Research Analyst – Private Sector Diagnostics and Development

World Bank Group • Washington, DC

2d • Onsite

About The Position

Build a career with impact. Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help countries solve their greatest development challenges. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, the WBG is a unique partnership of five global institutions dedicated to ending poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the WBG works 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 WBG Trade, Competition and Business Department sits within the Prosperity Vertical, which integrates work on Country Private Sector Diagnostics (CPSDs), SME growth, trade, competition, business regulation, industrial policy, and manufacturing. This integrated structure enables cross-cutting analysis that spans the full spectrum of private sector development, from firm-level constraints and market structure to value chain competitiveness and regulatory reform.
The SME and Enterprise Development, Solutions & Impact Unit (WKPTE) within the Trade, Competition and Business Department seeks to recruit a Research Analyst to contribute to CPSDs and other core analytical products, develop policy-relevant reports and tools, and work closely with colleagues across the Prosperity Vertical and IFC's regional and sector teams, under the general supervision of CPSD Task Team Leaders, Principal Economists, Managers and the Director. The candidate selected for this position should be a motivated and dynamic professional with excellent quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, demonstrated experience in multi-sector and multi-country economic analysis, and strong communication abilities bridging technical rigor with accessible economic and policy writing. The position is based at IFC's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Requirements

• At least Bachelor's degree (Master’s degree preferred) in Economics, Finance, Public Policy, or a related field, with at least 2 years of relevant professional experience in applied economic research, market analysis, and policy work.
• Commitment to the WBG mission and values, and demonstrated interest in private sector development in emerging markets and developing economies.
• Proven experience conducting multi-sector and multi-country economic analysis, including the ability to assess investment opportunities and regulatory constraints across diverse geographies and industries simultaneously.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, including the ability to collect, manage, and analyze complex datasets from international and country-specific sources, design and automate analytical tools, and synthesize evidence from multiple methodologies into coherent analytical narratives.
• Demonstrated track record of contributing to high-quality economic reports, diagnostics, or publications for external audiences, with strong writing skills in English. Ability to communicate technical findings — including the estimated impact of policy reforms — concisely and compellingly for both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• Experience engaging with internal and external stakeholders — including government officials, private sector representatives, development partners, and senior management — in consultations, country missions, and public-facing events.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate in a diverse, multicultural organization, providing cross-support across thematic and regional units. Experience working across disciplines such as trade, competition, regulation, value chain development, and investment climate is a strong asset.
• Familiarity with jobs, gender, and firm-level analytics, including the ability to extract, interpret, and communicate key statistics on employment outcomes, gender equity, and firm size distributions from enterprise surveys and micro-level databases (e.g., World Bank Enterprise Surveys, ILO databases, national firm registries).
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word); strong proficiency in R and/or Stata, and experience with data visualization tools (Power BI or equivalent) are a strong asset.
• Experience using AI tools in the context of applied policy research is a plus. This includes leveraging AI to support literature reviews, data processing, report drafting, or analytical workflows, while maintaining a critical understanding of their limitations — including issues of accuracy, bias, and appropriate scope of use in rigorous economic analysis.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to Country Private Sector Diagnostics (CPSDs), by undertaking quantitative and qualitative analysis to identify sub sectors of an economy that have the potential to attract private investment and factors that discourage private investment in those sectors. This will include desk and data analysis, participating in country missions, stakeholder consultations with government counterparts, private firms, and development partners, and synthesizing findings into actionable policy recommendations.
• Perform multi-sector and multi-country analytical work drawing on a wide range of international and country-specific databases (including World Bank, OECD, IMF, national censuses, and sector-specific repositories), applying sound economic methodology to identify cross-cutting and sector-level opportunities and constraints to private investment.
• Develop and apply tools and methodologies to systematically identify and rank investment potential across value chains and sub-sectors such as agribusiness, infrastructure (including energy), extractives, manufacturing, and tourism.
• Contribute to the estimation of the potential impact of policy reforms on private investment and job creation, using clear, robust and transparent methods.
• Design, build, and maintain policy-tracking and analytical databases to capture the impact of CPSD recommendations on Bank Group operations, investments and strategies and on country policy decisions..
• Develop and automate analytical workflows in R, Python, Stata, or other statistical packages to generate scalable and replicable outputs across multiple countries and sectors.
• Extract and interpret key figures on employment patterns, gender gaps in firm ownership and access to finance, and the role of firm size — including SMEs, micro-enterprises, and large firms — and integrate these findings into CPSDs and other analytical products.
• Translate complex technical economic analysis into clear, policy-relevant written products — including CPSD reports, thematic briefs, and presentations — for both technical and non-technical audiences, including government officials, WBG colleagues and management, and external stakeholders.
• Represent WKPTE in internal and external consultations, working groups, country missions, and conferences.
• Support knowledge-sharing within the Department and across WBG regional and thematic teams, contributing to a culture of technical excellence and collaborative learning.
• Provide cross-support to teams across the Prosperity Vertical — including those working on SME growth, trade, competition, business regulation, industrial policy, and manufacturing — delivering analytical inputs spanning regulatory diagnostics, investment climate assessments, value chain analysis, and market structure reviews.
• Contribute to the preparation of high-quality presentations and briefings for WBG senior management, the Board, and government counterparts based on CPSD findings.

Benefits

• 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level