Senior Program Assistant

Job #: req38272

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Other

Grade: GD

Term Duration: 3 years 0 months

Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Location: Washington, DC, United States

Required Language(s): English

Preferred Language(s):

Closing Date: 9/22/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. 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, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. 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 People VPU Front Office:

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.

The People Vice Presidency

The WBG People Vice Presidency is made up of the Global Departments for education and skills; health; gender; and social policy. The People Vice Presidency is responsible for getting the right public and private sector solutions to our operational teams and to our clients, and to produce scalable impact. Its mandate is to deliver knowledge for impact to enable and support the WBG to achieve its goals in support of our mission and specifically: providing guidance on creating more and better jobs; supporting foundational infrastructure and human capital, policy environment, and private sector mobilization; focusing on agribusiness, healthcare, infrastructure, manufacturing, and tourism; and support and accelerate specific targets such as M300, Health 1.5bn, and SP 500.

The VPU’s objectives in driving outcomes include replicating and scaling development solutions through thought leadership and innovation, and delivering timely knowledge to teams and clients.

WKHVP Front Office

The Office of the Vice President is a dynamic unit that requires professional excellence, results focus and a commitment to teamwork. The Senior Program Assistant will be part of the People Vice President’s front office team supporting the Director of Strategy and Operations (DSO) and the Manager for Development Effectiveness. The incumbent will provide administrative support to the Development Effectiveness team and be part of a team of A2D colleagues providing seamless support to the whole People Front Office which includes the Office of the VP and DSO, the Development Effectiveness team and the Human Capital Team. This position will offer exposure to a broad range of corporate strategy and operational issues as well as opportunities to work with a wide range of management and staff across the People Vertical departments.

The Senior Program Assistant will report to the Director of Strategy and Operations with a dotted line to the Manager for Development Effectiveness.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Department is looking for an experienced, energetic, resourceful, and tech-savvy Senior Program Assistant. The Senior Program Assistant will have the following main responsibilities:

Executive Support:

• Provide administrative support to the DSO, Manager for Development Effectiveness and broader Front Office, including managing the Director’s and Manager’s calendars.
• Lead complex calendars, time, and travel management, proactively resolving conflicts, and ensuring well-prepared engagements aligned with strategic priorities.
• Support administrative and operational processes, including contracts (STC/STT, vendors), payments, travel logistics, budget monitoring, recruitment coordination (Compass, interviews), and event organization.
• Prepare meeting documents, track and monitor requests for comments and other outputs requiring the Director’s and Manager’s reviews, approval, or signature, ensuring quality and compliance with Bank standards.
• Organize leadership and management meetings, retreats, team-building events, and support periodic external events.
• Ensuring relevant documents for the Front Office are well managed and easily retrievable in the Front Office sharepoint shared files.
• Promote teamwork and knowledge sharing by keeping staff informed, mentoring junior staff, supporting learning initiatives, and participating in Bank-wide ACS activities.
• Back-up to the Sr. Executive Assistant and the Program Assistant for the Human Capital Project.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with other senior management support staff to ensure quick resolution of issues when the need arises.

Operations and Data Management:

• Working to support the DE manager and team, preparation of regular and ad hoc operations reports / data requests / commitment tracking for the global and regional units, drawing on digital dashboards, standard reports, BI, Analysis for Office, IFC dashboard, TF center and other resources.
• Provide support to FO staff and global departments with the Operations Workspace.
• Track and monitor operational processes and procedures including timelines for Board engagements.

Project Management:

• Contribute to the delivery of core responsibilities of the Vertical in the WBG Knowledge Bank including supporting the roll out of Solutions to achieve corporate results and targets; inputs to Knowledge 360, Data 360, Sherlock and other tools; IDA commitment tracking and preparations for the IDA22 replenishment.
• Support and lead special or ad hoc projects, corporate requests and perform additional responsibilities that contribute to the effective achievement of the VPU’s goals.
• Manage multiple priorities and special assignments with discretion, sound judgment, and the ability to work effectively under pressure.

Selection Criteria

Note: Preference will be given to local talent, that is, applicants that are authorized to work in the duty station for any employer. Internal applicants may apply per existing guidelines.

• Bachelor’s degree with 10 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Extensive knowledge and application of WBG administrative and operational policies and procedures.
• Experience with senior level office management, executive and administrative support.
• Expertise in using the Bank’s operational systems and tools such as Standard Reports, Power BI, Operations Workspace, Trust Fund reports and IFC’s platforms. Knowledge of technology and ability to learn tools used to develop effective delivery mechanisms for specific content, such as dashboards, websites, and mobile applications.
• Familiarity with knowledge management and communications, including intranet, newsletters, information sharing techniques.
• High degree of motivation, flexibility, reliability, and ability to handle concurrent tasks simultaneously. Excellent organizational, administrative and time management skills with proven ability to work quickly and efficiently under time pressure to successfully deliver urgent tasks with accuracy and attention to details.
• Demonstrated high level of professional maturity, emotional intelligence, and consistent respectful communication, especially under pressure—ensuring a constructive, solution-oriented environment and setting a standard of behavior expected for the Front Office.
• Strong team player and excellent interpersonal, communication and collaboration skills within team and across boundaries. Proactive, resourceful, and pragmatic problem-solver.
• Able to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Diplomacy skills to interact tactfully with people at all levels. Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion.
• Proven personal ethics and integrity, sound judgment and resourcefulness. A self-starter with positive attitude.

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.

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.

This internal requisition is open to WBG and IMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/ temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case an external candidate applies, their application will not be considered.

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.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC including our values and inspiring stories.