Projects Officer – STAFI

Work for the IMF. Work for the World.

 

The IMF Statistics Department (STA) is seeking a Projects Officer for its Financial Institutions Division (STAFI). The selected candidate will work on the Financial Access Survey (FAS), a unique database on financial inclusion, containing information about access to and use of financial services around the world. This is a two-year contractual appointment with the possibility of renewal for up to four years of cumulative contractual service.

STA provides global leadership on macroeconomic and financial statistics methodologies and standards for the Fund, its member countries, and the international statistical community. It supports IMF surveillance and lending operations through capacity development (CD) activities focused on strengthening member countries’ capabilities to produce and disseminate statistics for sound policy analysis and effective policymaking. STA collaborates with other IMF departments, donors, and other external partners to ensure that data needs for bilateral and multilateral surveillance, and lending operations are met. The department also takes the lead in improving data management outcomes and in promoting data innovation.

STAFI provides global leadership on monetary and financial statistics (MFS) and financial soundness indicators (FSIs), in operationalizing the Fund’s role as global standard setter in the methodology for these areas of statistics. In addition to MFS and FSIs, the Division is also responsible for the FAS, which is a world-wide supply-side database on financial access and use collected from central banks and regulators. The FAS data support Fund surveillance and allow policymakers to measure and track the progress made in advancing financial access and benchmark it against that of peers. STAFI also manages STA’s CD program on MFS, FSIs, and FAS, including provision of technical assistance (TA) and training to IMF member countries across the world.

Duties and responsibilities

The successful candidate will be part of the FAS team in STAFI, under the general supervision and guidance of STAFI management, and will work on the management and improvement of the FAS as well as FAS-related outreach activities. Specifically, the selected candidate will:

• Support the preparation and development of the annual FAS questionnaire; monitor FAS data collection and implementation including following up with data compliers; and support the FAS team on methodological and data issues.
• Contribute to the continuous improvements in the coverage and content of the FAS to ensure the database stays relevant, adequately reflecting the developments in the financial inclusion area.
• Support improving data management and visualization.
• Organize and conduct FAS workshops for FAS reporting jurisdictions, including designing and delivering lectures and discussion sessions.
• Conduct analytical work on financial access and inclusion using the FAS and other relevant data sources to support policy making; prepare and draft relevant notes and reports.
• Participate in and support other divisional/departmental work as appropriate, which could include reviewing relevant policy documents and data related issues.

Qualifications

The successful candidate should have an advanced degree in Economics, Statistics, Finance, and/or another relevant field or a university degree, or equivalent, supplemented by a minimum of six years of relevant professional experience . Experience in data management/analysis as well as knowledge of quantitative methods, including computational statistics, machine learning and data visualization would be a plus. Programming skills in Stata, R, Phyton, e-views are highly desirable. Strong analytical skills and technical experience in various aspects of the data management pipeline; data acquisition, cleaning and management; curation; interpretation and analysis; and presentation would be string assets.

The successful candidate should have strong organizing skills, demonstrated ability to think originally and innovatively, and adaptability to work both independently and collaboratively in teams. He/she should have excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills and a strong drive for results.

This is a two-year contractual appointment. Contractual appointments at the IMF are renewable for up to four years of cumulative contractual service, pending incumbent’s performance, budget availability and continuous business need.

Department:

STAFI Statistics Department Financial Institutions

Hiring For:

A09, A10

The IMF is committed to achieving a diverse staff, including age, creed, culture, disability, educational background, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, nationality, race, religion and beliefs, and sexual orientation. We welcome requests for reasonable accommodations for disabilities during the selection process.