Junior Economist

Job Description

The Junior Economist’s primary role will be coding in Stata and/or R, and ensuring the quality of research design, implementation and outputs. Depending on the projects, the Junior Economist may be responsible for any of the following activities:

• Evaluation design: Estimating required sample size for any monitoring and evaluation activity, coding for impact evaluation design (e.g. random assignment, matching), programming SurveyCTO questionnaires for digital data collection.
• Evaluation implementation: Coding to ensure high data quality, data management including data
• Analysis: Conducting statistical analysis on datasets to produce results that inform recommendations and decisions.
• Data visualization: Presenting results for clients in easy to understand graphs, charts, tables, maps and other visualizations
• Quality control: Reviewing code to ensure quality code written by others on the project team
• Publication: Preparing data for publication in IDinsight’s data repository. Also preparing manuscripts for the publication of reports and/or articles in academic journals
• Monitoring: Building dashboards and/or data visualization tools to track key performance indicators
• Working with culturally and geographically diverse project teams. Working with project teams that can be spread across the globe, from different nationalities and cultures.
• Supporting the technical professional development of staff. Providing individualized technical support for IDinsight Associates, and periodically leading scheduled and ad-hoc training of technical topics.

The Junior Economist will be expected to fulfill these responsibilities and others with professionalism and on strict deadlines. They will also be expected to propose, design and implement new initiatives for supporting project teams and increasing the technical rigor of IDinsight’s work.

• Deeply passionate about social, economic, and environmental policies and programs, and social impact.
• Undergraduate degree in economics, econometrics, statistics, or political science, public policy. Outstanding quantitative and critical thinking skills.
• Self-starter who will thrive in a start-up setting by taking ownership and initiative.
• Intellectual curiosity and sense of humor.
• 2+ years of relevant work experience preferred, including working on empirical evaluations and research.
• Significant experience with Stata or R required. Experience with additional programming languages is a plus.

Professional development for Junior Economists is essential for IDinsight’s long-term impact. With support from IDinsight leadership, Junior Economists maintain self-directed professional development plans and are given “stretch” opportunities designed to strengthen their professional skills. Real-time feedback and structured reviews are regularly provided to maximize each Researcher’s expertise. IDinsight’s entrepreneurial culture allows roles and career progression to be tailored to individual strengths, interests, and goals. Junior Economists have the opportunity to increase responsibilities, and high performers will have the opportunity to move up in the organization along technical, managerial, or client-facing paths.

Opportunities to protect a small portion of time for the candidate to work on their own research agenda may be possible.

This position is based in any of our offices in Africa and Asia. Preference will be given to those with pre-existing work authorization in one of our country offices; however, IDInsight will seek work permits where possible for exceptional candidates.

Compensation and benefits are commensurate with relevant experience and background, and competitive within the social sector. Please note, as a non-profit, we are unable to provide compensation similar to leading private sector organizations.

The start date of this position is rolling, with preference for candidates that can start immediately. We expect a 1-year minimum commitment, with regular professional development conversations and potential for a longer-term career at IDinsight.

Please click the “Apply for this job online” button at the top right. The application asks various questions in order for us to get to know you, and requires a CV and cover letter. Applications are rolling and considered as they are submitted. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.