Senior Operations Assistant

The successful candidate will work under the overall supervision of the Operations Manager and in collaboration with the Kenya based Operations Officer, the four (4) Sector Leaders based in Nairobi and the Operations teams in Rwanda, Somalia, and Uganda.  Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a five (5) year term appointment.

Roles & Responsibilities:

The Senior Operations Assistant (SOA) will play a critical role in supporting the management and oversight of the Bank’s portfoliat preparation, implementation, and evaluation stages. The SOA specific duties will include, but are not limited tthe following:

Strategy:

• Provide support tStrategy development, implementation and monitoring of the Kenya country engagement products, including collating relevant information and coordinating meetings and events.

Pipeline Management:

• Keep track of the status of the AECE2 pipeline operations ensuring milestones are updated including providing regular updates tthe OM, PLs and OO.
• Support task teams in following up on government requirements for pipeline operations.
• Support Operations Officer in the review of pipeline packages at the negotiation and board stages.

Portfolio Management:

• Monitor and analyze the portfoli(lending and non-lending), based on the relevant metrics for reporting and produce regular and ad-hoc portfolireports including identifying problems that need resolving.
• Follow-up on report findings with Country Teams and send reminders of stale Implementation Status and Results Reports (ISRs), final ISRs, Progress Reviews, and the Implementation Completion Report (ICR) etc.  
• Provide portfolidata as input tCMU deliverables such as the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD), Country Partnership Framework (CPF), Performance and Learning Review (PLR), regular briefs tmanagement and event/high level visit briefs. 
• Provide input for CMU comments on Project documentation (e.g Aide Memoires, Management Letters, general correspondence) for finalization by the Operations Officer.
• Monitor, track and keep record of all Environmental and Social Incident Response Toolkit (ESIRT) and periodically update the PLs. 

Liaison with Ministry of Finance 

• Take lead in the organization of wrap ups and PDU meetings 
• Provide 1-2 days per week of operational support tthe World Bank Desk at the MoF, or as agreed with the OM and OO.  
• Manage the logistics and agendas for the weekly Portfolireview meetings 
• Participate and oversee the logistics for the Quarterly PortfoliReviews including managing the agendas.  
• Support Oin following up on PortfoliAgreed Actions
• Be the focal point person with government on following up on notifications, reminders, overdue notices and clearances   

CMU Support

• Manage the organization of OM-TTL meetings, including recording of proceedings and monitoring of agreed action points
• Manage the organization of AECE2 Operations task team meetings, reporting of proceedings, and monitoring of agreed action points
• Manage the organization of CMU debriefs with mission teams
• Clear or coordinate the clearance of all out-going standard correspondence for CD such as Mission Announcement Letters, disbursement notifications (cancellation and closure of accounts) etc.
• Mentor other ACS tmaintain full familiarity with contents and processing steps of operational documents, reports and Board documents.   

Selection Criteria

• A Master’s degree or Undergraduate degree in a relevant field/discipline (e.g. Economics, Business Administration, Political Science, Finance, International Relations, Social Science or similar field relevant tthe Bank’s mission) strongly preferred. Five (5) years of relevant experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience. However, qualified candidates with a combination of a Bachelor’s degree coupled with proven experience will be considered. 
• Extremely dynamic, results-oriented, and action focused with a can-dattitude focused on immediate problem solving. 
• Knowledge of Government of Kenya (GoK) systems and donor coordination mechanisms.
• Ability twork within cross-sectoral and Kenya National Treasury’s World Bank Desk with sensitivity and appreciation of one’s role.
• Proven ability tthink strategically and demonstrated political sensitivity and mature judgment, with an ability tnavigate a challenging environment. 
• Outstanding inter-personal skills with proven ability twork cooperatively with a multi-disciplinary team.
• Demonstrated initiative, leadership skills, and drive for results including ability tundertake a diversity of tasks within a rapidly changing and demanding environment on short deadlines.
• Highly developed spoken and written communications skills including the ability tdraft concise reports, minutes, briefs, and correspondence skills.

Competencies:

• Excellent working knowledge and understanding of the WBG organization and its range of available financial instruments (e.g., IBRD loans, IDA credits and grants, trust funds).
• Demonstrated experience working in operations with a clear understanding of the project and country engagement life cycle and Bank operational policies and procedures.
• Good familiarity and ease of working with the Bank’s data and reporting systems, such as SAP, Standard Reports, and the Operations Portal. 
• Good familiarity and understanding of Bank’s lending portfoliperformance measurement and analytics.
• Full proficiency in data handling and ability twork quickly in Excel, particularly with creating data driven visuals and using advanced formulas e.g. pivot tables.
• Ability tcarry out research and analytical tasks on a wide range of operational and country issues, review and interpret information/data, identify trends and issues, and recommend actions/solutions.
• Excellent writing skills and capacity tprepare briefs/presentations using Word/PowerPoint.
• Capacity twork with tact and diplomacy with staff at all levels, often under tight time pressure in a busy environment.
• Proven ability twork both independently and in diverse teams, including with colleagues in various Global Practices, with minimal supervision and with high levels of accuracy and attention tdetail.
• Proficiency in English (both verbal and written).