Senior Digital Specialist – Trustworthy AI (with Cybersecurity)

Job Description

Company: World Bank Group

Location: Washington, US

This position is a part of the Japanese recruitment mission.

Build a career with impact. Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help countries solve their greatest development challenges. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, the WBG is a unique partnership of five global institutions dedicated to ending poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the WBG works 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.

VPU Context:
The World Bank Group’s Digital & AI Vice Presidency (D&AI VPU) leads the institution’s work on digital transformation and artificial intelligence – both as a driver of development outcomes in client countries and as a foundation for institutional effectiveness. As AI systems become increasingly embedded in public services, financial systems, infrastructure planning, and humanitarian response, the imperative to ensure those systems are safe, fair, accountable, and aligned with human rights has never been greater.
For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/digital development.

Unit Context:
Trustworthy AI – encompassing principles of transparency, explainability, fairness, robustness, privacy, and accountability – is now a strategic priority for the World Bank Group in its advisory and operational engagements with client countries. At the same time, the security of AI-enabled systems is inseparable from their trustworthiness. Cybersecurity risks, including adversarial attacks, model poisoning, data breaches, and system vulnerabilities, pose direct threats to the integrity and reliability of AI deployments in development contexts.
To advance this agenda, the D&AI VPU is seeking a Senior Digital Specialist with deep expertise in trustworthy AI and a solid foundation in cybersecurity. The specialist will lead and contribute to analytical work, operational support, policy dialogue, and knowledge generation across the Bank’s global portfolio.

Duties and accountabilities:
The overarching objective of this position is to strengthen the World Bank Group’s capacity to design, deploy, govern, and evaluate AI systems in a manner that is trustworthy, secure, and aligned with the development goals of client countries. The specialist will play a leading role in mainstreaming trustworthy AI principles into the Bank’s operations and supporting clients in building the regulatory, institutional, and technical capacity required to govern AI responsibly.

Technical and Analytical Leadership
Lead the development of frameworks, toolkits, methodologies, and standards for the assessment and implementation of trustworthy AI systems in development contexts, covering fairness, accountability, transparency, explainability, and robustness.
Conduct and oversee technical assessments of AI systems deployed or under consideration in client country operations, identifying risks related to bias, opacity, data integrity, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
Provide authoritative technical guidance on AI risk management, including threat modeling for AI systems, adversarial robustness testing, and the intersection of AI safety and cybersecurity.
Contribute to cutting-edge research and knowledge products on topics such as algorithmic auditing, AI governance frameworks, secure AI deployment in low-resource environments, and emerging regulatory approaches.

Operational Support and Project Implementation
Provide technical inputs into the preparation, appraisal, supervision, and evaluation of World Bank lending operations and technical assistance programs with AI components across sectors (health, education, social protection, finance, agriculture, public administration, etc.).
Serve as a task team member or co-TTL on select projects with significant trustworthy AI and digital security dimensions, ensuring that technical standards and safeguards are embedded into project design and implementation arrangements.
Support borrowing countries in developing national AI strategies, AI governance frameworks, and regulatory environments that promote innovation while mitigating risk.
Advise on the procurement, piloting, and oversight of AI systems in the public sector, including the design of government accountability mechanisms and civil society engagement frameworks.

Cybersecurity Integration
Apply foundational knowledge of cybersecurity principles – including information security management, identity and access management, network security, secure software development lifecycles, and incident response – to the assessment and design of AI-enabled systems.
Advise on cybersecurity risks specific to AI deployments, including data poisoning, model inversion attacks, adversarial examples, and the vulnerabilities introduced by third-party AI providers and cloud infrastructure.
Collaborate with the WBG’s cybersecurity teams and relevant global partners to ensure AI systems in client operations meet internationally recognized security standards (e.g., NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, OWASP AI Security and Privacy Guide).
Support clients in developing institutional capacity for AI-specific cybersecurity governance, including the integration of AI risk into national cybersecurity strategies.

Policy Dialogue and Client Engagement
Engage in high-level policy dialogue with government counterparts, regulatory authorities, civil society, and the private sector on the governance of AI and digital technologies.
Represent the World Bank Group in relevant international forums, working groups, and multi-stakeholder platforms focused on AI ethics, trustworthy AI standards, and digital governance (e.g., GPAI, OECD, ITU, G20 Digital Economy Working Groups).
Provide strategic advice to client governments on the design and implementation of AI regulatory frameworks, ethics guidelines, and institutional oversight mechanisms.
Facilitate dialogue between technical, legal, and policy stakeholders to bridge gaps between AI governance theory and implementation practice.

Knowledge Management and Capacity Building
Lead the development and dissemination of knowledge products including policy notes, working papers, operational guidance notes, e-learning modules, and toolkits on trustworthy AI and AI cybersecurity.
Design and deliver capacity-building programs, workshops, and training sessions for client country officials, World Bank task teams, and development practitioners.
Contribute to the D&AI VPU’s global communities of practice and knowledge platforms, fostering peer learning and cross-regional exchange on AI governance.
Mentor junior staff and consultants within the unit, contributing to team learning and professional development.

Partnerships and Resource Mobilization
Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships with leading academic institutions, standards bodies, civil society organizations, and bilateral and multilateral partners working on trustworthy AI.
Contribute to the development of concept notes and proposals for trust-funded and co-financed programs related to AI governance and digital security.
Engage with the private sector, including AI developers and platform providers, to promote responsible AI practices and build awareness of development context needs.

Source: ZipRecruiter