Industry Specialist - Municipal Infrastructure- Moscow, Russian Federation

Job #:	111272
Title:	Industry Specialist - Municipal Infrastructure
Job Stream:	Investment
Location:	Moscow, Russian Federation
Closing Date:	12/25/2011
Background / General description:
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, pursues its mission of reducing poverty and improving people’s lives by promoting private sector development through investment and advisory services. Subnational Finance program provides financing without sovereign guarantees to local and regional governments, public enterprises, and financial intermediaries that lend to them. With the progress of decentralization and enterprise reforms, these subnational entities play an increasing role in the delivery of infrastructure services essential to growth and poverty reduction. IFC intends to ramp up the subnational business and is seeking to recruit a Municipal Infrastructure Specialist / Senior Specialist to support this effort. The job holder will be based in Moscow, Russia, will work primarily in Europe, Central Asia and Middle East regions, but will be part of a global Subnational Finance practice. The job will involve significant travel. The Opportunity: As the demands and opportunities for IFC continue to grow in the area of municipal infrastructure, we are seeking to strengthen the team with a specialist with deep market knowledge and technical expertise in relevant sectors, and whose prior experience demonstrates a record of delivering results. The successful candidates will provide sector and technical guidance to investment and advisory teams, support investment appraisals, and develop the knowledge management tools to catalyze scale-up of IFC’s municipal infrastructure investments.
Duties and Accountabilities:
The specialist will be called upon to: • Support the development and implementation of IFC’s strategy for municipal infrastructure, particularly in the water and sanitation sector, including,: - Track market trends and regulatory frameworks; - Interact with a network of sector players including project developers, technology providers, experts and regulators; - Develop strategies to leverage IFC’s capacity to realize fully the opportunities for market impact. • Support of investment and advisory transactions, including: - Originate new leads, opportunities and transactions based on network of contacts in the sector; - Act as an in-house expert and advisor to investment staff in appraising investments in the water and sanitation sector; - Liaise with IFC clients’ technical staff, project engineers and co-investors’/lenders’ engineers; - Review contracts, concession agreements, and other legal documentation and frameworks providing sectoral perspective and expertise; - Assess investment programs, project capital costs and procurement arrangements; - Provide guidance from a sectoral perspective on Advisory services work relating to regulatory interventions, market and client capacity building work; - Provide financial analysts with key operational and capital assumptions for incorporation in models; - Provide technical supervision of IFC’s portfolio of municipal infrastructure investments, including field inspection as necessary and assist in resolving operational weaknesses; - Hire and supervise specialized consultants to support the business, as necessary • Knowledge Management and dissemination: - Support the development of content for IFC’s knowledge platforms and develop mechanisms to disseminate the same within IFC and with external clients.
Selection Criteria:
• Sound business judgment to identify the strengths and weaknesses of projects and company business plans, and to provide precise evaluation of technical, commercial, environmental and managerial issues; • An understanding of water and sanitation market dynamics; • At least ten years experience in the sector, covering a broad range of responsibilities including water and waste water systems operations and technologies; • Familiarity with the latest developments and technologies in water efficiency, including the value chains related to residential, municipal, industrial, and commercial sectors; • An extensive network of contacts at a senior level covering key sector players, experts, regulators etc. in developing and developed markets; • Experience in emerging economies; • Excellent communication skills in both oral and written English; additional languages skills (especially Russian) are an advantage; • Understanding of construction, operations, BOT, and performance-based contracting, including public procurement; • Ability to evaluate capital and operational cost parameters for different technologies; • Knowledge of industry benchmarks for evaluation of operational efficiency; • Ability to source relevant specialized consultants; • Advanced degree in engineering, business, management, or related field. IFC offers a highly challenging and rewarding working environment with outstanding opportunities for professional growth, as well as attractive conditions. All applications will be treated in strictest confidence. Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.
Apply Online