E T Consultant
Job #:
req39144
Organization:
World Bank Group
Sector:
Economics
Grade:
EC2
Term Duration:
1 year 0 months
Recruitment Type:
Local Recruitment
Location:
Washington, DC,United States
Required Language(s):
English
Preferred Language(s):
Closing Date:
11/9/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
The Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC) is the World Bank's central reservoir of fresh insights into the most pressing challenges of development. It is led by the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Group, who advises the President and senior managers, serves as the community leader for the WBG's economists, and helps to keep the institution in the forefront of thinking about development policy. DEC constitutes one of the world's largest teams of economists focused on policy solutions for developing economies.
The Office of the World Bank Group Chief Statistician and Development Data Group (DECDG) spearheads the World Bank Group's development data agenda. It provides strategic guidance and oversight on data standards, data governance, data quality, and ways to leverage data innovations both for our institution and for our operational work and clients. Through state-of-the-art data public goods, cutting-edge innovations and research, pioneering partnerships, and globally trusted technical expertise, DECDG leads efforts to ensure development data is of high quality, accessible, and widely used across the world.
The Development Data Group's Survey Unit (DECSU) is one of the four units in the department. DECSU advances the World Bank Group's leadership in global development data through the development and deployment of next-generation survey systems that enable countries, the World Bank Group, and development partners to produce trusted and representative data on living standards and purchasing power worldwide. The unit harnesses rigorous research, "AI-enabled and AI-enabling" digital innovation, and global partnerships to drive evidence-based policymaking for resilient and sustainable development. The unit is home to three major programs, namely International Comparison Program, Living Standards Measurement Study, and Survey Solutions.
The Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) is the World Bank's flagship program on household surveys, which remain integral to the objectives of governments, international organizations, and donors to (a) track poverty, food security, job creation, human capital development, and resilience in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and (b) target resources, measure results and protect the most vulnerable. LSMS works to strengthen the availability, quality, relevance, and timeliness of household surveys implemented in these contexts, through open-access survey data production and technical assistance; development and scale-up of enhanced, open-access survey methods and standards; and specialized trainings on survey design, implementation, integration and analysis. The main beneficiaries of the global public goods produced by the LSMS - in the form data, methods, and standards - are national statistical offices; the World Bank task teams and their country clients that rely on household surveys for the design, targeting, and evaluation of operational projects; and survey practitioners worldwide.
The LSMS is organized into two major programs, namely: (1) Survey Data Production and Advisory Services and (2) Innovations in Survey Methods and Measurement. Under its Data Production and Advisory Services program, in a typical year, LSMS provides technical support to the design and implementation large-scale survey data production approximately 40 to 60 LMICs, which are disproportionately concentrated in geographies that are highly vulnerable to climate hazards and/or are classified as fragile and conflict-affected (FCV) situations. Under its Survey Methods program, LSMS works to address gaps in the quality, timeliness and policy-relevance of data collected in large-scale survey operations, through the development and rigorous validation of innovative survey methods that directly speak to the needs and opportunities of large-scale surveys and that also inform practical guidelines and standards for household surveys supported by the World Bank and more broadly across the international development community. For details on the LSMS, please visit www.worldbank.org/lsms.
Longitudinal Population Data for Health and Nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa
Since 2008, the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) - the flagship household survey program of the World Bank (WB) - has partnered with national statistical offices across Africa to build and sustain a network of longitudinal household surveys. Implemented by NSOs in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Uganda, the longitudinal surveys have generated open-access data and evidence on dynamics in poverty, food security, human capital, and more broadly, wellbeing that no cross-sectional survey could have. Building on this platform, the LSMS is now implementing a new multi-country program of longitudinal surveys. This program entails longitudinal in-person and phone surveys, complemented with a novel health and demographic sentinel system that will be integrated into the longitudinal survey infrastructure. The goal is to build a more powerful, efficient, and durable longitudinal measurement platform to inform investments by the WB and development partners across multiple sectors - notably in health and nutrition.
