Senior Digital Specialist – AI; Cybersecurity

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is a unique global partnership of five institutions driven by a bold vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, we help solve the world’s greatest development challenges. We work with public and private sector partners, invest in groundbreaking projects, and use data, research, and technology to bring tangible and transformative change around the globe.

For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

VPU Context: The World Bank Group's Digital & AI Vice Presidency (D&AI VPU) leads the institution's work on digital transformation and artificial intelligence — both as a driver of development outcomes in client countries and as a foundation for institutional effectiveness. As AI systems become increasingly embedded in public services, financial systems, infrastructure planning, and humanitarian response, the imperative to ensure those systems are safe, fair, accountable, and aligned with human rights has never been greater.

For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/digital development.

Unit Context: Trustworthy AI — encompassing principles of transparency, explainability, fairness, robustness, privacy, and accountability — is now a strategic priority for the World Bank Group in its advisory and operational engagements with client countries. At the same time, the security of AI-enabled systems is inseparable from their trustworthiness. Cybersecurity risks, including adversarial attacks, model poisoning, data breaches, and system vulnerabilities, pose direct threats to the integrity and reliability of AI deployments in development contexts.

To advance this agenda, the D&AI VPU is seeking a Senior Digital Specialist with deep expertise in trustworthy AI and a solid foundation in cybersecurity. The specialist will lead and contribute to analytical work, operational support, policy dialogue, and knowledge generation across the Bank's global portfolio.

Duties and accountabilities:

Objectives:

The overarching objective of this position is to strengthen the World Bank Group's capacity to design, deploy, govern, and evaluate AI systems in a manner that is trustworthy, secure, and aligned with the development goals of client countries. The specialist will play a leading role in mainstreaming trustworthy AI principles into the Bank's operations and supporting clients in building the regulatory, institutional, and technical capacity required to govern and deploy AI responsibly.

1. Technical and Analytical Leadership

• Lead the development of frameworks, toolkits, methodologies, and standards for the assessment and implementation of trustworthy AI systems in development contexts, covering fairness, accountability, transparency, explainability, and robustness.

• Conduct and oversee technical assessments of AI systems deployed or under consideration in client country operations, identifying risks related to bias, opacity, data integrity, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

• Provide authoritative technical guidance on AI risk management, including threat modeling for AI systems, adversarial robustness testing, and the intersection of AI safety and cybersecurity.

• Contribute to cutting‑edge research and knowledge products on topics such as algorithmic auditing, AI governance frameworks, secure AI deployment in low‑resource environments, and emerging regulatory approaches.

2. Operational Support and Project Implementation

• Provide technical inputs into the preparation, appraisal, supervision, and evaluation of World Bank lending operations and technical assistance programs with AI components across sectors (health,…