Now hiring: New Development Bank opens vacancies for top posts

The New Development Bank, the new financial institution established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa eight months ago, is now open for hiring for its top management positions — opening up career opportunities for development professionals from the five member countries. While operations at the bank remain in the startup phase, the bank is keen to kickoff activities by beefing up its staff pool not just in its headquarters in Shanghai, China , but also in its first regional center in Johannesburg, South Africa. The new multilateral bank, estimated to have $100 billion in authorized capital at its disposal, is expected to fast-track and supplement the development progress of its member countries. With the majority of the senior management positions already filled up — headlined by former banker and corporate chief executive K. V. Kamath from India, with the rest of the vice presidential positions on risk, administrative, operations and finance filled up by representatives from the remaining four member countries — the current recruitment window focuses mainly on positions at the director general level. Ten of the 11 vacancies for the director general positions will be based in the Shanghai headquarters and are focused on administration, corporate, legal counsel, compliance, finance, budget and accounting, front office of the president, human resources, project financing, risk management, and treasury and portfolio management. The other opening is based in Johannesburg to head up the bank's African Regional Center. Common qualification requirements for the director general positions include a minimum of 15 years of experience in general multilateral operations, as well as the intricacies of development finance, among others. The deadline for all but two of the director general positions is on March 28. Meanwhile, the director general positions for finance, budget and accounting, and treasury and portfolio management is closing on April 4. The first wave of recruitment comes eight months after the inaugural meeting of the bank's board of governors in July last year, comprised mainly of the member countries' finance ministers, which include Nelson Enrique Filho of Brazil, Anton Siluanov of Russia, Arun Jaitley of India, Lou Jiwei of China, and Pravin Gordhan of South Africa. NDB, one of the two new China-based multilateral institutions that recently commenced operations, stated on its website that it is focused on providing “efficient and result-oriented project financing” to its member countries that complements existing efforts for “global growth and development.” The other multilateral institution is the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing, another development financier worth $100 billion, which started official operations at the start of the year. Both banks are expected to go toe-to-toe, financially and operationally, with other established multilateral institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank in financing and implementing development programs around the world. Junior and young professionals In addition to the top positions, NDB is also opening positions for junior and young professionals to work directly under the various functions of the management group. Apart from the specific requirements detailed in the job postings, the bank said that the goal is to build a team of “young meritorious individuals who like to challenge the status quo and bring in new ideas, innovation, and approaches,” while adding that part of the mandate is putting in place and “establishing the ‘next practice’ in development finance.” Ten focus areas will be opened for the junior and young professionals positions including project finance, treasury, budget and accounting, economic research and analysis, finance, risk, corporate communications, compliance, legal, human resources, and strategy and partnerships. These positions open up an opportunity for budding development professionals from the five member countries to work in a multilateral set up. Requirements vary for the positions: young professionals are required to have at least three years of relevant experience, while for the junior professionals category, experience can be less than three years. Both require that the applicants have a master's degree or an equivalent certification or qualification. The application deadline for these positions is scheduled for April 12. Read more international development news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive the latest from the world’s leading donors and decision-makers — emailed to you FREE every business day.