Data Scientist

Data Scientist Job #: req34166 Organization: World Bank Sector: Other Grade: GF Term Duration: 3 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: Washington, DC,United States Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 9/18/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).  It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. Visit www.worldbank.org.   

As part of the World Bank Group (WBG), the Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) shares in the WBG’s overall mission in alleviating poverty and achieving a shared and sustainable prosperity in client countries. INT’s fundamental role within the WBG is to help detect, prevent, and deter fraud and corruption in the use of the WBG’s financial resources, so that those resources are used effectively to benefit the poor people that they are intended to reach. In contributing to the WBG’s overall mission, INT works closely with other stakeholders across the WBG to:

Help detect, prevent, and deter fraud and corruption in WBG-supported projects and activities by: 

 professionally investigating allegations of fraud, corruption, collusion, coercion, or obstruction (the WBG-sanctionable practices) in WBG activities; 
 seeking WBG sanctions against firms and individuals that have engaged in any sanctionable practice; 
 using information available to INT to help operational staff design and implement projects in ways that minimize fraud and corruption risks.
 working with the operational complex and other oversight and control units to help prevent fraud and corruption in operations by distilling lessons learned from investigative findings, developing effective risk identification and management tools, preparing remedial recommendations at the project and broader level, as appropriate, to address risks and issues identified through investigations, and ensuring timely disclosure to the Board of risks identified through ongoing or recently completed investigations that are of relevance to new operations presented to the Board for approval;
 conducting detailed fiduciary reviews of WBG-supported projects with operations using forensic methodology in order to detect indicators of fraud or corruption and help address them as early as possible for better project outcomes; and
 working with sanctioned entities through the Integrity Compliance Office in supporting and monitoring their efforts to put in place appropriate integrity compliance programs in order to raise their integrity standards and reduce risks associated with their operations following their release from sanction.

Help client countries to fight fraud and corruption by:

 referring investigative findings to the investigative and enforcement authorities in those countries and working with authorities, as requested, to follow-up and take action; 
 supporting client country counterparts with their preventive and integrity risk mitigation efforts at the project and policy levels; 
 helping build client country capacity in preventive and forensic techniques and
 collaborating in multilateral efforts to mitigate the risks of fraud and corruption in development activities.
 promoting integrity principles and the implementation of integrity compliance programs among entities sanctioned by the WBG, and more broadly.

Enforce the highest standards of professional integrity and ethical behavior among WBG staff and corporate vendors by: 

 investigating allegations of staff misconduct involving significant fraud and corruption; 
 investigating corporate vendors alleged to have engaged in sanctionable practices; and 
 mining the lessons learned from those investigations to undertake training and outreach programs and also strengthen the WBG’s internal controls environment.

INT’s work contributes directly to achieving the shared prosperity/poverty reduction mission of the WBG. Reducing fraud and corruption in WBG projects helps to ensure that WBG funds are used for their intended purposes: to alleviate poverty and to increase prosperity and stability in our borrowing countries. Working with others in international development institutions, INT’s principal goal is to measurably minimize development assistance funds lost to fraud, corruption and abuse and increase the quality and results of development efforts. Results are reported in an annual report that contains aggregated data, outcomes, and generic descriptions of significant cases. To ensure its independence, INT’s Vice President (VP) reports directly to the World Bank President. 

INT is seeking an experienced Data Scientist with full-stack application development expertise and data science experience to support the ongoing modernization of INT’s data systems and analytics infrastructure. The Data Scientist will support the enhancement of INT’s data analytics through cloud computing and advanced data management approaches, building a next generation of analytical tools, and developing advanced systems for just-in-time analytics. This includes leading technical work of the data team through conducting regular code reviews, implementing DataOps in the INT cloud, and building, testing, and deploying Machine Learning algorithms.

The Opportunity

The Prevention, Risk and Knowledge Management (PRKM) Unit in INT seeks a highly motivated, full-stack Data Scientist with expertise in cloud native application development, cloud engineering, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), pattern detection, and generative AI to join our dynamic team. As a member of our technical unit based in Washington, DC, you will play a key role in assessing and developing data and AI tools and best practices for integrating generative AI solutions to support INT’s mandate. This is a unique opportunity to contribute your creative skills and domain knowledge to shape the future of anti-corruption efforts in development.

If you are a forward-thinking data scientist ready to make a profound impact on anti-corruption in global development and be part of an international team committed to tackling some of the world's most pressing challenges, we invite you to join us on this journey.

Duties and Accountabilities

Application Development:
• Build cloud-native data and AI integrated tools in collaboration with internal stakeholders such as INT Data Lab team members and The World Bank’s ITS.
• Evaluate and create tools and methodologies for INT's preventive and proactive integrity initiatives, focusing on fraud/corruption risk management and supporting investigations through advanced data analytics.

AI Engineering:
• Build Machine Learning and pattern detection algorithms to support the identification and management of integrity risks in Bank-financed Procurement and enabling the ingestion of external data sources such as social media, adverse media, satellite imagery, and other data feeds.
• Explore and apply generative AI and prompt engineering for structured data extraction from unstructured data. Ensure data quality and ethical considerations in all AI and ML projects; strengthen responsible AI practices in INT and develop programs to promote ethical AI use.
• Support the PRKM manager in AI pilots related to the development of customized AI agents and other AI solutions.

Cloud Engineering:
• Coordinate with ITS and provision cloud resources needed and manage security accreditation requirements from the World Bank’s Office of Information Security (OIS) related to INT’s cloud infrastructure.
• Manage cloud costing and resource utilization.

Communication:
• Coordinate the technical work of INT’s Data Team, including regular code reviews, to ensure code quality, scalability and reproducibility of Data and AI tools.
• Manage INT’s DevSecOps projects and ensure CI-CD strategy implementation to build and deploy tools.
• Foster partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and experts to business requirement collection, drive innovation and knowledge sharing.
• Support the PRKM manager in preparing for expert international panels on AI and responsible use of AI to present regularly to various stakeholder groups within and outside INT.

Selection Criteria

• A master’s degree, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience in a field closely related to international development (e.g., public policy, governance, political science, or public administration) and/or in a field closely related to statistics, data science, computer sciences, economics, mathematics, or physics. 
• At least 5 years of relevant work experience.

Technical Skills:
• At least 4 years of experience in cloud-native application development.
• Advanced level experience in cloud administration (preferably Azure).
• Strong knowledge on performing data analytics using Python, SQL (preferably using Databricks).
• Advanced level knowledge on Full Stack Application development (preferably React, Streamlit for front-end and FastAPI for back-end API).
• Hands-on experience in ordinating the design and implementation of complex cloud security protocols for enterprise-level certification.
• Experience with building graph databases and pattern detection algorithms.
• Experience with using GitHub for ensuring code quality and conducting reviews.

Interpersonal Skills:
• Strong commitment to quality, transparency, and openness.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to learn new methods quickly.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Excellent communication skills and capacity to present technical issues to non-experts.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively in an international and interdisciplinary environment.
• Commitment to the mission of poverty alleviation and economic development.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Candidates are requested to provide a link to their GitHub repository, project portfolio, and other relevant materials supporting their application in their cover letter or CV (please provide full explicit URL).

WBG Culture Attributes:

1. Sense of Urgency – Anticipating and quickly reacting to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful Risk Taking – Taking informed and thoughtful risks and making courageous decisions to push boundaries for greater impact.
3. Empowerment and Accountability – Engaging with others in an empowered and accountable manner for impactful results.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

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.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.