Senior Industry Specialist - Retail

Senior Industry Specialist - Retail Job Details

• Job #: req
  35783
• Organization: IFC
• Sector:
  Investment
• Grade: GG
• Term Duration: 3 years 0 months
• Recruitment Type:
  International Recruitment
• Location:
  
  Washington, DC, United States
• Required Language(s):
  English
• Closing Date: 3/18/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Build a career with impact. Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help countries solve their greatest development challenges. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, the WBG is a unique partnership of five global institutions dedicated to ending poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the WBG works with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges.

The Tourism and Services Solutions and Impact (KIUST) team under the WBG Infrastructure Vice Presidency (VPU) is part of the WBG Knowledge Bank. The Tourism and Services sector’s business have been growing significantly, and Retail is an important sub-sector. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.

It has played a key role in supporting the retail sector in developing countries. Since 1956, IFC has committed close to $6.3 bn in 160 projects in about 35 countries in space. The current retail investment portfolio comprises investments in Food Retail, Apparel and Sports Retail, FMCG Distribution, DIYs, Consumer Durables, Automotive Distribution, Leasing and Rental, as well as in Electronics and E-commerce.

The Retail Sector Specialist plays a key role in helping IFC to evaluate project investments, identifying areas of advisory value‑add, supporting innovation and strategy. The successful candidate is expected to have rich strategic and operational experience in senior management positions in the retail sector, preferably in emerging markets, have sound business judgment, strong financial skills and be able to work in investment teams by providing expert opinion on the technical and operational aspects of investment proposals from across our global network.

The selected candidate will be based in Washington DC and will work under the oversight of Manager, Tourism and Services, Solutions & Impact. The position will have a global focus and ability to undertake regular lengthy travel commitments is expected.

• Participate in business origination activities, build client networks and maintain client relationships.
• Appraise and assess the technical and commercial feasibility of potential projects and companies that are seeking an investment from IFC (including analysis of key areas such as business model, market, management, and operations).
• Participate in portfolio management of existing projects while providing value‑addition to our clients by providing expert advice on key aspects of their operations and performance.
• Support the investment officers in developing comprehensive financial projections for all investment cases.
• Support the development and implementation of IFC’s Retail sector strategy both globally and regionally.
• Contribute to the development and internal and external dissemination of information, knowledge and benchmarking relevant to the retail sector.
• Engage and work with colleagues from across the World Bank Group; replicate/scale high‑impact projects and innovations across all WBG products.
• Extract lessons learned from IFC investment projects and develop best practices to apply on future projects.
• Develop and support knowledge management and thought leadership.
• Keep updated on and share sectoral and industry news, trends and related developments with the team.
• Hire and supervise consultants where needed to support IFC’s work in the retail sector.

• Master’s degree in a relevant area.
• 20+ years’ total experience, including experience managing a country operation for an…