Statistician (Development Economics - Statisticians / Data Scientists) at the World Bank

The World Bank, a member of the World Bank Group, is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Our mission is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results and to help people help themselves and their environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity and forging partnerships in the public and private sectors.

The World Bank Group is launching a recruitment drive aimed at increasing the number of Sub Saharan Africans in its work force. This commitment to hire Sub Saharan Africans reflects the Bank Group’s senior leadership commitment for a diverse workforce in which African nationals can play a key role in fighting poverty and increasing shared prosperity. Employment opportunities will be in various technical areas and professional streams for talented and diverse young professionals and mid-career level professionals to contribute and grow their skills in a career in international development.

A career with the World Bank Group offers a unique opportunity for exceptionally talented individuals with a passion for international development to contribute to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems. Bank staff work with governments, civil society groups, the private sector, and others in developing countries around the world, assisting people in all areas of development, from policy and strategic advice to the identification, preparation, appraisal, and supervision of development projects.

We are recruiting to fill the below position:

Job Title: Statistician

Location: Africa
Area: Development Economics - Statisticians / Data Scientists

Background / General Description

• The Development Economics Group (DEC) increases understanding of development policies and programs by providing intellectual leadership and analytical services to the World Bank and the wider development community.
• DEC is the premier research and data arm of the World Bank Group.

Development Data Group (DECDG):

• Good data, combined with knowledge and experience and augmented by new technologies, have the capacity to transform the development process.
• They document successes, bear witness to failures, and throw light on complex problems.
• They give governments and citizens the information needed to make decisions and control their own development.
• The mission of the Development Data Group is to make national and international data and statistics widely accessible to clients within and outside the Bank and to improve the capacity of member countries to produce, use, and make accessible the data they collect.

Requirements

• Master's Degree, plus 3 years of relevant experience in one of the focal areas of DECDG’s work, such as Open Data, statistical capacity building operations, or economic statistics. The work program will include:
• Working closely with the Open Data Working Group, develop, enhance, and provide applications and tools to enable the Bank’s Open Data suite of products to remain responsive to the evolving needs of the user community.
• Analyze existing systems and platforms and give enhancement recommendations, identifying feasible alternative solutions for better products.
• Provide support to client countries and country teams to identify needs and develop statistical capacity building programs.
• Participating in and occasionally leading country missions to identify, appraise, supervise, and evaluate statistical capacity-building activities.
• Coordinating country projects on statistical capacity-building and international comparisons.
• Designing best practices in data and metadata quality and applications for developing country work.
• Participating in the quality assessment of price and national accounts data, reviewing metadata submitted by the countries, and conducting statistical checks to ensure that prescribed methodologies are properly implemented.
• Contributing sections in publications on data quality assessment and processes.
• Participating in projects on innovative methods and solutions for data collection, processing, visualization, and dissemination.
• Promoting partnership with regional and national agencies.
• Ideal candidates for this position must have a demonstrated capacity for strategic thinking, the ability to conduct dialogue on relevant development policies and priorities, and be fluent in English with very good writing and communication skills.

Application Closing Date
31st August, 2015.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

If you are interested in this position, please click the link above to submit your application. You will be prompted to log in to the "Member Center" or "Create a New Account". Please fill in all fields, answer the screening questions if any, attach your resume or CV, and submit your Statement of Interest (no more than 700 words).

Note

• A select number of candidates will be interviewed in September and October 2015 in Washington, D.C. and locations in Africa and Europe.
• Those applications that were not selected for interview during this campaign will be kept on file for up to one year and may be considered for future opportunities.
• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.