Manager, Corporate Digital Acceleration (ITSCA) at World Bank Group

Description

Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help client countries 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 poverty on a livable planet. 
With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the World Bank Group works with public and private partners, invests in groundbreaking projects and uses data, research, and technology to develop solutions to pressing global, regional and local challenges. For more information, please visit http: http://www.worldbank.org

The organization has undertaken an ambitious exercise to revise its mandate, products and structure to adjust to the multiple, intertwined crises affecting the world today (see Evolution Roadmap), in the move to becoming a better Bank.

Business Unit Overview

The mission of the Information and Technology Solutions (ITS) Vice Presidential Unit (VPU) is to leverage information and technology as a force multiplier to accelerate, deepen, and sustain development impact. Their vision is to harness information and technology for a world free of poverty on a livable planet. For more information on ITS, check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=VTFGffa1Y7w. 

Department Context

The WBG Corporate Solutions Department (ITSCO) is focused on the digital transformation of essential corporate services to ensure WBG operations are seamless, resilient, and future‑ready. Uniting digitalization roadmaps, experience design, process optimization, application delivery, systems management, and technology modernization across some 170 products and services, the department links business ambition with operational excellence—from intuitive employee experiences and precision payroll to data-driven decision making, intelligent automation, and AI enablement. Operating from Washington, Chennai, Sofia, and Singapore in a global delivery model, the team seeks to combine disciplined strategic planning with focused roadmaps, agile product delivery, design‑forward innovation, digital engineering, automation, and AI to produce solutions that are engaging, impactful, and efficient. The goal is a unified, OneWBG corporate backbone—streamlined, connected, and adaptive—that empowers leaders, staff, partners, and shareholders with the processes, capabilities, and insights to advance the WBG's mission at scale.

The department comprises of four distinct but complementary units which work closely together to deliver on the department's mandate:

- Corporate Digital Acceleration unit: Accelerates digital transformation for corporate business functions through design thinking, digital innovation, rapid prototyping, reimagining processes, and AI enablement, e.g. AI-first work digitalization strategies.

- Corporate Experience Solutions unit: Delivers optimal digital experiences for WBG employees, clients, partners, shareholders, and beneficiaries through engaging, effective, and user-centric solutions, e.g. intranets, self service, work productivity and decision-support systems.

- Corporate Business Solutions unit: Enables critical corporate business processes and functions of the WBG through accurate, efficient, and resilient back-office systems, e.g. ERP systems supporting human resources and budget functions.

- Corporate Digital Backbone unit: Creates an autonomous digital backbone for the orchestration of data, transactions, processes, and insights across the diverse corporate portfolio, e.g. application modernization, technology debt reduction, efficient data exchange, enterprise integration, automated business processes, and agentic-AI.

Unit Context

The Corporate Digital Acceleration unit, within the department, will serve as an active innovator and designer for the digitalization of the World Bank Group’s most essential corporate functions and processes and the technology systems that support them. Addressing approximately 25 operational value streams across nearly two dozen corporate VPUs and all four WBG institutions, the unit acts as a catalyst for modernizing how corporate business is conducted. Its mandate is to integrate forward‑looking disciplines—business architecture, strategy roadmapping, design thinking, rapid prototyping, rigorous process analysis, and intelligent automation—into a unified transformation capability that addresses immediate operational challenges while positioning corporate functions for long‑term agility and performance. At its core, the unit advances a OneWBG-first approach, ensuring transformation efforts are strategically aligned, interoperable, and mutually reinforcing across the WBG's corporate solutions. The three teams that fall under this unit include:

* Digitalization Roadmaps: Enables the realization of business strategies and priorities through the co-creation of digitalization roadmaps to guide investment priorities and product roadmaps for the WBG's corporate business functions.

* Design Thinking & Innovation: Connects the dots between business strategy and digital products using proven design thinking frameworks, design sprints, rapid prototyping, and co‑creation with corporate business units.

* AI-First Work Redesign: Reimagines corporate work and business processes with an AI-first approach that creates blueprints for the deployment of intelligent automation (RPA, contextual data, AI agents, and more) to drive productivity, decision making, speed, quality, efficiency, and scalability of corporate functions.

To realize this ambition, the unit combines business architecture and orchestration, process discovery and optimization, design‑led innovation, and emerging technologies to help corporate functions define their future of work. In close partnership with business and technology leaders, the unit ensures modernization is coherent, sequenced, and impactful—technically sound, operationally sustainable, and institutionally embraced. The Corporate Digital Acceleration unit enables the WBG’s corporate functions to be flexible, adaptive, and future‑ready in service of the WBG's global mission.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Manager, Corporate Digital Acceleration combines expertise in business architecture, process optimization, design thinking, automation, and AI-driven capabilities to guide the department's efforts to digitally transform approximately 25 operational value streams and 170 products and services.

The Manager will work closely with the Director and other Managers in the WBG Corporate Solutions department to ensure business transformation priorities, product and systems development, and technology capabilities are aligned and connected to maximize impact, efficiency, and value. The primary roles and responsibilities for this position include:

Leadership & Strategic Planning

- Guide the strategic direction for the WBG's corporate product and technology solutions through the creation of digitalization roadmaps that inform decision-making and investment prioritization.

- Partner with business leaders and key stakeholders to generate thought leadership, stimulate substantive discussion around the future of business and work processes, create measurable benefits realization frameworks, drive strategic digital enablement, and build shared accountability for transformation.

