Senior Economist – Government Advisory, MENA
Oxford Economics, a leading global economic research and consultancy firm, is looking to hire a Senior Economist is to support Oxford’s significant and rapidly expanding consulting business for the EMEA region. This has included a sharp increase in business with a wide variety of government agencies in Saudi covering both Oxford’s consulting and subscription services.
Notably, this has included a recent contract with a government agency which requires a high level of on-site service. The contract involves a wide set of services underpinned by a large-scale model architecture developed on behalf of the client in a previous project. The model is used to support both economic forecasting and policy evaluation.
Key Responsibilities
The role will principally focus on the supporting the delivery of this large-scale contract but is expected to entail a broader set of responsibilities as follows:
Contract Specific
- Liaising between the client and Oxford’s project team and the client. Whilst the individual will not be expected to take on full responsibility for project management, it is expected that they will play a key role in coordinating between Oxford’s project team and the client.
- Supporting Oxford’s team to execute the key analytical requirements of the project. This is expected to include:
– leading cross-departmental consultation work that will be necessary to collect and refresh relevant data.
– supporting the development of reporting templates to be used by the client.
– gathering research materials to support modelling assumptions.
– running simulations on macroeconomic models.
– supporting various quantitative analytical tasks.
– supporting the delivery of capacity building and training services for the client.
- Providing analytical support to staff at the government agency with day-to-day tasks. For example, this will include:
– producing reports covering a variety of topics related to the economy and policy in KSA and reviewing reports developed by the client’s staff.
– supporting the client’s staff to communicate findings from Oxford’s analytical work internally to ensure its factual and interpretive accuracy.
Non-contract-Specific
- Supporting the delivery of consulting projects in KSA. Although the principal focus of the role will be to support the delivery of the services required from the previously referenced contract, it is expected that the individual will have the opportunity to support a wider range of consulting projects. As a guide, these typically relate to modelling the economic contribution of government entities and designing and transferring macroeconomic models to support decision making by government agencies.
- Supporting business development in KSA. As described, the Middle East region, and KSA in particular, is viewed as a key growth opportunity. We envisage that the individual will be able to support these efforts by assisting the development of proposals for new projects and discussing new opportunities with clients.
Skills and Experience
The role would suit someone who is rigorous, creative and entrepreneurial, with a strong track record in working in the public sector in the Middle East, with between three and six years of experience as a professional economist. Attributes of the successful candidate will include the following:
Required
- A degree in economics.
- Fluency in Arabic and English.
- Experience analysing key economies and policy development in the Middle East.
- Previous experience of using advanced macroeconomic models.
- Excellent analytical and quantitative skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively with both colleagues and clients; and
- Strong written and verbal communication including the ability to explain the findings from economic analysis and its implications to non-specialists.
Desired
- An advanced degree in economics or a related field.
- Familiarity with and experience using computable general equilibrium (CGE) model frameworks.
- Experience of providing advice and support to entities in the public sector in the Middle East, including giving advice directly to Ministers and senior officials.
- Experience using advanced programming languages.
Oxford Economics is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by governmental or local laws.
About Oxford Economics
Oxford Economics was founded in 1981 as a commercial venture with Oxford University’s business college to provide economic forecasting and modelling to UK companies and financial institutions expanding abroad. Since then, we have become one of the world’s foremost independent global advisory firms, providing reports, forecasts and analytical tools on more than 200 countries, 250 industrial sectors, and 7,000 cities and regions. Our best-of-class global economic and industry models and analytical tools give us an unparalleled ability to forecast external market trends and assess their economic, social and business impact.
Headquartered in Oxford, England, with regional centres in London, New York, and Singapore, Oxford Economics has offices across the globe in Belfast, Boston, Cape Town, Chicago, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Houston, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, Paris, Philadelphia, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto. We employ 500 full-time staff, including more than 300 professional economists, industry experts and business editors—one of the largest teams of macroeconomists and thought leadership specialists. Our global team is highly skilled in a full range of research techniques and thought leadership capabilities, from econometric modelling, scenario framing, and economic impact analysis to market surveys, case studies, expert panels, and web analytics.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Oxford Economics family.
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