Senior Urban Specialist/Senior Waste Management Specialist

World Bank Group•Washington, DC

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The World Bank Group (WBG) Infrastructure Vertical provides public and private solutions to operational teams and clients across the WBG to produce scalable impact. Its mandate is to deliver knowledge for impact to support the WBG to achieve its goals in support of our mission and specifically: providing guidance on creating more and better jobs by: (i) supporting foundational infrastructure and human capital, (ii) policy environment, and (iii) enabling and mobilizing private sector capital. The Urban, Subnational Finance, Tourism, DRM, Policy and Regulations Unit supports low- and middle-income countries to build sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities and territories. The Unit sits within the Infrastructure Vice Presidency, with a mandate to lead sector and thematic strategies, generate and deploy knowledge on global development challenges, and develop standardized products, toolkits, and frameworks that regional teams can deploy rapidly and at scale. The Unit also plays a central role in capturing, curating, and disseminating knowledge on global policies and practices, training staff and clients through Academy programs and Communities of Practice, and leading global engagements, partnerships, and Board engagements. Working across the full public-private spectrum, the Unit brings together expertise in urban service delivery, subnational finance, tourism, disaster risk management, land administration, and environmental management to help cities and subnational governments strengthen institutions, mobilize financing, and deliver better outcomes for their residents. Waste management is a core municipal functional mandate. Local governments allocate between 6 and 30% of their budgets to this sector. The sector accounts for 20% of anthropogenic methane emissions, 80% of marine plastic pollution, a significant share of air pollution from open burning, and major economic losses from worsened flooding and blocked drainage. Together, these impacts undermine urban livability, economic prosperity, and the viability of job-rich sectors — tourism and agriculture chief among them — that depend on clean environments. Global waste volumes are projected to increase by about 50% by 2050 under a business-as-usual scenario. The sector offers significant opportunities for private capital mobilization, yet outcomes in low- and middle-income markets remain weak because private investment cannot substitute for the public foundations the sector depends on: clear institutional mandates, enforceable standards, credible contracting frameworks, and sustained operational financing. Without these conditions, systems stall and private capital cannot enter at scale. Advancing waste management toward circularity unlocks major economic opportunities — jobs, value recovery, and resource efficiency — while supporting decarbonization and delivering pollution and climate co-benefits. Since 2003, the WBG has invested more than $5.5 billion in waste management — making it the largest development finance provider in the sector globally — with 50 active IBRD/IDA projects currently underway. Investment needs in low- and lower-middle-income countries are estimated at $2 trillion, and IBRD/IDA and IFC are working jointly to help catalyze this financing. The Cities, Subnational Finance, DRM, Tourism Department hosts the World Bank's and IFC's Global Leads on Waste and Circularity, providing a single entry point for clients and anchoring a WBG-wide agenda. This position will join the World Bank’s Global Lead and complement two IFC industry specialists who anchor private sector investment and transaction advisory. It provides the essential public sector counterpart — government-facing policy and regulatory expertise, sector system design, and cost and financing experience — forming, together with the Global Lead and the IFC team, a one-WBG offer across the full spectrum from public utility governance to private sector participation.

Requirements

Master's degree or PhD in civil, environmental, or sanitary engineering.
Minimum of 8 years of full-time professional experience in sanitary and environmental engineering, with deep and demonstrable expertise in solid waste management and pollution management across developing country contexts and multiple regions.
Experience in or with Africa and South Asia — the fastest-growing regions in population and waste volumes — is a particular advantage.
Solid knowledge of World Bank operational procedures, processes, and policies, with a proven track record of supporting clients in designing and implementing projects with measurable development impact - is a particular advantage.
Strong engineering expertise across the full MSWM value chain: feasibility studies, detailed engineering design, and technical specifications for waste collection systems, transfer stations, material recovery facilities, composting and anaerobic digestion plants, and sanitary landfill infrastructure.
Demonstrated expertise in greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector: LFG generation modeling (LandGEM, IPCC Tier 2/3), methane abatement strategies, flaring and energy recovery system design, and carbon finance frameworks.
Proficiency in remote sensing and drone-based survey methodologies applied to waste infrastructure — UAV topographic mapping, waste characterization, and landfill monitoring.
Solid understanding of waste management costs and operational requirements.
Demonstrated capacity to develop scalable, replicable solutions and to customize successful approaches across diverse client contexts — a core requirement for a Knowledge Bank position.
Established working relationships with a wide range of partners: international organizations, bilateral development partners, NGOs, and governments.
Demonstrated ability to lead the development of global knowledge products and tools, coordinating multi-disciplinary teams across organizational boundaries while maintaining high quality and meeting deadlines.
Track record of delivering high-quality analytical and operational outputs to senior clients and management, on time and under competing demands.
Experience working in developing countries is required.
Willingness to travel extensively is required.
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are required.
This internal requisition is open to WBG and IMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/ temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case an external candidate applies, their application will not be considered.

