Senior Economist-Sovereign Risk Unit Job #: req35104 Organization: World Bank Sector: Economics Grade: GG Term Duration: 4 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: Washington, DC,United States Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 1/2/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work 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. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Vice Presidency of the World Bank is the core unit responsible for institutional risk oversight, including establishment and monitoring adherence to risk policies and guidelines and risk assessment and reporting to the Board and executive management. Its mission is to enable and support the institution to achieve its goals in a financially sustainable manner. The VPU assists management with identifying and managing group-wide cross-cutting risks, enhancing risk response decisions, reducing financial and operational surprises and losses, seizing opportunities and improving deployment of capital. The CRO Vice Presidency comprises four Departments: 1) Credit Risk (CROCR); 2) Market & Counterparty Risk (CROMC), 3) Operational Risk (CROOR), and 4) Environmental and Social Risk (CROES).
The Credit Risk Department (CROCR) ensures that the Bank's credit risk exposure is commensurate with the risk appetite of stakeholders and strikes the appropriate balance between financial and development objectives. CROCR manages the credit risk inherent in IBRD's loan portfolio. CROCR's core functions include, among others (i) Assessing and rating sovereign credit risk for all IBRD and IDA borrowers; (ii) Assessing and rating sovereign credit risk for IFC and MIGA; (iii) Assessing and scoring economic/country risks to the private and financial sectors for IFC; (iv) Assessing country eligibility for IBRD resources; (v) Influencing IBRD’s lending strategy and assessing lending plans against lending allocations as established through the exposure management framework: (vi) Anticipating countries that are vulnerable to crises; (vii) Participating in arrears workouts for IBRD borrowing countries; (viii) Engaging with the Paris Club of bilateral creditors; (ix) Ensuring IBRD is adequately provisioned for loan losses; and (x) Assessing/Monitoring the size of credit shocks (unexpected losses) as part of IBRD’s capital adequacy framework.
Responsibilities
The Senior Economist position is within the Sovereign Risk Unit in CROCR. As country coordinator, the successful candidate will:
• Have primary sovereign risk ratings responsibility for a portfolio of IDA and IBRD borrowing countries. This includes the periodic presentation of country risk notes including risk rating proposals to the CROCR’s Risk Committee, as well as ongoing country monitoring.
• Have primary responsibility for assessing and rating country/economic risks to the private sector and financial sectors of these countries.
• Lead the dialogue with World Bank country operational teams on issues relating to macroeconomic and debt risks and exposure management, including:
- Contributing to the corporate reviews of country engagement products and lending operations.
- Engaging with country operations teams on exposure reallocation requests, and debt and macro issues, as needed, in close collaboration with other relevant units across the Bank.
- Contributing to CROCR work on the IDA Sustainable Development Financing Policy (SDFP)
• Leading the preparation of key inputs to CROCR written products, such as the Annual Risk Report, Board papers, and ad-hoc management briefings.
• Contributing to the department’s continual efforts to improve risk assessment approaches and to innovate.
• Depending on business needs, the candidate could also assume responsibilities within the Department on other issues, such as ESG influences on credit risk, stress testing, Paris Club representation, Short-term Risk Monitoring, and strengthening quantitative approaches.
Selection Criteria
• Master's degree in economics
• At least eight years of relevant experience, with strong track record of delivering high quality work in a timely manner (or Ph.D. and five years of experience)
• Excellent macroeconomic reasoning and understanding of the interlinked aspects of open economy macroeconomics
• Strong quantitative skills
• Outstanding intellectual rigor and attention to details, especially for data work
• Hard-working with an ability to manage multiple priorities under time pressure
• Proficiency in dealing with credit risk concepts
• Excellent presentational and communication skills
• Enjoy working in a high-performing team with collective responsibility and a high value placed on teamwork
WBG Culture Attributes:
1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.
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.
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