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Do you want to join a high performing, diverse team which will give you the opportunity to apply your economic expertise to meaningful work that makes a real difference?
The team/department
We are recruiting a Senior Economist to help us develop our Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) methods and to lead or support the delivery of CBAs for proposed interventions and their evaluations. This is a particularly exciting time to take on this role as we have recently established a new independent expert CBA Panel to advise us on CBA and we have an expanding research portfolio.
We are looking for individuals with a passion for using economic appraisal to help inform proactive and evidence-based policy, who will work closely with policymakers to shape the future of financial services and its regulation.
What you will be doing (the role)
Leading the development and improvement of our CBA methodology to ensure appropriate analytical rigour, using the latest academic literature, developments from government or other regulators in the UK or overseas, and taking advice from the CBA Panel
Planning and delivering CBA of market interventions, ensuring the analysis can stand up to the rigours of intense external scrutiny and taking account of advice from the new CBA Panel
Managing and continuously improving our processes, including managing the pipeline of CBA on which we consult the CBA Panel, ensuring plans are properly reviewed and challenged and working with the CBA Panel Secretariat to manage engagement with the CBA Panel
Providing methodological advice and guidance to other CBA practitioners in the FCA, including advising CBA teams on how to deal with particular methodological challenges and delivering CBA training to policy professionals
Measuring the benefits from our policy interventions, and developing the way we report on the benefits and costs of our activities in our annual Positive Impact report
What you will get from the role
You will be part of a thriving economics profession, with links to the Government Economic Service and other professional organisations.
You will be joining a multicultural community of economists, econometricians, behavioural scientists and data scientists, with opportunities to attend academic and industry conferences. We provide a stimulating, collaborative environment with a range of opportunities for professional and personal development. This includes the opportunity to develop new skills (for instance coding or causal inference techniques) and build up knowledge of different wholesale or retail financial markets.
We also provide opportunities to work on other economics projects outside your core role, depending on the skills and interest of the job holder. This provides variety to your work and allows you to develop or make use of existing skills through working with colleagues in other teams.
Examples of opportunities outside of your core role include:
Undertake training to develop and/or enhance coding experience (usually in R), with opportunity to work on smaller data analysis projects
Undertaking more complex data analysis, including having access to large datasets where you can use econometric methods to answer policy questions
Using quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of previous interventions, including the use of cutting edge causal inference methods
Using first principles economic thinking to provide thinking for our strategy and regulatory approach
Using a blend of tools and techniques to help the FCA to proactively understand how future trends affect the markets it regulates, providing insights and research to inform the FCA's approach to new and emerging issues
Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.
We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.
The skills and experience you will have
Minimum
We are a signatory to the Government's Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.
A degree in Economics (or related discipline) with relevant professional experience
Experience of cost benefit analysis, either through regulatory impact assessments or writing business cases for spending proposals
Experience of providing high-quality economic and/or analytical advice
Essential
Knowledge of cost benefit analysis methods such as the HMT Green Book, including valuation of non-market impacts
Experience in communicating and explaining complex issues with clarity, simplicity and precision to both specialist and non-specialist audiences both verbally and in writing
Working collaboratively and effectively with internal and external stakeholders, developing and maintaining positive working relationships
Experience in scoping, planning and delivering analytical projects, including understanding, identifying and analysing different sources of information
Ability to apply economic principles to issues you are not familiar with
Ability to handle uncertainty and deliver to tight deadlines, being flexible in adjusting your approach to changing demands
Willingness to be flexible and understand that role responsibilities might evolve over time according to business needs.
We are committed to offering an inclusive recruitment experience. If you require accommodations because of disability or health condition, please email: gscemeaedi @ robertwalters.com. This position is being sourced through our Outsourcing service line.
