Municipal Finance Specialist

Job Type: Location Type: Remote: open to residents of any country

 

Municipal Finance Specialist

Job #:
req34120

Organization:
World Bank

Sector:
Urban

Grade:
GF

Term Duration:
3 years 0 months

Recruitment Type:
International Recruitment

Location:
Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s):
English

Preferred Language(s):

Closing Date:
9/21/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

This recruitment is a part of Japanese RecruitmentMission

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the WorldBank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solvetheir greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of thelargest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a uniqueglobal partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty,increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public andprivate sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data,research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent globalchallenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org

Regional Context:

The South Asia Region (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and SriLanka) is at a crucial stage of development. Rapid economic growth, driven byurbanization and demographic dividend, has brought down poverty rates, butsevere forms of exclusion and disparities based on ethnicity, caste, and genderremain. Rapid growth pahas also come with congestion and pollution in cities.South Asia is more than other regions affected by changes in temperature andextreme weather event. Additional challenges are that South Asia isunderperforming in exports, has large informal sectors and low female laborforce participation rates. All these challenges must be addressed to securerapid growth in coming decades.

Private sector led growth, focused on investments in infrastructure, energy,logistics and cities are essential to generate the jobs needed to employ SouthAsia’s sizeable youth population. At the same time, the region needs tocontinue building human capital so that South Asia’s population is wellequipped for the jobs of the future.

The World Bank in South Asia: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/sar

Duties and Responsibilities :
• Participate with task teams to develop and carry out analytical activities onmunicipal finance, urban governance, state of city finances, financing urbaninfrastructure and service delivery, local government strengthening andcapacity building.
• Support task teams to perform deeper analytics on city specific municipalrevenue streams, expenditure management, investment planning, accessingcommercial financing and capacity strengthening. Determine and analyze countrywide municipal finance parameters (e.g., municipal revenue as a percentage ofGDP).
• Contribute to policy dialogues, identify policy level issues and challengesin the country pertaining to city financing and particularly focusing on ownsource revenue (OSR) / property taxes, valuation and assessment methodologies,legislative frameworks and regulations related to commercial financing, usercharges and cost recovery, etc.
• Formulate and lead dialogues with the national / state level government onstrengthening capacity of cities to access commercial financing through creditenhancement, capacity building, project / investment preparation, etc.
• Draw linkages with city economic growth and develop approaches on leveragingcity finance to develop cities as engines of economic development and growthhub.
• Identify global approaches related to (i) city financing to meet urbaninfrastructure needs; (ii) fiscal transfer systems; (iii) OSR assignments andadministrative practices; (iv) absorption and management of funds for urbanservices and generate ‘best practice’ papers.
• Collaborate within the World Bank Group (IBRD, IFC, MIGA) to leverageresources and capacities to support city infrastructure financing, attractingprivate capital, public-private partnerships, etc.
• Identify business opportunities and contribute to the development of the WBGcity finance program in the country.
• Support the preparation and supervision/ implementation of lending operationsand programs (including projects with components focusing on municipalfinance).
• Participate in professional development and knowledge sharing activities inthe urban, city development and financing sector and contribute specificknowledge within the assigned countries and in the Bank.

Selection Criteria
• Master’s degree or above in finance, economics, urban development, or similar field with at least 5 years’ experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Solid technical expertise in areas including sustainable cities, urban governance, and municipal finance. More specifically, proven expertise is required in undertaking diagnostic analysis in topics mentioned above, framing the sector dialogue, identify policy level challenges, and developing innovative solutions for accessing city finance and meeting infrastructure and service delivery gaps at the city level.
• Technical expertise and proven analytical experience in working on urban infrastructure financing and municipal finance including OSR mobilization, capital investment planning, urban governance, models for mobilizing private and market finance would be highly desirable. Good technical understanding of existing intergovernmental fiscal transfer systems and status of fiscal decentralization within the country.
• Prior experience of working with urban local governments, municipalities and city level utilities on policy and implementation issues related to city finance, urban service delivery, infrastructure planning and development, fiscal transfers, and financial sustainability in the current context of climate change, fiscal stress, and low institutional capacity.
• Good understanding of prevailing municipal finance challenges in SAR including policy level issues and key constraint to accessing commercial financing by cities, legislative framework for municipal borrowing, ex-ante / ex-post rules. Clear understanding of global practices related to city finance, accessing commercial financing (e.g., municipal bonds).
• Experience in initiating and implementing municipal finance analytical studies and programs focusing on revenue administration and improvements, land value capture, expenditure management, capital investment planning, user charges and cost recovery, implementation capacity of ULBs, strengthening of state-owned financial intermediaries / development funding institutions. Identifying capacity gaps and developing capacity strengthening plans for local body staff.
• Must have experience of working with local bodies to strengthen their financial sustainability and resilience; develop roadmaps to improve credit worthiness.
• Experience of working with city governments to foster private sector participation / mobilizing private capital to finance urban infrastructure.
• Demonstrated ability to work with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Ability to anticipate client demand and undertake relevant knowledge and research and analytical work.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, with demonstrated ability of making effective presentations to diverse audiences.

WBG Culture Attributes:

1. Sense of Urgency – Anticipating and quickly reacting to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful Risk Taking – Taking informed and thoughtful risks and making courageous decisions to push boundaries for greater impact.
3. Empowerment and Accountability – Engaging with others in an empowered and accountable manner for impactful results.

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.

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