Senior Energy Specialist Job #: req32947 Organization: World Bank Sector: Energy Grade: GG Term Duration: 4 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: Conakry,Guinea Required Language(s): Preferred Language(s): English and French Closing Date: 5/9/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org.
Western and Central Africa (AFW) Region
We need the best and brightest talent focused on Sub-Saharan African countries in order to harness the potential and innovation happening across the continent. Africa is a continent on the move, with a young population and a growing market of nearly 1.2bn people. We are committed to making the Africa regional teams into leading innovation hubs.
Yet, these vast opportunities are tempered by persistent gaps in education, health, and skills, which have Africa only reaching forty percent of its estimated potential. Moreover, conflict, food insecurity, population growth, and the disruptive forces of climate change threaten to curtail or even reverse the progress that has been made over the past decades.
In West and Central Africa, the World Bank is a leading partner with a growing portfolio of 349 projects totaling more than $60 billion in areas such as agriculture, trade and transport, energy, education, health, water and sanitation- all to support job creation, gender equality, poverty reduction, and better lives. Across the continent, the World Bank’s program has nearly doubled over the last 10 years. By 2030, about 87% of the world’s extreme poor are projected to live in Sub-Saharan Africa, so this is where our mission to end extreme poverty and to promote shared prosperity will be achieved.
Are you ready to make an impact? We are looking for dedicated professionals to join our innovative and diverse team to improve people’s lives and help countries build back better after COVID.
https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/western-and-central-africa
UNIT CONTEXT
The World Bank Group (WBG) supports the Sustainable Energy for All initiative and is committed to working towards accomplishing the initiative's three goals by 2030: i) universal access to electricity and clean cooking fuels; ii) doubling the share of the world's energy supplied by renewable sources from 18 percent to 36 percent, and iii) doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency.
Infrastructure Practice Group
Globally, one billion people live more than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 685 million people lack electricity, and nearly 4 billion people lack Internet access. Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities for the poor. The Infrastructure (INF) Practice Group within the World Bank is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies. The INF Vice Presidential Unit (VPU) currently consists of four global practices (GPs): Energy & Extractives (EEX); Transport; Urban, Resilience and Land (URL), and Infrastructure Finance Practice (IFP). It oversees the Bank's work across energy and transport sectors, urban development, as well as efforts to promote energy transition, low-carbon transportation, livable cities, disaster risk resilience, land management, and quality infrastructure services through public-private partnerships. Infrastructure represents around $110 billion of the Bank’s portfolio. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/infrastructure
As part of the Infrastructure Practice Group, the Energy & Extractives (EEX) Global Practice (GP) focuses on providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to meet the needs of fast-growing economies, ensure universal access to modern energy services for people in client countries, strengthen policy and institutional frameworks to promote transparent and equitable growth of the extractives sectors for public benefit. There is a strong emphasis on private sector resource mobilization and catalyzing financing from commercial and other sources of development and climate finance.
The Africa energy sector grouping consists of four units across two regions of Eastern and Southern Africa (AFE) and Western and Central Africa (AFW), each managed by a Practice Manager. The units together total over 120 staff of which 58% (over 70) are based outside the US, and more than half of the operational and advisory activities are managed /led by field-based staff. The Bank is engaged in all aspects of the electricity sector – generation, transmission, distribution, rural electrification, and off-grid.
The Africa Energy Program in Western and Central Africa currently comprises about 41 projects with a value of over US$9 billion, covering reforms (sector and corporate governance, energy security and the environment, regional energy trade, public-private partnerships, energy efficiency, etc.) and investment support in power generation, power and gas transmission and distribution, regional connectivity, rural energy services, renewable energy development, low-carbon and climate friendly initiatives. The Program uses a variety of instruments, including investment lending, guarantees for public private partnerships, and development policy lending. In addition, the Bank manages a strong knowledge agenda to inform the policy dialogue in the sector.
The AFW Energy Program is now at a turning point since the Bank has embraced the objective to provide electricity access to additional 250 million people by 2030. As a result, all Units are gearing up efforts and new lending is expected to reach approximately US$2 billion per annum.
The IAWE2 (West Africa) unit seeks an experienced Senior Energy Specialist based in Conakry, Guinea, to contribute to the Unit’s strategic, advisory, and operational work. He will lead lending and non-lending activities and support teams on the growing energy portfolio of the unit, with a focus on Guinea.
In West Africa, where insufficient electricity supply is a major barrier to expanding access, regional power system integration and clean energy transition are key areas of focus to help countries achieve energy security. Also, reforms remain critical to improve the financial standing of power sectors and utilities and ultimately create the conditions for private investment. Finally, renewed focus will be given to electrification, based on attentive planning and a combination of grid-based and decentralized solutions as the WBG joins forces with other partners to increase energy access to at least 300 million people in Africa by 2030 (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/energizing-africa).
The IAWE2 (West and Central Africa Region) unit seeks Senior Energy Specialists (SES) to contribute to the Unit’s strategic, advisory, and operational work on the energy program.
This is a batch recruitment that includes 2 positions. In addition to this vacancy, there is another vacancy: one in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Please state in your application if you are interested in being considered for the other location.
