Economist

Wood Mackenzie
Houston - United States
S: Competitive

Role
The Houston based Economist will join Wood Mackenzie's Economics Team, currently comprised of 7 Economists and analysts located in Houston, London, Edinburgh, Singapore and Beijing. The role is America's focused, developing Wood Mackenzie's short- and long-term macroeconomic forecasts for US, Canada and Latin America –critical for Wood Mackenzie's energy and metals demand modelling. The successful candidate will also support the development of Wood Mackenzie's more granular analysis of US including state analysis of various economic/ geographic metrics such as industrial growth, investment in oil and gas and other key growth drivers. The role will require interaction with both internal and external facing clients.
The candidate will have a keen interest in quantifying the relationship between economic activity and resource demand growth across markets. With a strong background in macroeconomics and econometrics, the successful candidate will quickly develop a good understanding of the trends and discontinuities across the energy and metals value chain. The successful candidate must be comfortable with econometric modelling techniques, assessing new sources of economic data and analysing new markets within a complex analytical framework.
The Economist will play an important role in ensuring consistency and alignment in the update of US, Canadian and Latin America macroeconomic forecasts through regular dialogue and close collaboration with colleagues across the business. This will support Wood Mackenzie's lead position in industry as an integrated global energy and metals company.

Main Responsibilities
• In consultation with Wood Mackenzie's energy and metal demand teams, develop and update quantitative models which forecast key macroeconomic variables to be used in energy and metals demand modelling. This will include the development of high level, long-term structural GDP and industrial production growth models; and models to forecast more granular drivers of energy and metals demand at a US state level.
• Develop consistent and robust views on the qualitative effect of global and regional economic activity on energy and metals demand.
• Deliver concise written reports/ presentations on short-term quarterly macroeconomic developments to support market based products across the business.

Key Competencies
• Excellent analytical skills – both quantitative and qualitative. Evidence of applied quantitative methods required.
• Advanced knowledge of MS Excel and econometric software (e.g. EViews, Microfit).
• Strong communication skills: able to communicate complex economic concepts to non-economists (both internal and external) both orally and in writing. Strong presentation skills essential.
• Team player, working with team members in different locations/ across time zones. The successful candidate will be willing to travel to Wood Mackenzie and client offices (in and out of region).
• A commitment to excellence to meet high standards demanded both internally and externally.

Knowledge and Experience
• A bachelor or master's degree majoring in Economics.
• A good understanding of the macroeconomic drivers relevant to the energy and/ or metals industry. Preferably this knowledge would be gained from at least 3 years of Economist experience.
• Proven ability to write fluent and concise English-language commercial reports.
• Knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese helpful.
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to present findings to senior clients in an effective and confident manner.
• Willingness to travel broadly within region and maintain effective relationships with internal stakeholders and clients.

Job summary