Senior IT Specialist (Technology Engineering - Product)

Job Posting Organization:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a leading multilateral development bank that was established in 196

• Its mission is to support inclusive, resilient, and sustainable growth across Asia and the Pacific. ADB works with its members and partners to solve complex challenges, harnessing innovative financial tools and strategic partnerships to transform lives, build quality infrastructure, and safeguard the planet. The organization is headquartered in Manila, Philippines, and is owned by 69 members, with 50 of them from the Asia-Pacific region. ADB is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their background. The organization employs approximately 3,000 staff members and operates in multiple countries across Asia and the Pacific, focusing on poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

Job Overview:
The Senior IT Specialist (Technology Engineering - Product) position is a critical role within the Technology Strategy and Engineering Unit of the Information Technology Department at ADB. This role involves leading the product engineering enablement capability, which aims to enhance the efficiency of software delivery through reusable engineering assets, practical guardrails, and shared developer tooling. The successful candidate will serve as a senior hands-on technical leader, contributing to solution design, prototyping, debugging, and code reviews. The position requires collaboration with product teams, enterprise architecture, and engineering leaders to translate standards into practical tools and templates that facilitate the preferred way of building software. Additionally, the role supports the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in software delivery, focusing on tools that improve developer productivity in areas such as code generation, testing, debugging, and documentation.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The duties and responsibilities of the Senior IT Specialist include leading the product engineering enablement capability, delivering shared engineering assets that improve delivery speed, code quality, security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security, reliability, and developer productivity. The specialist will build and maintain reusable engineering components such as shared libraries, UI components, starter kits, templates, and reference implementations. Responsibilities also include packaging engineering standards into practical tools, templates, and pipelines for team adoption, prototyping and validating solutions through direct code contributions, and providing hands-on technical leadership through coding, debugging, and code reviews. The role requires improving delivery practices through better use of Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), observability, and test automation, as well as driving the adoption of shared solutions through implementation support, examples, and coaching. The specialist will partner with architecture and product leadership to align standards with delivery needs.

Required Qualifications:
To qualify for this position, candidates must possess a Master's degree or equivalent in computer science or a university degree with at least 5 years of specialized experience. A minimum of 10 years of relevant work experience is required, including international experience. Candidates should have experience working in cloud-native, microservices, or Software as a Service (SaaS) environments, along with a strong understanding of infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD, observability, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices. Strong software engineering skills, including writing and reviewing code, debugging, and prototyping, are essential. Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Java/Kotlin, TypeScript, Go, or .NET is required. Candidates should also have experience identifying common engineering challenges and developing reusable solutions such as templates, libraries, or developer tooling used across teams. The ability to guide teams toward maintainable and sustainable engineering practices and communicate the impact of technical decisions is crucial.

Educational Background:
Candidates must have a Master's degree or equivalent in computer science or a related field. A university degree with at least 5 years of specialized experience is also acceptable. The educational background should provide a solid foundation in computer science principles, software engineering, and technology management, equipping candidates with the necessary skills to excel in this role.

Experience:
The position requires at least 10 years of relevant work experience, which should include international experience. Candidates should have a proven track record of working in cloud-native, microservices, or Software as a Service (SaaS) environments. Experience in identifying common engineering challenges and developing reusable solutions is essential, as well as experience coaching or supporting distributed engineering teams. The ability to explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders is also important.

Languages:
Written and verbal proficiency in English is mandatory for this position. Candidates with public speaking experience, open-source contributions, or thought leadership in software engineering or developer productivity are preferred. Knowledge of additional languages may be beneficial but is not required.

Additional Notes:
This appointment is open to both internal and external applicants. The position is funded by a temporary funding source, and the renewal of the appointment is subject to the availability of this funding. It is a fixed-term appointment with the option to renew, initially for a period of up to 3 years or until the Normal Retirement Date (NRD), whichever comes first. After the initial fixed-term period, ADB may choose to renew the appointment for up to an additional 3 years or not renew it, based on various factors including the requirement for the staff's skills and experience, sufficient funding, and the staff's performance. There is no limit to the number of renewals up to NRD, but this appointment is not convertible to a regular appointment. ADB offers competitive compensation and a comprehensive benefits package, including housing and education allowances (if applicable), expatriate benefits, relocation assistance, a retirement plan, medical and health benefits, paid leave (including parental leave), and life and other insurance plans.