Economist

Organizational context: The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives and building a pathway to peace and prosperity. WFP uses food assistance to help people recover from conflict, disasters, and climate change impacts. The organization values diversity, inclusion, and invests in its employees' professional development, offering a dynamic and impactful career.

Job purpose: The Economist P4 will provide senior technical leadership within WFP's Economic and Markets Unit, focusing on developing and applying advanced economic modeling and analytical methods. The role is crucial for strengthening WFP's capacity to anticipate and respond to economic shocks and market conditions that affect food security. Key responsibilities include leading global economic modeling to quantify shock impacts, conducting country-level demand and scenario analysis, developing composite indices for needs assessment and resource prioritization, and designing market assessment tools. The Economist will also be responsible for setting technical direction, supervising staff, and leading capacity strengthening initiatives for WFP country offices and partners. This position aims to ensure WFP's interventions are timely, effective, and evidence-driven, ultimately directing resources to alleviate hunger and malnutrition.

Responsibilities: The World Food Programme (WFP) is seeking an Economist to join its Economic and Markets Unit at its Rome headquarters. This role is crucial for strengthening WFP’s capacity to analyze and respond to economic shocks and market conditions affecting food security. The Economist will provide senior technical leadership in developing and applying advanced economic and market analysis methods, including economic modeling, scenario simulation, and market assessments. Key responsibilities include leading global economic modeling to understand shock transmission to food security, conducting country-level demand and scenario analysis, and developing composite indices to guide funding allocation and early warning systems. The position also involves designing and validating new analytical tools and methodologies, providing technical direction for data integration and visualization, and supporting research on food security and its policy implications. Furthermore, the Economist will lead capacity strengthening initiatives for WFP staff and partners, contribute to resource mobilization, and supervise team members. This role requires a deep understanding of econometrics, economic modeling, market analysis, and food security, with a strong emphasis on translating complex data into actionable evidence for decision-making in humanitarian operations.

Education: An advanced degree (MSc) in economics, agricultural economics, development economics, or a related quantitative field is required. Strong formal training in econometrics and economic modeling is essential. A PhD in Economics is considered an advantage.

Work experience: Requires at least 8 years of progressive professional experience in macro/micro-economics, market assessments, food security analysis, and quantitative/econometric analysis within humanitarian or development operations. Must have extensive field experience conducting market and price surveys in challenging environments. Demonstrated success in developing and validating analytical tools, indicators, or models adopted at scale, supported by a peer-reviewed publication record.

Skills: Economic modeling, Market analysis, Food security analysis, Quantitative analysis, Econometrics, Scenario simulation, Data visualization, Survey design, Capacity building, Research and development

Required languages: English

Desired languages: French, Arabic, Spanish