E T Consultant
Job #:
req39179
Organization:
World Bank
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:
11/13/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
VPU Context: 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.
Unit Context: The Office of the Chief Economist for the Africa Region (DECAF) provides analytical leadership on the region's pressing economic policy and development challenges. The Office produces flagship reports, research publications, and timely policy analysis to inform World Bank strategic priorities, operational engagements, and policy dialogue across Sub-Saharan Africa. The Office also leads the Think Africa Partnership, which strengthens the generation and uptake of economic policy knowledge through engagement with African scholars, research institutions, and government economic advisers. The Office's continuing research and analytical program requires sustained, data-intensive support across flagship publications, policy initiatives, and operational engagements; an extended-term appointment will provide continuity and enable the development of substantive analytical outputs over the assignment period. In particular, it will ensure his continuous contribution to the regional flagship report on Firms and Job Creation in Africa.
The assignment will provide rigorous empirical research and analytical support to the Office's flagship publications, policy initiatives, and operational engagements. The Economist will combine independent research with data-intensive analysis to generate policy-relevant evidence on firm dynamics, productivity, employment, private sector development, education, and related development issues in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Duties and Accountabilities:
• Conduct empirical research on firm dynamics, productivity, employment, private sector development, education, and related development issues, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Manage and analyze large firm-level, administrative, census, survey, and trade datasets, including data cleaning, validation, harmonization, merging, and construction of analytical variables and indicators.
• Apply appropriate econometric and quantitative methods; contribute to research design, empirical strategies, estimation, robustness analysis, and interpretation of results.
• Analyze firm entry, exit, survival, growth, productivity, and employment dynamics and assess their implications for job creation and private sector development.
• Contribute to regional flagship reports, economic updates, working papers, and other analytical publications produced by the Office of the Chief Economist.
• Develop original empirical research papers for submission to peer-reviewed academic journals and World Bank research series, independently and with collaborators.
• Provide empirical analysis for World Bank operations, advisory services, and policy dialogue, particularly on private sector development, employment, productivity, and private capital mobilization.
• Prepare policy briefs, background papers, presentations, blogs, and other materials for technical and non-technical audiences, including World Bank management, government counterparts, and development partners.
• Collaborate with economists, research teams, operational units, and external institutions on joint research, data analysis, and policy-related analytical work, and undertake other research and analytical assignments consistent with the Office's work program.
Selection Criteria
• Master's degree in economics, Statistics, Econometrics, or a closely related field, preferably with a focus on economics or empirical research. PhD preferred.
• At least, five years of relevant experience in economic research, quantitative analysis, or policy research. Experience gained through doctoral research may count toward this requirement, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience using firm-level, administrative, census, survey, trade, or other large-scale microeconomic datasets; experience in developing and emerging economies, preferably Sub-Saharan Africa; and evidence of contributions to academic research, working papers, flagship reports, or other substantive analytical publications.
• Advanced proficiency in Stata and/or R; data management and reproducible research; econometric estimation; panel-data analysis; cleaning, validation, harmonization, indicator construction, and merging of large datasets. Experience with survey design, impact evaluation, causal inference, economic indicators, or AI-assisted research and visualization tools is an advantage.
• Strong command of microeconomics and econometric methods and knowledge of the literature on firm dynamics, productivity, employment, labor markets, private sector development, education, and economic inequality.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Strong analytical skills and economic judgment; policy orientation; excellent written and oral communication; teamwork and collaboration; initiative and independence; and the ability to manage multiple assignments accurately and meet agreed deadlines.
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.
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