Nice To Haves

Experience in or with Africa and South Asia — the fastest-growing regions in population and waste volumes — is a particular advantage.
Solid knowledge of World Bank operational procedures, processes, and policies, with a proven track record of supporting clients in designing and implementing projects with measurable development impact - is a particular advantage.
Demonstrated ability to train, teach, and transfer knowledge to waste management practitioners and professionals, including through engagement with international professional associations such as ISWA or SWANA, is an advantage.

Responsibilities

Serves as the Unit's senior specialist on waste sector governance, providing expertise on the public foundations that the sector requires — technical standards, regulation and permitting, utility governance, and cost and financing frameworks — and ensuring that the Unit's offer reflects a coherent one-WBG approach that bridges public and private dimensions of the sector.
Develops global guidance on the role of solid waste management as a core subnational service, covering institutional arrangements, service delivery models, and regulatory frameworks that allow municipal and subnational governments to fulfil their legal mandate to provide safe, reliable, and financially sustainable waste services.
Provides senior technical input on the public financing dimensions of the waste sector including tariffs and cost recovery reform, results-based financing, and blended finance structures that unlock private investment by reducing public-sector risk.
Champions the jobs and livelihoods angle of waste sector transformation, developing global guidance on the formalization of the informal waste economy, integration of waste pickers, and green jobs strategies that accompany the transition to circular waste models.
Develops global guidance and frameworks on the design and implementation of circular economy enabling frameworks, including extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy design, secondary raw materials market development, plastic pollution reduction strategies, and organic waste valorization systems, grounded in the technical and economic realities of low- and middle-income country contexts.
Serves as the Unit's senior technical authority on waste engineering, leading the development of global guidance, standards, and good practice notes across the full MSWM value chain, and providing peer review on technically complex engagements.
Develops and disseminates methodologies and tools for LFG quantification and management — including generation modeling (LandGEM, IPCC Tier 2/3), emissions factor calibration, flaring and energy recovery design, and carbon crediting under Article 6 and voluntary markets — building staff and client capacity in their application.
Develops guidance on the integration of remote sensing and UAV-based technologies into waste sector operations — topographic mapping, waste characterization, illegal dumping detection, and closure monitoring — translating these into accessible tools for regional teams and clients.
Develops and maintains technical standards and guidance on geotechnical assessments, slope stability, and liner system design, ensuring alignment with IFC EHS Guidelines and World Bank EHS Standards.
Develops global model technical specifications, and evaluation criteria for complex civil works and equipment contracts that regional teams can adapt and deploy.
Supports the Global Lead in high-level policy dialogue on sector reforms, regulation, and institutions, drawing on global good practice to shape agendas and reinforce the WBG's position as the leading MDB in waste and circularity.
Contributes to sector strategy and corporate positioning of the WBG on integrated solid waste management and circular economy, supporting fundraising, donor coordination, and partnership development with multilateral and bilateral partners.
Works in close coordination with IFC specialists to structure integrated WBG solutions where public sector reform, regulatory enablement, and infrastructure investment create conditions for private sector entry.
Identifies and develops new business opportunities in MSWM and circularity aligned with country strategies and the WBG's comparative advantage.
Distils global operational experience into knowledge products, diagnostic frameworks, and capacity-building programs that staff and client governments can apply directly, in line with the Unit's mandate as part of the Knowledge Bank.
Mentors and guides junior staff and extended-term consultants deployed on waste management tasks, ensuring quality of outputs and building technical capacity within and beyond the Unit.
Leads the Unit's engagement in WBG communities of practice and cross-GP technical working groups; represents the WBG in external technical forums, global partnerships, and treaty processes including the Global Plastics Treaty and relevant methane initiatives.