Business Alignment, Process Design, & AI Enablement

- Create structured digitalization roadmaps for WBG corporate functions that leverage business architecture and roadmaps to set and sequence transformation priorities, manage interdependencies across value streams, and identify cross-cutting areas for maximum institutional impact.

- Use design thinking, design sprints, rapid prototyping, and other methods and tools to rapidly ideate, co-create, and test innovative solutions to large and small business problems in the corporate portfolio, with a view to co-creation of solutions that can be taken to scale by the department's product teams.

- Reimagine the way work is done across corporate functions through the application of process discovery and optimization methods, intelligent automation solutions, and AI enablement, e.g. responsible agentic AI.

- Apply robust benefits‑realization frameworks to ensure the business value of reimagined work processes is credible, socialized, and accepted across WBG corporate business partners.

- Monitor, track, and communicate value delivered from transformation initiatives, quantifying gains in efficiency, service quality, decision speed, and partner satisfaction to feed into departmental OKRs.

People Management & Culture Leadership

- Form and develop a high‑performing, globally distributed team (Washington, Chennai, Sofia, Singapore, and other locations), setting clear objectives, coaching for growth, and enabling career development and succession planning.

- Increase organizational resilience by equipping staff with the mindsets, tools, and support systems needed to adapt to continuous changes, maintain productivity under uncertainty, and recover quickly from disruption. Emphasize innovation as a skill, a growth mindset, urgency, transparency and accountability in all that is done.

- Foster a psychologically safe, trust-based environment where feedback and diverse perspectives are encouraged and valued.

- Serve as a core member of the ITS management team, actively contributing to strategic planning and cross-organizational transformation initiatives. Fulfill fiduciary responsibilities, including cost optimization, budget management, and staff development.

Within the first year, this leader will deliver the following:

- Build the Corporate Digital Acceleration capability and team.

- Deliver digitalization roadmaps and process and work transformation frameworks for the a) budget and performance, b) human resources, and c) Board operations value streams within the department's portfolio.

- Organize and execute at least three design sprints to rapidly prototype solutions for business challenges in the above three value streams, in partnership with business units and product teams.

- Define AI enablement opportunities for the above three value streams and work with other units in the department to realize them, including by leveraging the autonomous backbone and responsible agentic AI.

- Create, socialize, and standardize a benefits realization framework to measure business value of the department's work in terms of increased scalability, improved efficiency, cost optimization, enhanced satisfaction, and risk mitigation.

- Successfully deliver the capital program assigned to the unit.

- Establish well functioning teams within the unit and effective collaboration across the department.

Selection Criteria

In addition to having a strong work ethic and unquestionable integrity, the selected leader will have the presence to establish immediate credibility with managers, peers, and a complex group of stakeholders. They will possess outstanding intellect, leadership and analytical abilities as well as excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills. Prior leadership experience in management consulting, business architecture, and enterprise transformation. A successful candidate will possess qualifications such as:

* Master’s degree in computer science, business management, management science, or related disciplines, and post-graduate coursework or certification in enterprise digital and business transformation, business architecture, process and work redesign, and digital product management, with at least ten years of experience in a global IT organization, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

* Ten-plus years in leadership roles in management consulting, business process optimization, and digital transformation functions for consulting firms or large global enterprises working on corporate functions (human resources, budget and planning, corporate procurement, employee engagement, etc.).

* Strong track record in leading enterprise‑scale change, applying roadmapping, design thinking, and agile methodologies to deliver measurable business results.

* Proven ability to define and create digitalization roadmaps aligned to business priorities, leveraging agile delivery, process design, and modern development practices to achieve measurable outcomes.

* Proven ability to lead design thinking and prototyping approaches to drive ideation, collaboration, and co-create business solutions, including through design sprints and rapid low-code/no-code prototyping sessions.

* Demonstrated expertise in business process transformation, process and work optimization, lean methodologies, and the use of automation and AI to improve operational outcomes.

* Proven ability to create benefits realization measurement frameworks and socialize and mainstream them with business partners.

* Experience with process tools (e.g. Celonis, Aris, Visio, Lucid, BPMN) automation tools (RPA, UI Path, Nintex, Appian, Microsoft Power platform), innovation tools (Miro, Mural).

* Proven experience leading multidisciplinary, technical, distributed teams and vendors, building high-performance cultures focused on impact, iteration, and continuous improvement with global scaled agile IT delivery model.

* Proven ability to effectively partner with business stakeholders and vendors to build strong partnerships, foster good governance, ensure strategic business/IT alignment, and transform relationships.

* Strong collaborator with outstanding interpersonal and diplomatic skills, including the ability to facilitate, negotiate, and influence successful outcomes. Ability to influence decision makers through collaboration, education, and working partnerships. 

* Strong business acumen and judgment—able to simplify complex concepts, prioritize investments for value, and deliver results under pressure.

* A deep passion for the mission of the WBG.

Certifications

Required:

- Leading SAFe (SA/SAFe Agilist)

- Business Process Engineering certification (e.g. ABPMP, Six Sigma)

- Digital Transformation certification

- Change Management certification

Preferred:

- Lean Practitioner certification

- SAFe for Architects (ARCH)

- TOGAF 10 (Foundation + Practitioner)

- Certified Agile Practitioner (e.g. SAFe, Scrum Master)

- Lean Portfolio Management (SAFe LPM)

- Azure Fundamentals certification

The World Bank Group values diversity and encourages all qualified candidates who are nationals of World Bank Group member countries to apply, regardless of gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.  Sub-Saharan African nationals, Caribbean nationals, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.