Duties and Accountabilities
DECSU is seeking to recruit an ET Consultant to support activities implemented under the LSMS program. The primary beneficiaries of the services and products provided by the Data Scientist will be (a) country-owned surveys and national statistical offices (NSOs) that are supported by the World Bank Group (WBG) and development partners, including on poverty and (b) WBG task teams and technical partners that are working on WBG-owned surveys as part of WBG operations and knowledge bank activities.
Key responsibilities include:
• Support the planning, implementation, and monitoring of LSMS-supported national and sub-national surveys and randomized survey experiments, including questionnaire design and revision; pilot testing; Survey Solutions Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) and Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) application programming; development of training materials; fieldwork monitoring and supervision; data quality control; survey documentation; and data processing, analysis, and reporting.
• Serve as a core team member supporting survey activities in Malawi, including (a) the Malawi Integrated Household Panel Survey and the implementation and continued refinement of LSMS 2.0 survey instruments, systems, and approaches; and (b) the National Annual Agricultural Survey under the 50x2030 Initiative to Close the Agricultural Data Gap, including oversight of data collection and data quality, data analysis and report preparation, and capacity building with the National Statistical Office.
• Support the development, programming, testing, and refinement of Survey Solutions CAPI instruments for the revised LSMS 2.0 questionnaire, the Health and Demographic Sentinel System (HDSS), Market Survey, Light Panel, and Innovation Panel, including harmonization across instruments, longitudinal functionality, field implementation requirements, and the efficient reuse of common content and programming. These instruments form part of the broader longitudinal data platform being developed around LSMS 2.0.
• Support the development and operationalization of the Health and Demographic Sentinel System (HDSS) instrument, including functionality for longitudinal roster reconciliation and the recording and tracking of births, deaths, migration, household splits and mergers, changes in residence, and other demographic events.
• Support the development and maintenance of standardized data quality checking, fieldwork monitoring, data processing, and analytical systems for the revised LSMS 2.0, HDSS, Market Survey, and Innovation Panel instruments. This will include systems for identifying missing, inconsistent, implausible, or otherwise problematic data; monitoring fieldwork progress and data quality; generating standardized indicators and analytical outputs; and supporting efficient adaptation across countries and survey rounds.
• Contribute to the development and refinement of LSMS 2.0 data and reporting tools, including reproducible and scalable workflows for survey estimation, storage, tabulation, visualization, and automated reporting; reusable functions for producing standardized tables and visualizations; and tools that can be efficiently deployed across countries and survey rounds.
• Contribute to the integration of digital survey instruments, fieldwork monitoring, data quality checking, processing, analysis, visualization, and reporting into more standardized end-to-end workflows, supporting the development of reusable tools and processes across LSMS-supported survey operations.
• Perform any other related assignment, as requested by the supervisors.
Selection Criteria
• Minimum of master's degree in economics, statistics, data science, or related field with at least five years of experience in applied quantitative research, data science, or a closely related field, preferably involving complex household survey or development datasets.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, with demonstrated experience in cleaning, preparing, and analyzing large and complex survey datasets.
• Advanced proficiency in STATA and/or R.
• Experience in CAPI-and CATI-based survey design and implementation in LMICs, including questionnaire design, fieldwork supervision, data management, data quality control. Advanced proficiency in Survey Solutions CAPI/CATI/CAWI is an asset.
• Experience working with international institutions, government agencies, and NSOs, and ability to develop effective working relationships across institutional boundaries.
• Positive attitude, sense of initiative, flexibility, drive, results orientation, effective interpersonal and teamwork skills, ability to work independently, and track record of effective collaboration with multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural teams.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Strong commitment to high-quality work, with problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Willing to travel to LMICs and remote areas. Field experience in developing countries is a plus.
WBG Culture Attributes:
1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
As per WBG policy, an Extended Term (ET) appointment is subject to a lifetime maximum of three (3) years. Former and current ET staff who have completed or are in the process of completing their third-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.
