Senior professional economist

This occupation is found in Government, regulators and regulated industries (e.g. energy, telecoms), consultancies, other businesses (e.g. banks) and to a lesser extent in the third sector.

The purpose of the occupation is to design, implement and lead programmes of economic analysis to support decision-making. The role of a Senior Professional Economist is to deliver advice and analysis that improves outcomes for clients (including internal stakeholders). The advice can come in different forms including: models showing relationships between key variables of interest, business cases for Board approval or written submissions setting out the economic implications of different courses of action. It involves the reformulation of and application of advanced economic knowledge and skills across a wide and unpredictable range of situations. These situations could include advice to Government and businesses on critical impacts of EU Exit or climate change and policies to mitigate these; business cases for major expenditure programmes (e.g. whether to invest in new plant or Research and Development) or whether to introduce new regulation. Senior Professional Economists will also critically analyse, interpret and evaluate complex information e.g. to inform commercial decisions such as mergers and acquisitions or legal cases (e.g. alleged breaches of competition law). They need to understand a broad range of methodologies and be able to select the most appropriate one given the task (e.g econometrics, data science). Senior Professional Economists will design and undertake research e.g. to assess the value of non-market goods and services provided by the environment. They usually operate within challenging political and business environments requiring them to understand the wider context in which their advice is given.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a wide range of stakeholders including lawyers, senior management (up to and including Board members and Permanent Secretaries) and Ministers, finance and other specialists (e.g. social researchers, statisticians, operational researchers and scientists and engineers). Frequently this advice will draw on expertise from other disciplines (e.g. statisticians, corporate financiers). To this end, a typical day could include client visits, project management, team working and leadership tasks, commissioning work from others and overseeing and conducting desk-based analysis. Senior Professional Economists will work both independently as well as working in, or leading, teams. They will have extensive project management, communication, influencing and leadership skills.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for developing and implementing programmes of analysis that underpin policy and business decisions. Senior Professional Economists will be responsible for developing sources of specialist knowledge within their organisation and be seen as experts in their field; to do this they will demonstrate thought leadership. Senior Professional Economists will often specialise in a particular area e.g. environmental economics, but they will also be expected to have a good grasp of broader economic work.

They will be responsible for: managing client relationships on a day to day basis; identifying opportunities where analysis can add value and communicating their views with conviction and impact. They could also manage research or programme budgets. Senior Professional Economists will tailor their advice to the audience and will take into account the wider context of the policy maker or client. Senior Professional Economists will develop their professional networks and use these to expand the analytical resource available to them. Where they fit in the structure of an organisation will vary by employer. But they will typically report to another Senior Professional Economist with more experience and seniority in the organisation. They will however have substantial day to day autonomy over their work programmes. In larger organisations they will often manage or coach junior staff. Where Professional Economists and Senior Professional Economists work together, the Senior Professional Economist will undertake more complex analytical tasks and take the leadership role: designing work programmes, reviewing outputs and taking responsibility for delivery. However, in many organisations employers will employ Senior Professional Economists only believing that Professional Economists lack sufficient knowledge and skills. In smaller organisations, Senior Professional Economists are likely to have even more autonomy and less professional oversight and may be managed by a non-economist.