Associate Director, City Economics - North America
Oxford EconomicsOxford Economics, a leading economic forecasting and consulting firm, is looking for an experienced economist to join the Cities & Regions team as an Associate Director, based in Philadelphia or one our existing offices in North America. The successful candidate will take a senior role in leading our forecasting and analysis across North America, while also acting as a highly visible representative with clients and external audiences.
Our Cities & Regions team comprises more than 40 economists and provides economic forecasts and analysis for thousands of cities and regions globally. The team helps clients understand differences in economic performance across locations, identify future growth opportunities and risks, and assess the implications of structural economic, demographic, policy and technological change.
Our client base spans the real estate and financial services sectors, consumer-facing businesses, governments and public-sector organizations, central banks, think tanks and other organizations requiring detailed sub-national economic intelligence. The team delivers its work through a combination of subscription forecasting services, research publications, and bespoke consulting projects.
About the role
This is a senior, externally facing role combining forecasting leadership with economic research and client engagement. The successful candidate will ensure our North America forecasts reflect current economic conditions and translate complex developments into clear, commercially relevant insights for clients.
Client engagement and profile-building are central. The role involves presenting forecasts and analysis to senior client audiences, speaking at conferences and webinars, developing thought leadership, and building relationships with organizations using Oxford Economics’ city and regional analysis.
The role works closely with economists across the global Cities & Regions team and with specialists in macroeconomics, industry, climate, real estate, data science and economic consulting, and contributes to the continued development of our city and regional forecasting capabilities and to the growth of the Cities business in North America.
This is a hybrid role. The current expectation is that colleagues spend three days a week in the office, with the flexibility to work remotely for the remainder of the week.
We offer a rewarding and intellectually stimulating working environment, opportunities for continued professional development, a competitive salary package including bonus, and an excellent benefits package.
Key Responsibilities
- Act as a senior external representative of Oxford Economics’ Cities & Regions team across North America, building the profile of the team with clients, prospects and wider industry audiences.
- Manage the delivery of the North America service forecasts, ensuring they reflect current developments, the latest data, and the most up-to-date assumptions.
- Lead production of the team’s research, ensuring it leverages the latest economic techniques, delivers against client interests, and is analytically robust.
- Present forecasts, research and analysis regularly to senior clients, stakeholders and media organizations, translating complex findings into clear, engaging and commercially relevant insights.
- Develop strong relationships with existing and prospective clients across North America, understand their analytical needs and act as a senior point of contact on city and regional economic issues.
- Support the Director of Global Forecasting and the Director of City Analysis in setting the research agenda and strategic priorities for Oxford Economics’ Cities & Regions offering across North America.
- Interpret macroeconomic, demographic, sectoral and policy developments and assess their implications for individual metropolitan areas, states, provinces and regions.
- Lead research examining issues such as urban growth, productivity, labor markets, demographics, migration, skills, industrial structure, housing, infrastructure, investment and regional economic disparities.
- Lead or support major client engagements and bespoke research projects relating to cities, regions and sub-national economic development across North America.
- Identify opportunities to deepen existing client relationships and develop new research, consulting and subscription opportunities.
- Manage, mentor and develop economists within the Cities & Regions team, providing technical guidance and reviewing analytical work.
- Encourage the adoption of new datasets and analytical approaches, including geospatial analysis, data science and emerging quantitative techniques where these strengthen the team’s research.
Skills, Knowledge & Expertise
The successful candidate will be an experienced economist with a strong track record in urban, regional or applied economic analysis. They should combine rigorous analytical capabilities with exceptional communication skills, commercial awareness and the confidence to represent Oxford Economics regularly in front of senior clients and external audiences.
Candidates should have:
- A background in economics, economic geography, regional science or a closely related quantitative discipline.
- At least 10 years of relevant professional experience in urban economics, regional economics, economic forecasting, economic policy, economic consulting or a closely related field.
- Strong knowledge of the economic and demographic drivers of city and regional performance across North America, and particularly the United States.
- Significant experience undertaking sub-national economic analysis, which may include metropolitan or regional forecasting, local growth analysis, labor-market analysis, demographic forecasting, sector analysis, economic impact assessment, infrastructure or transport analysis, or regional policy evaluation.
- A strong track record of presenting economic analysis and forecasts to senior client and stakeholder audiences, communicating complex quantitative concepts clearly and persuasively to non-specialists.
- Experience developing and maintaining senior client relationships, with a proactive and commercially minded approach to identifying new research questions, client needs and business opportunities.
- Strong written communication skills, with the ability to produce authoritative and engaging research and thought leadership.
- Strong quantitative and analytical capabilities and experience working with large economic and demographic datasets.
- Strong economic judgment and the ability to identify the implications of wider macroeconomic and structural developments for cities and regions.
- Experience leading complex research or consulting projects, coordinating analytical contributions from multiple team members and providing quality assurance on work produced by others.
Experience in one or more of the following would also be advantageous:
- Previous experience acting as an external spokesperson, conference speaker or media commentator on economic issues.
- Geospatial or spatial economic analysis.
- Python, R, GIS or other quantitative analytical tools.
- Regional or urban economic policy.
- Government or public-sector economic analysis.
- Local growth, skills, transport, infrastructure or industrial-policy analysis.
- Developing economic forecasting products or subscription research services.
- Working with international datasets and comparing city and regional performance across markets.
How to apply
To apply for the role, please submit a resume and cover letter.
Your cover letter should explain how your experience relates to the requirements of the role and provide an example of a significant piece of urban, regional or sub-national economic analysis that you have led or contributed to. Please also outline your experience presenting economic analysis to clients or other senior external audiences.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
Oxford Economics is an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.