Investment Officer, Upstream & Advisory, Infrastructure, LAC Region

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities. Our mission is to leverage the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet.

IFC has embarked on an ambitious new growth strategy (IFC 3.0) to stimulate more investment activity across emerging markets. This strategy aims to create new opportunities for private investments in riskier markets and sectors by proactively working “Upstream” or at the pre-investment stage (early in the project-development cycle) to create, deepen, and expand markets and design and develop potential investment projects. Implementing this strategy will require a different approach to business development, deal sourcing, and client support that relies on (i) a broader product offering to engage earlier in the project cycle and secure opportunities; (ii) a greater focus on preparing clients in nascent markets and sectors for investment; (iii) a greater focus on value addition and risk management of portfolio investment clients to enhance their performance; and (iv) a longer time horizon and a more patient, longer-term perspective. 

Specific “Upstream” pre-investment and early-stage project development products include (i) collaboration engagements through which IFC supports private companies in the evaluation of new investment opportunities or business models; (ii) co-development engagements whereby IFC shares in the cost and risk of developing investment projects; (iii) advisory engagements to assist existing and prospective clients in unlocking investment opportunities or advancing climate and broader sustainability goals; (iv) joint engagements with the World Bank, taking a systematic approach to understanding the regulatory and sector bottlenecks that prevent the flow of private capital into productive investment in our member countries and addressing these bottlenecks through policy reforms and programmatic interventions at the country and sector level. 

IFC’s focus on infrastructure is on (i) increasing access to basic infrastructure services; (ii) supporting local companies while improving transparency and corporate governance; (iii) exploring new equity and debt investment opportunities and catalyzing foreign direct investments, including co-investments and mobilizing syndicated and parallel loans; (iv) introducing and developing new financial products including through Public Private Partnerships; and (v) building long-term partnerships with strong global and regional players.

The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Infrastructure department is an open and dynamic team that originates, structures and commits financing to infrastructure projects across several sectors, including energy, transportation, water and waste, telecom and technology, subnational infrastructure, and natural resources.  The department includes new business, portfolio, and upstream (pre-investment) units. The upstream/pre-investment team intrinsically works with investment and portfolio teams generating leads on potential opportunities for IFC.

IFC is seeking an Investment Officer to support our upstream/pre-investment work in the infrastructure sector in the LAC region.  The selected candidate will focus on supporting the development of high-quality pre-investment pipeline in the Latin America & Caribbean region (with a slight focus in Peru and Ecuador, but able to work across LAC as needed) across the different infrastructure sectors (Energy, Water and Wastewater, Municipal Infrastructure, Transport Telecommunications, Media, Technology). S/he will also support policy work and other interventions across the World Bank Group to prioritize various initiatives and to maximize the impact of upstream/pre-investment efforts. The position will be under the supervision of the Regional Upstream and Advisory Manager, and the selected staff will work with other Senior Investment Officers working in infrastructure in the region. The candidate will be based in Lima, Peru. 

Duties and Accountabilities:

The roles and responsibilities of the position will include but not be limited to:

•  Work closely with the Subregional Lead for Peru and Ecuador (and other subregional leads in INR LAC  as needed), to advance regional infrastructure business development activities and help develop a strong pipeline of investments by assessing business leads, anticipating market trends and employing deep sector/country/market knowledge.
•  Lead pre-investment and advisory initiatives in the region, under guidance from senior team members, to create a pipeline of future investments for IFC by spotting emerging opportunities for private investment and converting them into bankable projects through technical assistance and co-development of projects.
•  Assess the attractiveness of specific investment opportunities with a strong focus on credit quality, viability and development impact and contribute to recommendations to IFC’s management.
•  Lead internal processing of pre-investment and advisory initiative; support invest teams as needed with transaction processing. Support negotiation/documentation for pre-investment and investment projects.
•  Collaborate in developing client/country pre-investment strategies, engagement plans and pitch books. 
•  Contribute to the development of feasibility studies and implementation plans for pre-investment projects that lead to IFC investments.
•  Assist in designing and implementing scalable solutions and platforms similar to “Scaling Solar”, “Utilities for Climate”, “Sustainability Linked Finance” that can be replicated across markets. 
•  Produce regular reports on the assigned pre-investment  portfolio including monitoring progress against project milestones and KPIs.
•  Take a lead role in helping provide infrastructure-related inputs to reform processes and regulatory changes, coordinating with internal and external stakeholders as necessary.
•  Coordinate with World Bank colleagues and help create opportunities for investments for the private sector.