Associate Country Officer

**Associate Country Officer - Country Strategy & Investment, Central America** **Job #**: - req33520 **Organization**: - IFC **Sector**: - Investment **Grade**: - GF **Term Duration**: - 3 years 0 months **Recruitment Type**: - Local Recruitment **Location**: - Panama City,Panama **Required Language(s)**: - English, Spanish **Preferred Language(s)**: **Closing Date**: - 7/1/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC **Description** 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. The Regional Country Office in Panama (CCMPA), as part of IFC’s Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Department, plays a central role in the functioning of IFC’s matrix organization to bring regional information and perspective to IFC decision making. CCMPA is responsible for: (a) leading the formulation of IFC’s regional strategy; (b) monitoring and communicating IFC’s project pipeline, portfolio performance and strategy implementation in the region; (c) monitoring political, macro-economic, sectoral and financial market developments, and keeping senior management informed of these developments and potential impact on IFC’s activities and strategies; (d) maintaining dialogue with the government, locally based stakeholders, and other parts of the World Bank group, (e) supporting business development for investment, upstream and advisory services along with industries and other responsible teams, and (f) coordinating investment, upstream and advisory services program in collaboration with Regional Industry Departments. **Duties and Accountabilities**: - Support the Country Manager and Country Officers in the development of a comprehensive IFC strategy for Panama and other countries in the Central America region; including providing the economic context of IFC’s activities as needed. A key skill for this role is to help "translate" the macroeconomic context/assessment into the regional/country operational strategy. - Act as a local focal point for the Country Manager/Country Officers, working closely with operational staff and liaising with the Regional Strategy Team to ensure adequate support to Operations on the economic front, at the project level and strategy level. - Together with Regional management, prepare IFC inputs to WBG initiatives in Panama and other Central American Countries, including Systematic Country Diagnostics, Country Partnership Frameworks, progress reports and other joint initiatives. - Participate in IFC’s investment and advisory project processing cycle (business development, project development, due diligence, etc.). Such participation includes input and revision of relevant sections of investment and advisory project documents (macro-economy and country context). - Support Country Officers in business development activities for investment, upstream and advisory services along with industries and other responsible teams. - Support the development of documents reflecting IFC’s activity in Panama and other Central American Countries, providing inputs on project pipelines, opportunities, events, trends and risks for management briefs, reports, presentations, and country economic updates. - Conduct market analysis and client mappings to identify new target clients; perform desktop reviews of potential clients including financial analysis and detailed background checks. - Conduct analysis and research support across sectors and regions to prepare communication materials (i.e pitchbooks and proposals to clients) as necessary. - Monitor and update a pipeline of current and upcoming projects and update management as needed; maintain a client pipeline database as well as other Excel based trackers. - Establish and maintain quality relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including clients and prospective clients. - Support the Country Manager and Country Officers in outreach to stakeholders and relationships with development finance institutions, donors and IFC member governments. - Contribute to and share knowledge on new corporate initiatives relevant for the country. **Selection Criteria** - Master's degree in a related field and at least 4 years of relevant experience. Related fields of education include business, finance, or economics. Relevant experience could include business consulting, corporate or investment banking, or operational experience in the sector or technical or professional field. - Country Knowledge: Experience in and strong knowledge of the countries and the region including their business environment, politics, history, social dynamics, culture, economics, local markets, and regulatory framework. - Strong analytical and problem-solving s