Research Officer/Senior Research Officer (Contractual) - LEGF2

Work for the IMF. Work for the World.

The Legal Department (LEG) of the International Monetary Fund (the Fund) is seeking to fill multiple one-year contractual Research Officer position(s) in its Financial Integrity Group (FIG), with a focus on policy research, and/or data analysis. This position is based at the Fund’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Travel to Fund member countries is generally not expected.

The Fund is an international organization with a membership of 191 countries. The primary objective of FIG is promoting and preserving financial integrity in member countries, which contributes to the Fund’s goal to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its member countries.

In fulfilling its mission, the department provides top-quality, professional advice to the Fund's Board of Governors, Executive Board, management, and staff, and to the authorities of member countries on Fund law and policy, financial integrity issues, Fund-related administrative issues, and domestic legal and operational policy issues relevant to the Fund's mandate. The Legal Department employs mainly Counsels and Financial Sector Experts. The successful candidate will be assigned to one of the two divisions.

The Fund's Legal Department offers a unique opportunity to contribute to strengthening and fostering global, regional and country efforts in financial integrity, including AML/CFT, with a view to promoting the integrity of the international financial system.

Duties and Responsibilities 

The selected candidate will assist the Division by contributing to Fund surveillance, assessment, program, and capacity development-related work of FIG, preparing background notes on countries, carrying out research, drafting research documents on assigned topics, and maintaining databases. Specific duties and responsibilities include:

In the context of bilateral Fund surveillance and use of Fund's resources, contribute to the review on relevant internal documents for a group of countries and keeping abreast of developments in the Fund's relations with these countries, including by:

• managing country information resources and monitoring media reports for AML/CFT related matters.
• Conducting analyses of countries' money laundering (ML), terrorist financing (TF), and proliferation financing (PF) risks and circumstances and AML/CFT regimes.
• Support the division’s contact point with country teams, including by participating in relevant meetings, and preparing briefings for discussions with country authorities, as appropriate.

In addition to the above, the selected candidate may carry out other assignments as instructed by the Head or Deputy Head of the Division:

• Contribute to the Division’s work on selected draft AML/CFT assessment reports (prepared by other assessor bodies or Fund staff-led assessments against the Financial Action Task Force 40 Recommendations).

• In the context of FIG’s AML/CFT capacity development program, providing support to project managers, and assist with capacity development events, trainings, and missions.
• Researching and analyzing AML/CFT issues and contributing to the drafting of articles and publications, including handbooks issued by the Department; and
• Managing and maintaining internal databases, and gathering, analyzing, using, and interpreting AML-CFT-relevant data. 

Qualifications

• Educational development, typically acquired by the completion of an advanced university degree, or equivalent, in economics, finance, statistics, computer science, or a related field of study is required; or a university degree, or equivalent, supplemented by a minimum of six (6) years of relevant professional experience; Alternatively, a minimum of two (2) years of relevant experience at Grade A08, or equivalent, is required.
• A demonstrated aptitude for research.
• Knowledge and/or exposure to financial integrity, AML/CFT issues or other relevant fields would be a significant asset, as would a demonstrated ability to work with statistics and data, including big data (using tools such as MS Access, Python, R for Windows, Stata, and Tableau).

In addition to quality education and experience, this position requires:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Strong analytical, and time management skills.
• Sound judgment.
• An ability to develop strong relationships with others (including as part of inter-disciplinary teams), country counterparts and international organizations.
• Excellent skills at working collaboratively