Senior Digital Water Specialist – Applications

World Bank Group • Washington, DC

4d

About The Position

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is a unique global partnership of five institutions driven by a bold vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, we help solve the world’s greatest development challenges. When you join the World Bank Group, you become part of a dynamic, diverse organization with 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide. We work with public and private sector partners, invest in groundbreaking projects, and use data, research, and technology to bring tangible and transformative changes around the globe. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

VPU Context: This position supports the World Bank’s mission by accelerating digital transformation in the water sector—strengthening water security, improving service delivery, and increasing climate resilience through improved data, governance, and digital solutions. The role works across operations, analytics, and advisory services to help client countries and utilities adopt scalable, secure, and sustainable digital approaches—ranging from foundational data platforms and enterprise architectures to advanced use cases such as smart metering, non-revenue water reduction, asset management, early warning systems, and decision support for drought/flood risk.

Unit Context: The Digital Applications Department, overseeing solutions and impact, is led by a Manager who collaborates closely with the Manager for Policy and Regulations and reports to the WBG Vice President, Digital and AI Vertical, who is accountable to IBRD/IDA, IFC, and MIGA Managing Directors. WBG recently published its Digital Strategy which includes four pillars: access, affordability, ecosystem and AI readiness. The strategy identifies the priorities that WBG will engage across the client segment over the next five years. The implementation plan is currently under preparation. The Senior Digital Water Specialist will be embedded with the Digital and AI Vice Presidency and will work closely with other relevant teams. The Unit supports client countries to design and implement digital water strategies, architectures, and solutions that strengthen sector governance and utility performance.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in water resources/civil/environmental engineering, information systems, computer science, data engineering/architecture, or related field combining water sector expertise with digital transformation experience.
• Minimum 8 years of relevant experience in digital water, utility modernization, water sector analytics, or large-scale public-sector/utility digital transformation.
• Proven ability to translate water sector priorities (service quality, NRW reduction, resilience, affordability, governance) into feasible digital solutions, including architecture, phased roadmaps, budgets, and results frameworks.
• Strong expertise in at least two of the following:
• (i) Utility digitization (CIS/billing/CRM integration, smart metering, field-force enablement)
• (ii) Operational technology modernization (SCADA/telemetry integration, reliability, cybersecurity)
• (iii) Water data platforms and governance (data quality, metadata, interoperability)
• (iv) GIS and geospatial analytics for utilities/resources
• (v) Decision support for drought/flood risk management and resilience planning
• Hands-on experience with integration approaches (API-first patterns, microservices/event-driven designs where relevant) and managing system interoperability across legacy environments.
• Cloud and infrastructure knowledge (AWS/Azure/GCP concepts), including governance, security, resilience, and data residency considerations in government/regulatory contexts.
• Familiarity with analytics/AI for water use cases (forecasting, anomaly detection, demand prediction, predictive maintenance) and the full data lifecycle (collection → governance → analytics → operationalization).
• Strong delivery and project execution skills and ability to work with cross-cutting teams.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with utility managers, engineers, regulators, and non-technical counterparts.
• Ability to work in cross-cultural, multidisciplinary teams and adapt to resource-constrained environments.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership and Innovation:
• Provide technical assistance to client countries and utilities to design and implement digital water strategies, blueprints, and roadmaps to enable data-driven and user-centered service delivery and water security outcomes.
• Advise teams on policy, institutional, and governance reforms needed to enable digital water transformation, including data-sharing frameworks, performance monitoring regimes, procurement approaches, and vendor management models.
• Develop and disseminate practical guidance—frameworks, standards, templates, and “how-to” toolkits—for planning and implementing digital in water solutions at scale.
• Identify emerging trends (e.g., AI-enabled water operations, satellite/remote sensing for water resources, predictive maintenance) and support pilots that can be replicated and scaled across countries and utilities.
• Foster partnerships with governments, regulators, utilities, academia, and the private sector to mobilize expertise, innovation, and capacity-building opportunities.
• Digital Water Architecture, Data Platforms, and Interoperability:
• Advise client counterparts on defining, designing, and implementing digital water enterprise architectures aligned with sector priorities, existing infrastructure, and long-term operational sustainability.
• Support design and implementation of water sector data platforms (e.g., utility operational data, billing, asset registries) including governance, metadata, master data management, and data quality processes.
• Promote secure interoperability across systems (utility billing, GIS, SCADA, asset management, customer channels) using API-based integration and agreed standards; help design “once-only” data capture and reuse where feasible.
• Provide guidance on adopting standards and good practice for water-related data exchange and geospatial interoperability.
• Translate regulatory and compliance requirements into “digital-ready” system requirements (auditability, transparency, service standards reporting, privacy-by-design where customer data is involved).
• Utility Digitalization and Service Delivery Modernization:
• Support utilities to design and implement digital solutions that improve performance, such as:
• - Non-Revenue Water (NRW) analytics and pressure management decision support
• - Smart metering and advanced metering infrastructure planning and integration
• - Customer service modernization (omnichannel service, digital grievance redress, field-force enablement)
• - Billing/CRM improvements and revenue assurance
• - Asset management and maintenance digitization
• Guide modernization of operational technologies where relevant (SCADA/telemetry upgrades, cybersecurity-by-design, resilient architectures), ensuring safe and phased adoption without disrupting essential services.
• Support development of operating models that enable continuous improvement (product ownership, agile delivery methods where appropriate, vendor governance, KPIs).
• Water Security, Climate Resilience, and Decision Support:
• Support governments to integrate hydrometric, groundwater, and surface water data into actionable systems for drought and flood risk management, early warning, and preparedness planning.
• Advise on analytics and decision-support systems that combine utility and resource data with climate and hazard information to improve planning, investment prioritization, and resilience measures.
• Operational Support, Capacity Building, and Knowledge:
• Provide hands-on support to World Bank operations: concept notes, project design inputs, TORs/technical specifications, implementation supervision, and results measurement.
• Support procurement and implementation readiness by defining requirements, validating architecture choices, advising on integration and data migration plans, and supporting testing and operational handover.
• Deliver capacity-building workshops and coaching for client counterparts on architecture, data governance, product management, and implementation practices.
• Contribute to knowledge products, case studies, and communities of practice to scale proven approaches across regions.

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: Mid Level