In Guinea, the Bank is engaged in: (i) promoting universal access to affordable, reliable and modern electricity services; (ii) promoting the financial viability of the sector and enabling conditions to attract private sector capital; and (iii) supporting policy reforms to promote an efficient power market and increased digitalization. This position is based in Conakry, Guinea, with a specific focus on existing and pipeline national and regional programs in Guinea, as well as the preparation of the national energy compact. The focus will be to further develop the energy engagement in Guinea across the entire energy sector portfolio including the value chain of an effective power market and the broader electrification as well as digitalization agenda, implementing enabling conditions to foster private sector participation and the related policy dialogue. There are projects and analytical work under preparation in all these engagements and the selected candidate is expected to play a key role in their design and implementation during the IDA 21 period. The SES is expected to closely coordinate with the Lead Transport Energy/Program Leader for Infrastructure based in Cote d’Ivoire and other task team leaders working on energy operations in Guinea.
Duties & Accountabilities
• Lead the Bank’s energy policy dialogue with the authorities, development partners and other sector stakeholders, on the implementation of ongoing energy sector reforms and others strategic energy issues
• Lead the identification, preparation and supervision of specific energy investment operations and coordinate operations that are led by other task team leaders working on the same country to fully support the client needs in a harmonized manner – including in regulatory reforms, power utilities reform, energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energy, Public Private Partnership investments in infrastructure projects and regional integration projects.
• Lead analytical and advisory work in the energy sector and related areas to inform sector dialogue and operations including political economy and macro-fiscal aspects.
• Contribute to the Maximizing Finance for Development (MFD) approach. The AFR Energy team is a key contributor to the WBG strategy for MFD with the objective to help countries maximize their development resources by drawing on a range of financing sources and sustainable private sector solutions.
• Lead teams and provide guidance and mentoring to junior staff on operational, policy dialogue and analytical activities.
• Actively contribute to the dissemination of our activities, within the WBG and in external events. Provide inputs to operational products/outputs for sector and country briefings, analytical and advisory reports and studies, portfolio performance and monitoring reviews, and liaison between the energy and extractives practice and the country unit on energy issues.
Selection Criteria
• Master's degree in engineering, energy planning/economics, business administration, or equivalent areas relevant for energy/extractives sector development;
• At least 8 years of combined experience in the World Bank, other international institutions and/or companies, government agencies, and/or power sector utilities with consistent record of successful engagement with complex projects;
• Understanding of energy policies, regulations, technologies or strategies, private sector participation, and institutional development needed to support development and for the success of project and analytic work; experience leading and/or playing key roles in policy dialogue with clients and partners;
• Strong experience in planning, designing, and implementing power infrastructure projects including renewable energy generation, transmission and distribution, and on-grid and off-grid electrification and access projects; Hands-on experience with infrastructure projects with power sector utilities will be a distinct advantage;
• Strong knowledge of at least one of relevant thematic business lines such as Energy Access; Economics, Markets & Institution; Energy Efficiency; Renewable Energy; Energy Finance; Hydropower; Power Systems & Technologies.
• A consistent track record in carrying out high quality and timely analytical reports and activities would be advantageous;
• Experience working on World Bank or other International Financial Institutions (IFIs) lending and non-lending operations is desirable; including knowledge and experience with fiduciary and safeguards policies and application.
• Active listening skills, excellent interpersonal skills, able to influence the audience and build positive relationships with clients, different partners and colleagues across units and departmental boundaries in a multi-cultural environment with disperse teams located in different countries.
• Experience working with large global teams, producing high-quality results and outputs with minimal supervision; Proven record of teamwork and ability to lead and mentor junior staff, to advise and guide senior staff in your core skills, to produce high-quality policy and project related written outputs with autonomy and in a highly visible country profile;
• High level of excitement, ability to work independently, taking initiative, and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work program requirements.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including an ability to communicate complex issues in simple terms and to engage in evidence-based dialogue with clients.
• Full proficiency in spoken and written French and English.
Technical competencies
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Translate technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and sector strategies; interacts with clients at the policy level;
• Policy Dialogue Skills - Anticipate needs and requests in the field and conduct independent policy discussions with representatives of the government and non-government partners;
• Integrative Skills - Understand relevant cross-sectoral areas how they are interrelated; able to undertake cross-sectoral work in lending and non-lending operations;
• Energy Sector Technologies - Deep experience applying knowledge (hydrocarbon, power generation, transmission and distribution, renewables, and energy efficiency) to policy-related decisions and advice;
• Energy Policy, Strategy and Institutions - Proven understanding of energy policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.
The WBG Core Competencies
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Translates technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and sector strategies; interacts with clients at the policy level.
• Policy Dialogue Skills - Anticipates needs and requests in the field and conducts independent policy discussions with representatives of the government and non-government partners.
• Integrative Skills - Understands relevant cross-sectoral areas how they are interrelated; able to undertake cross-sectoral work in lending and non-lending operations.
• Sector/Network Representation - Demonstrates ability to coordinate, participate in, and act as a catalyst for, strategic cross-sector dialogues within the network, across the country, among Bank colleagues and other development institutions, government, and other organizations.
• Project Design for Impact and Sustainability - Contributes to the design of projects and programs, based on an understanding of the country and sector context.
If the selected candidate is a current World 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 4-years 0 month term appointment.
Poverty has no borders. Neither does excellence. This is why we continually search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe. 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.
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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