Director

Director Job #: req33754 Organization: World Bank Sector: Audit Grade: GI Term Duration: 4 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: Washington, DC,United States Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 8/3/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank 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 130 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, please visit www.worldbank.org

The mission of Group Internal Audit (GIA) is to protect and enhance the value of the World Bank Group (WBG) by providing independent, objective and insightful risk-based assurance and advice. GIA provides an independent view on whether processes for managing and controlling risks to achieve the WBG's goals, and overall governance of these processes, are adequately designed and functioning effectively. GIA works across all WBG institutions, covering all operational and corporate functions as well as IT systems and processes.

GIAVP is headed by the Vice President and Auditor General (AG), who is responsible for setting the mission and vision, building strong partnerships with Senior management and the Audit Committee, and providing value-adding assurance and advisory services that would meet the institution’s needs. The Director, Strategy and Operations is responsible for supporting the AG in the effective and efficient development and execution of GIA’s work program.

The Group Internal Audit Vice Presidency (GIAVPU) is seeking a Director to support the AG in the effective and efficient development of GIA’s work program and the execution of highly impactful engagements based on key risks to the institution. Please refer to the roles and responsibilities outlined below for more details.

Roles & Responsibilities:

The Director is expected to serve as a deputy to the Vice President and Auditor General in strategic and operational matters, including standing in for the AG as and when required in WBG leadership management meetings, and in Audit Committee and Board interactions. The Director  is also responsible for overseeing and strengthening the quality, capacity and operational impact of GIA’s risk assessments and audit delivery.

More specifically, he/she is accountable for performing the responsibilities, modeling the behaviors and maintaining the technical competencies (listed below) in his or her capacity as a Director being accountable for managing quality, risks and results of assurance and advisory services. In addition, he/she is a key source for gaining and sharing knowledge of institutional strategic initiatives and relevant business and risk landscape changes which might impact GIA’s risk based work program.

The Director is responsible for delivering results in the following key areas of the function:

• Providing strategic leadership and being accountable for the development and implementation of GIA’s risk-based Work Program by overseeing GIA’s Professional Practices & Innovation team and all engagement delivery teams – with a focus on risk assessments, risk coverage, quality and operational impact, efficiency and productivity;

• Advising the AG on institutional strategic and operational matters and sharing key information with the GIA management team and the entire VPU on how they impact the work program of GIA;

• Leading and overseeing key strategic initiatives and the implementation of innovative approaches in coordination with the Office of the Vice President to keep GIA a best-in-class internal audit function, e.g. Use of AI, Rapid Assurance Delivery, coordinated assurance, knowledge management, risk and control related behavior assessments, and deeper and faster insight and foresight to stakeholders;

• Providing substantive advice and briefings to the AG on day-to-day operational issues;

• Playing a leadership role in enhancing coordination of activities between the individual engagement teams for greater impact and synergies;

• Setting priorities and making resource allocation choices /trade-offs across GIA’s delivery teams in line with institutional and VPU priorities with a view to maximizing the impact of GIA;

• Overseeing the quality of GIA’s report drafts, while increasing the relevance and impact of those reports, as well as driving consistency of reports across teams;

• Supporting the delivery managers in managing their engagement portfolio and socializing the issues and reviewing management’s action plans regarding relevance and adequacy;

• Providing thought leadership in evaluating inputs from GIA engagement results and other relevant sources to develop, in collaboration with other members of GIA’s management team, relevant thematic observations and trends for the VPU’s Quarterly and Annual Reports and other key communications of strategic issues and trends related to internal controls, risk management and institutional governance.

• Advising on the design, implementation, and monitoring of a robust internal quality assurance program, and the supporting processes, and promoting the consistent application of GIA’s quality assurance standards across the delivery portfolio;

• Fostering an environment of continuous improvement;

• Managing the balance between increasing the speed of delivery and reducing the costs per engagement while not compromising on quality for maximizing client impact and results;

• Close interaction with the managers of the engagement delivery teams,the Professional Practices & Innovation team, and the Office of the Vice President to increase GIA’s use of new tools and technologies (e.g., AI) to deliver greater insights to stakeholders. data analytics, digitization, AI and IT automated control testing across GIA’s work;

• Strengthening strategic outreach and client relationship activities of GIA, by proactively advising on and engaging with key stakeholders at the senior level, across WBG VP Units; representing GIA in internal and external forums as delegated by the Vice President;

• Providing oversight over dissemination and knowledge-sharing across GIA engagement delivery teams to foster greater integration and collaboration;

People/ Talent Management responsibilities:

• Leads and motivates the teams with a focus on client orientation, outcomes, strong cross-sectoral coordination and problem solving, and takes responsibility for achieving and communicating these outcomes with operational staff, professional / technical staff and the management team of the VPU.

