Senior Education Specialist/Economist Job #: req34170 Organization: World Bank Sector: Education Grade: GG Term Duration:ย 4 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: San Salvador,El Salvador Required Language(s): English, Spanish Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 9/15/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. Please visitย www.worldbank.org.
THE LCR REGION โ PEOPLE AND EDUCATION
The Bank's LCR Regional Vice Presidency has placed People and Human Development, including education, at the heart of its engagement to eliminate poverty on a livable planet. The LCR People team is led by a Director and encompasses three units (Health, Nutrition and Population; Social and Protection, and Education) with about 90 professionals helping the region to achieve better human capital outcomes
Unit Context:
Countries in the LAC region have taken great strides in education in the past few decades, but surprisingly large challenges remain: Learning poverty is at 52 percent; access to quality early childhood education for vulnerable and poor families are highly inadequate; learning in secondary education trails substantially learning in OECD countries (by an average of five years in math). Drop out and insufficient access to upper secondary and higher education implies that youth in LCR face an unnecessary difficult transition to the labor market, and more than 25 million youth are not in education and not in jobs in the region. Lastly, the Latin American and Caribbean region suffers from a 100-year under-investment into technical and STEM skills to drive technology adoption.ย
The World Bank LCR Education Unit focuses on helping countries build the human capital required for economic growth and social development by providing analytical products, technical and financial support. To overcome these challenges, the LAC Education Unit supports countries in developing and implementing strategies for learning at all levels of education from childhood to tertiary. Teams work closely with countries to improve their systems of delivery, promote equality in education, and foster better management. We also work closely with education colleagues from other regions of the World Bank as well as colleagues in other sectors. We take pride in provision of intensive implementation support to our client governments, seek to collaborate with WBG colleagues to offer integrated development solutions across sectors, and partner with other financiers, civil society, and academia to provide the most effective support possible.ย
The LCR Education Unit is seeking a Senior Education Economist to lead the Bankโs Education engagement in El Salvador. In collaboration with the rest of the El Salvador and LAC Education team, the Senior Education Economist will engage in a wide range of analytical, research, and operational tasks.
Duties and accountabilities:
The primary responsibility of the Senior Education Economist will be to lead the Bankโs support to education and skills in El Salvador.
This includes:
โข Lead the support to the implementation of the El Salvador Growing up and Learning Together: Comprehensive ECD project. This includes but not limited to, ensuring: (i) up-to-date project documents, including ISRs, manuals, Aide Memoires, etc.; (ii) collaborate with the implementing agencies to supervise project activities; (iii) conduct periodic implementation support missions; and (iv) the design and execution of project-level monitoring and evaluation systems.ย
โข Lead Project preparations for a new Education results-based operation.
โข Lead Technical Assistance to inform and assess on-going reform efforts.
โข Lead a team of staff and consultants supporting the government of El Salvador within education, including drawing in relevant, innovative regional and global expertise.
โข Contribute to the El Salvador country program and be an integral part of the country team that seamlessly collaborates across sectors to deliver integrate development solutions for the country.
โข Lead or contribute to high-quality analytical work on education, skills, human development, and country issues in El Salvador, including but not limited to: (i) efficiency of education expenditures; (ii) determinants of learning; (iii) relevance and governance of education and skills; (iv) EdTech and digital skills for education and jobs.
โข Lead policy dialogue with internal and external stakeholders.ย
โข Contribute to other tasks as needed including potential work on other countries in the region, preparing new projects, events, and conferences.ย
Selection Criteria
โข Advanced degree (masterโs or Ph.D.) in Education, Economics, or relevant field.ย
โข Minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience or equivalent combination of education and experience, with a focus on Early childhood development, learning poverty, and learning assessment
โข Demonstrated ability to lead complex and sensitive policy dialogues.
โข Track record of designing and extensively supporting implementation of comprehensive education reforms, including experience with implementation of civil works, EdTech, teacher reform, and foundational learning.
โข Operational experience, including WBG investment and results-based financing instruments.
โข Experience in supporting the education system in LAC and central America is preferred.ย
โข Strong experience collaborating with clients to build capacity
โข Capacity for organization and coordination, as well as ability to work with a high degree of independence, in a team environment and in consultation with senior staff.
โข Successful experience leading cross-sectoral WBG teams.ย
โข Proven team leadership with an ability to fund-raise for, build, and lead a larger team
โข Track record of forming trustful partnerships with external partnersย
โข Ability to undertake analytical tasks that inform operations
WBG Culture Attributes:
1. Sense of Urgency โ Anticipating and quickly reacting to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful Risk Taking โ Taking informed and thoughtful risks and making courageous decisions to push boundaries for greater impact.
3. Empowerment and Accountability โ 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.
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