Specialist

(New York or Geneva based, start July 2025 through to March 2027)

Please Note: This role requires the ability to work on site 3 days per week per company policy.
The annual salary range for this role is $80,000-$85,000 in New York.    
This role is not eligible for US work authorization support.
 

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organisation for Public-Private Cooperation. 

The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Why we are recruiting

As part of the Centre for Regions, Trade and Geopolitics, the Forum’s International Organisations and Humanitarian Agenda team manages strategic relations with a broad group of multilateral institutions, engaging their leadership and experts across Forum Centres to disseminate their message and accelerate impact, and help build effective multistakeholder coalitions in support of their mandates and international milestones. The team also drives the Humanitarian Agenda, and explores new collaboration opportunities that connect with the broader international finance and development agendas.

The team leads two thematic portfolios:

-    The Humanitarian and Resilience Investing (HRI) Initiative launched in 2019 as an approach to unlock impact investing in frontier markets with the goal to measurably benefit and increase the resilience of at-risk and crisis-hit communities. Since inception, it has brought together over 100 partners across sectors to scale market-driven solutions by mobilizing commercial and catalytic capital, and strengthen the ecosystem for impact investment in frontier markets.
-    The Resilience Consortium, launched in 2022, brings together ministers, chief executives and heads of International Organisations, acting as a catalyst for coordinating public and private sector efforts to build and strengthen resilience as a prerequisite for long-term, sustainable and inclusive growth. 

The Investor Engagement Specialist will oversee the HRI initiative’s engagement with leaders from the philanthropic, development finance and investing industries, and lead a new area of work to foster closer collaboration amongst these in frontier markets.

Reporting lines and interactions
 

The position will report to the Project Lead of the Humanitarian and Resilience Investing Initiative. 

Internally,  this person will work closely with colleagues from relevant regional and Centre teams, including those that manage relations with specialised International Organisations, and Account Managers managing engagement with relevant Forum constituents, to ensure smooth and successful collaborations. Externally, this person will engage a broad range of stakeholders, most notably from the philanthropic, impact investment, and development finance communities, and seek to develop new relations that strengthen institutional collaboration.

Breakdown of main responsibilities

•    Project design: Develop and implement a cohesive strategy to facilitate collaboration opportunities for philanthropic actors, impact investors, institutional investors and development finance actors , and additional efforts to support private sector capital mobilization in frontier markets as relevant.
•    Community management: Manage and strengthen a diverse community of senior stakeholders from the philanthropic, development finance and investing industries, including through peer learning opportunities, including by fostering additional collaboration opportunities as relevant and contributing to identification and growth of the community. 
•    Events management: Lead regular meetings for the community, including by leveraging Forum networks, events, and public engagement opportunities.
•    Content curation: Contribute to thought-leadership, lead on publications and briefing papers on frontier market investing , grow and manage a pipeline of investment opportunities and vehicles in frontier markets, including the creation of background notes on keeping the pipeline up to date.

The successful candidate will be assessed on

•    The ability to foster deep, meaningful relationships and engagement within the community, enhancing both the breadth and depth of connections, while driving collaboration among members to strengthen the overall network.
•    Demonstrated creativity in identifying and establishing new thematic collaboration opportunities on key issues within the impact investment agenda. Proven success in curating and delivering high-quality events and thought leadership initiatives.
•    Active involvement in driving the overall team strategy, including contributing to the HRI initiative, the IO team, and broader World Economic Forum events, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives.
•    Ability to meet and exceed targets in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment, working with a high degree of autonomy while adapting and iterating in response to evolving priorities

Preferred Requirements and Experience

•    Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. business, finance, development economics)
•    3+ years relevant professional work experience, such as in the field of impact investing, investment facilitation, or private sector development. Previous work experience in emerging and frontier markets strongly encouraged.
•    In-depth understanding of the impact investing ecosystem. 
•    Demonstrated ability to build and manage global multistakeholder communities, lead the strategic design and implementation of projects, and with the ability to interact effectively with leaders to build and deepen trusted relationships. 
•    Proven attention to detail, capacity to apply critical thinking, synthesize various viewpoints, effectively communicate critical messages, and consult broadly across diverse stakeholders.
•    A flexible, agile, entrepreneurial and politically astute mindset necessary for working with fast-paced teams in dynamic environments.
•    Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English; additional languages welcome
•    Proficiency in MS Office/Excel/PowerPoint and recent digital platforms; knowledge of Salesforce and Zoom a plus.
 

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!