Senior Digital Specialist - SME, Jobs, and Digital Transformation

The Senior Digital Specialist will lead efforts to accelerate SME digitalization, job creation, and real-sector transformation by supporting digital foundations into measurable firm-level and employment outcomes across multiple sectors. The role involves strategy development, program design, partnership mobilization, and operational support within the World Bank Group's Digital & AI Vice Presidency.

Responsibilities

• Lead country and sector diagnostics on SME digital readiness, adoption barriers, market opportunities, and jobs, converting findings into prioritized roadmaps, investment plans, delivery models, budgets, and measurable results.
• Design programs that help firms adopt e-commerce, cloud tools, payments, cybersecurity, data analytics, and AI, including shared services, accelerators, voucher models, supplier-development programs, and digital finance pathways.
• Build skills-to-jobs approaches linking employers, SMEs, platforms, training providers, and labor-market systems, addressing entrepreneurship, platform work, workforce transitions, and AI-complementary jobs with attention to women and youth.
• Help sector teams identify high-value use cases and redesign firm processes, services, and value chains across agriculture, health, manufacturing, tourism, water, finance, and other sectors.
• Advise on competition, data governance, interoperability, digital trade, consumer protection, procurement, and public-private collaboration, mobilizing technology firms, financial institutions, investors, academia, and development partners.
• Support concept notes, project design, TORs, technical specifications, supervision, and results frameworks, identifying pathways for private capital mobilization, market creation, and integrated WBG delivery.
• Produce practical toolkits, playbooks, case studies, and a digital transformation for real sector training accelerator program; test approaches through pilots, capture evidence, and scale effective models across regions.

Requirements

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in technology, economics, business, public policy, engineering, or related fields.
• At least 8 years of progressively responsible experience in digital transformation, SME development, jobs, or private-sector development.
• Strong record translating firm and sector constraints into feasible digital programs, architectures, financing plans, and results frameworks.
• Expertise in at least three areas: SME digitalization; skills and jobs; digital platforms; data and AI; digital finance; e-commerce; or sector transformation.
• Demonstrated operational experience with governments, private firms, investors, and development institutions across multiple regions.
• Knowledge of data governance, interoperability, cybersecurity, cloud services, responsible AI, and low-capacity implementation environments.
• Excellent client engagement, technical writing, influencing, and collaboration skills in complex, cross-cultural, multidisciplinary settings.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across teams, disciplines, cultures, and institutional boundaries.
• Experience working in fragile, conflict-affected, and violent (FCV) contexts is encouraged to be highlighted.

Skills

• Digital Transformation
• SMEs Development
• Private Sector Development
• Program Design
• Digital Architecture
• Financing Plans Design
• Results Frameworks
• SME Digitization
• Skills and Jobs
• Digital Platforms
• Data and AI
• Digital Finance
• E-Commerce
• Sector Transformation
• Operational Experience with Governments
• Client Engagement
• Technical Writing
• Intercultural Collaboration
• Data Governance
• Interoperability
• Cybersecurity
• Cloud Services
• Responsible AI Principles
• Partnership Mobilization
• Working in Fragile Contexts

Languages

English