• Manages the functioning of the engagement delivery teams in partnership with management, models integrity and inclusion, offers mentoring and development opportunities for staff.

Resource Management responsibilities:

• Sets priorities and allocates budget within and across the engagement teams, in line with institutional priorities and a view to maximizing the impact and value-added of the Bank's activities.

Relationship Management responsibilities (Internal and External):

• Leads or maintains and further strengthens the relationship on a broad range of issues with key stakeholders. 

• Appreciates the complexities and relevance of considerations on the Bank’s development effectiveness and collaborates appropriately across the World Bank Group institutions and other partners to enhance such effectiveness.

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree in relevant field/discipline and substantial professional experience (ideally the successful candidate will have a minimum of 15 years of experience in positions of increasing complexity and responsibility). 

• Certified Internal Auditor

• Demonstrated leadership experience with strategic vision and proven skills to manage a complex organization with staff of diverse cultural backgrounds in multiple locations, as well as the ability to mobilise various forms of support from multi-stakeholders and partners;

• Excellent stature and standing in the internal auditing field and in the relevant professional communities, as evidenced by a proven track record in managing and delivering best practice internal audit services in large, complex multinational, financial services or international organizations. A background in the private as well as the public sector would be an asset, as the Bank Group operates in both;

• Comprehensive knowledge of risk-based internal auditing practices and standards, evidenced through a demonstrated track record of overseeing and managing large audit teams in the development of risk assessments and delivery of complex business process reviews, including the ability to interpret and analyze complex concepts and apply these in innovative ways.

• Extensive understanding of all key risks domains on a global scale;

• Demonstrated leadership experience with proven skills in change management, reform, organizational development and leading organizational transformations;

• Extensive and proven managerial experience with a focus on people management.

• Experience in working with tight deadlines with multiple priorities.

• Strong knowledge of strategic, business and financial planning processes, including technical knowledge sufficient to evaluate, recommend and defend audit strategy, practices and policy;

• Exceptional problem solving and client orientation skills; highly developed mentoring and advisory skills and the ability to ensure effective transfer of knowledge and skills, and also nurture management talent over time;

• Excellent partnering skills and stakeholder relationship management. The successful candidate needs to successfully navigate the organization, build strong relationships, manage conflicts, and work collaboratively with internal and external clients;

• Impeccable executive presence and the ability to demonstrate candor, clarity of thought and expression, openness, self-confidence, poise, and thoughtfulness;

• Experience in leading multi-functional and multi-cultural internal audit teams in highly complex and large organizations;

• Excellent written and oral communication skills;

• Unwavering ethics and integrity;

• Proven ability to effectively implement complex change management initiatives

World Bank Managerial Competencies

Courage of your Convictions

Outstanding WBG managers:

• Demonstrate the confidence in their convictions and the integrity to express themselves to peers and superiors even if it is easier or more comfortable to refrain from speaking up, and push back against one's peers, manager and others higher in the organization, and clients, when necessary or in the best interests of the WBG mission and its clients.

• Take on challenges in a very diplomatic way, seeing them as an opportunity for both personal and organizational improvement.

• Advance bold ideas in the face of resistance (internal and external), especially when they are consistent with the WBG mission and values.

Leading the Team for Impact

Outstanding WBG managers:

• Inspire through linking the vision of their department/organization to the WBG mission.

• Ensures that others buy into the vision through taking actions and reinforcing desired changes.

• Energizes through positive encouragement and reinforcement for thinking about possibilities of what can be done versus what can't be done. Aligns people around the WBG mission as a way to focus people on the most critical priorities. Includes resolving competing priorities as they exist.

Influencing Across Boundaries

Outstanding WBG managers

• Persuade, convince and create buy-in for ideas and initiatives in order to advance their own goals and strategies, consistent with the WBG mission and vision.

• Take a broad view of the organization, seeking to influence across multiple departments in order to advance initiatives.

• Display awareness and respect to other's position when making a case for an opposing opinion.

• Anticipate other's reactions, preparing responses and contingency plans in advance.

• Craft an argument unique to the individual in order to gain buy-in and participation;

• Engage the heart and mind of the individual by making one's point of view relevant to them and by connecting with their emotions.

Fostering Openness to New Ideas

Outstanding WBG managers

• Create open and innovative climates for the people around them.

• Are transparent, open to divergent views and encouraging of these attributes in others.

• Promote broad thinking and frank discussion, welcoming others' input into the decision-making process, and they build on others' ideas.

• Change systems or processes to encourage more open communication and to facilitate new ways of doing things.