Overview
The World Bank Group is seeking a Digital & AI Specialist to support client engagements in India and supervise activities in the digital and AI sector. The role involves providing technical expertise in the design, architecture, and deployment of AI systems in the public sector.
Key Responsibilities
- Support policy dialogue with senior government officials, coordinate across relevant government agencies, development partners and other World Bank Global Departments and verticals.
- Contribute to the design, preparation and supervision of World Bank Group financed investment and policy reform programs on digital and AI.
- Advise clients on strategies, best practices and design of programs to develop the foundations of their digital economies.
- Liaise and provide guidance to colleagues working in other sectors on how to leverage digital technologies and AI to improve public service delivery and efficiency.
- Provide technical leadership on the design and deployment of AI solutions in government.
- Advise clients on sectoral AI applications for development.
- Support clients in operationalizing responsible AI in deployed systems.
- Contribute to building client-side technical capacity for AI adoption.
Required Experience
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in digital transformation and/or AI - including the design, deployment, or oversight of AI/ML systems, and/or digital economy policy, regulation, or project design and implementation.
- Demonstrated experience and successes in policy dialogue and operations related to digital public infrastructure, AI and data governance, broadband connectivity, and its intersection with one or more development outcomes in health, financial inclusion, social protection, education, and/or gender.
- Good understanding of role of private sector in digital infrastructure and familiarity with structuring arrangements between public and private sector investors.
- Knowledge of digital technology, including AI trends and risks, relevant to socio-economic development.
- Proven experience leading policy dialogue in countries with limited capacity and influencing reforms that enable digital transformation.
- Demonstrated hands-on experience in the deployment of AI/ML systems — ideally in the public sector or for development applications — covering solution architecture, data engineering and governance, model development or adaptation (including use of large language models), and production deployment and monitoring.
- Practical knowledge of the technical building blocks of AI systems: cloud and compute infrastructure, data platforms, APIs and integration with government systems/DPI, and MLOps practices; ability to evaluate technical proposals and vendor solutions on behalf of clients.
- Experience designing or advising on sector-specific AI applications (e.g., health, agriculture, education, social protection, financial inclusion), including assessing feasibility, total cost of ownership, and risks in low-capacity settings.
- Familiarity with responsible AI practices in deployment — model evaluation, bias and safety testing, explainability, and monitoring — and ability to translate AI governance principles into implementable system requirements.
- Ability to think strategically about the role of digital and AI technologies in other sectors and (more generally) the economy.
- Excellent analytical and statistical skills, in data and evidence-based reforms, using metrics and indicators to determine numeric reform targets, take stock of developments over time, and use data driven results monitoring as an instrument to advance reforms.
- Strong client engagement skills, taking responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or project success.
- Excellent written communication skills as demonstrated in a proven track record of effectively delivering technical information in appropriate language to clients, the international development community, academia, and internal working groups.
- Excellent presentation skills, using charts, graphs and other data presentation techniques appropriately to communicate data, technical information, or complex concepts to non-specialists.
- Strong drive for results, taking initiative to stay abreast of innovations in the sector
- Ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results.
- Strong business judgment and analytical decision making, analyzing facts and data to support sound and logical business decisions.
- Proven ability to function effectively as a team member of multi-disciplinary teams, mentor staff, and resolve conflicts constructively.
Qualifications
Master's degree in telecommunications, engineering, computer science, data science, artificial intelligence/machine learning, law, economics, public policy, or related field, with a minimum of 5 years of experience in digital transformation and/or AI - including the design, deployment, or oversight of AI/ML systems, and/or digital economy policy, regulation, or project design and implementation - or equivalent combination of education and experience.
