Economic Policy Specialists/Experts

Saudi Government Organisation
Riyadh - Saudi Arabia
S: Highly Competitive

OUR CLIENT:
We are recruiting for a Saudi Ministry based in Riyadh. The successful candidate will be offered a full-time employment contract directly from the Ministry.
The successful candidate will join the Ministry's division at the forefront of economic development in Saudi Arabia.
A highly competitive salary, commensurate with the seniority of this post, and a very attractive overall compensation package is available to the successful candidate.

ROLE:
The Saudi government and the Ministry are seeking to build their capacity for economic policy making and effective national planning. The successful candidate will provide economic advice to senior officials, liaise with other government departments, international organisations and the private sector, and help build economic policy-making capabilities within the government.
You will draw on your experience of best practice on economic policy processes to provide leadership to other analysts and policy staff, to enable high level thinking on policy issues which impact the government's plans, policies and operations. The precise scope of issues covered (macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policy; industrial development and competition policy; labour market and public service provision, etc.) will depend on the precise role and your skills, background and experience.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Economic Policy
 Analyse key economic policy issues related to the Saudi economy (for example Subsidy Reform, Private Sector Growth, Economic Diversification, Export Enhancement Competitiveness, Efficient Welfare System, Earned Income Credit and Industrial Strategy)
 Provide economic policy advice to senior management on these and other issues, including policy options.
 Provide analytical support to the division's efforts to help ensure that economic policy development has a strong evidence base, including providing context and analysis to data and statistics
 Work with other ministry departments on matters of importance to the Saudi economy.

Economic Research
 Thought leadership research on thematic issues, including country-specific economic developments, monetary and fiscal policy framework.
 Undertaking and / or managing policy research and evidence-based analysis; organising meetings and workshops; sharing knowledge and experience.
 Line manage the provision of research support;
 Provide in-depth analysis on macro data; identify near-term and long-term themes in assessing economic and policy outlook
 Write regular commentaries on major economic data, develop a framework to make logical economic forecasts

Economic Reporting
 Provide leadership in writing, reviewing, and presenting economic reports and briefs for Senior Management on economic policy issues.
 Oversee the preparation of the Ministry's economics output and publications, in line with its mandate for the provision of analysis, and comment to support national economic policy development.
 Analyse and report on key economic statistics and relevant issues impacting on the Saudi economy.

Economic Programme Management
 Managing and ensuring the effective communication and dissemination of outputs and outcomes of the work programme;
 To effectively manage project teams for delivery on complex and high-profile projects/policy processes;
 To supervise, coach and mentor Policy Officers and Research Assistants and contribute effectively to team work;

Capacity Building
 Lead and coach direct reports to ensure a high performing, well-motivated and developed team, which delivers the required outcomes.
 Lead in developing training and capacity development activities in the Ministry.
 Ensure the existing team is appropriately trained and manage their workload; expand and recruit new members.

PERSON SPECIFICATION
EDUCATION
 Master's degree or higher in Economics or economics-related discipline,
EXPERIENCE
 At least five years' experience in analysis and policy formulation in an international, government or public sector organisation;
 Proven senior applied research skills related to at least two of the following: 1) economic policy development, 2) translation of economic policy to practice 3) economic policy evaluation 4) macroeconomic or microeconmic analysis.
 Clear evidence of significant and relevant written policy-oriented outputs in English or Arabic.
 Demonstrable track record of economic project and programme management;
SKILLS
 Strong analytical and writing skills
 Proven ability to manage staff and interact constructively in teams;
 Complete fluency in English is required (writing to a publishable standard and ability to explain complex policy ideas and broker and facilitate dialogue in English); fluency in Arabic would be an asset.
 Strong communication skills, including the ability to speak persuasively and to present ideas clearly and concisely with senior policy officials.

Job summary