Research Officer

IFC
Washington, DC - United States
S: Competitive

BACKGROUND / GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our six decades of experience to create opportunity where it's needed most. In FY16, our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $19 billion, leveraging our capital, expertise and influence to help the private sector end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org

The IFC Global Markets & Research Unit, housed in IFC's Chief Economist Office, is a unique research team that is in charge of generating a deep understanding of country and market dynamics to identify strategic implications for IFC business and IFC investment clients.

It caters strategic and proprietary research to IFC Senior Management, IFC's Chief Economist, IFC Investment Departments and existing or potential Investment Clients of IFC. It combines in-house expertise in macroeconomics, portfolio, financial markets analysis, policy and regulatory matters. The team leverages IFC operational and industry knowledge and WBG sector expertise to provide a comprehensive view of global and country-specific industry trends and investment opportunities. The team's various research offerings support the corporation's thought leadership and fundamental research.

More specifically, the team provides (1) global and regional outlooks on macro-economics and markets drivers and trends that inform business and portfolio decisions, (2) country-risk ratings based on macro-economic, market and political developments, (3) strategic asset allocation framework and recommendations, (4) in-house developed models such as the Medium Term Vulnerability Model and FX Models, (5) tools that support investment staff, such as pricing tools, equity valuation tools, and M&A tools for sourcing and valuing IFC investments and (6) applied fundamental research.

IFC is looking for a Research Officer to join the IFC Global Markets & Research Unit within the Chief Economist Office.

Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 2 year term appointment.

DUTIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Work with other colleagues on monitoring, analyzing and regular reporting on global economic and financial developments with the emphasis on emerging and developing markets - with emphasis on performance and valuation of emerging markets assets classes. Conduct market monitoring of fixed income, foreign exchange, equity, commodity and derivative markets in developed and emerging markets.

- Contribute to the development of the unit's analytical apparatus linking macroeconomic developments to the performance of global industries at the regional level in order to identify sectors trends for IFC's investment operations.

- In coordination with industry / regional strategists and economists, analyze macro sector trends and identify attractive/unattractive global industries per region.

- Devise appropriate data gathering techniques, interpret and analyze data and develop meaningful insights, recommendations and strategies.

- Help maintaining existing statistical databases as well as help colleagues preparing reports, presentations, media talking points and other materials. Actively contribute to the data organization and automation efforts in the unit.

- Engage with staff across IFC and WB departments

- Help colleagues prepare reports, presentations, media talking points and other materials

SELECTION CRITERIA:

The ideal candidate will have strong analytical skills and considerable experience in economic and quantitative techniques; strong interest in applied research in economics and finance; and will be comfortable working independently and with large and diverse datasets.

Successful candidates should have:

• Strong economics and finance background with a focused interest in applied macroeconomics, asset allocation theory, and market valuation. Knowledge of corporate finance, financial markets and asset valuation (equities, fixed income, commodities)

• Have 4+ years of professional experience in a financial research or analytical role

• Proficiency with quantitative modeling and econometric packages desired (eViews, Stata) to support analysis and policy formulation

• Outstanding data management and systems skills. Superior knowledge of Microsoft Excel (including VBA), Bloomberg and/or Datastream is highly desired. Previous training and experience in basic programming (SQL, C++, Fortran, Visual Basic, Matlab and/or Gauss); and more importantly, a proactive attitude towards learning new systems, programming languages, databases and packages.

• Extensive experience and knowledge of Microsoft Excel and presentation packages (Tableau, Power Point)

• Ability to thrive under pressure and function effectively while managing multiple tasks simultaneously

• High level of attention to detail and capacity to deliver high quality work.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to function effectively and collaboratively in a team environment, including the willingness to share information and best practices

• Demonstrated written and verbal communications skills in English

• Capacity to show initiative

Job summary