and programming with Python, R and SQL.
• Knowledge and experience with relevant technologies, preferably in cloud environment and tools provided within Azure and AWS.
• Aptitude for learning and applying new technologies related to Data Science and Data Management.
• Demonstrated self-starter with a high degree of responsiveness and proactivity.
• Strong written and spoken communications skills in English; ability to communicate ideas clearly and confidently, articulate issues and recommend solutions.

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.