Economic Consultant

Roles and responsibilities

We are looking for an experienced consultant with a background in regulatory economics to join our team advising the centre of government on improving their regulatory policies and practices, with the aim to improve social and economic outcomes. You will work as part of a team of problem solvers, helping to solve complex policy issues from strategy to execution. Your responsibilities will include, but will not not be limited to the following.

• Providing technical advice to governments to improve regulatory practices, designing and formulating regulatory reforms, and assessing the socio-economic impacts of these reforms, drawing on global best practice.
• Leading economic analysis e.g. incentive designs; setting tariffs for natural monopolies; price control reviews; cost benchmarking and cost-of-capital estimation
• Managing the delivery of complex projects and working together with team members and experts across different disciplines to formulate innovative regulatory strategies and reform initiatives. This will include team leadership, management of project delivery schedules, quality assurance of deliverables, providing project updates and a point of contact to clients, management of project budgets and project commercial KPIs.
• Designing and delivering training programmes and workshops.
• Preparing clear, concise and presentable reports for different audiences, e.g. technical staff as well as executive-level reports.
• Translating complex market data into actionable strategies and implementation roadmaps.
• Building and maintaining positive, productive and professional relationships with clients and colleagues. You will be expected to have significant interactions with senior government officials and senior advisors, including presenting to ministerial-level staff.
• Coaching and developing the more junior members in the team.
• Driving business development activities, including identifying new opportunities through client and internal relationships and research; developing high quality and commercially viable project proposals; and managing risk and quality processes.
• Writing thought leadership articles on issues relating to regulatory economics, incorporating a unique angle and perspective relevant to the region.
• Curation and dissemination of the team’s knowledge management artefacts in the field of regulatory economics.

Desired candidate profile

• Experience conducting regulatory analysis with or for regulators.
• Experience leading projects in the following areas: price control reviews; cost benchmarking and cost-of-capital estimation; design of tariffs for natural monopolies; market reform, liberalisation and redesign of regulatory systems; capacity building of regulatory authorities; and investment analysis, financial modelling and transaction advisory to firms in regulated industries.
• Comprehensive knowledge of regulatory systems and regulatory approaches, including price control structures, marginal cost pricing and alternative forms of price regulation; output, delivery, service quality and other forms of non-price regulation; as well as familiarity with international regulatory standards and best practices.
• Proven ability to structure issues and use analytical skills to solve complex problems.
• Experience in economic impact analysis or related modelling techniques to assess the impacts of policies.
• Strong project management skills.
• Ability to communicate complex concepts to a non-technical audience through written and oral communication essential.
• Ability to prepare clear, concise and visually-appealing reports essential.
• Strong interest and passion for developing, growing and leading a team through coaching and mentoring, as well as proactive knowledge sharing.
• The ability and willingness to travel within the Middle East or where project requirements dictate.
• Proficiency in MS Office and Google Suite essential.
• Experience in working with Stata, R, EViews, PowerBI, Tableau, or ThinkCell ideal.
• Professional proficiency of Arabic (oral and written) ideal.
  

Years of experience

• 8 years of experience in regulatory economics, preferably in a consulting environment.
  

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Finance, Econometrics, Public Policy, or any related field.