Economic Research Director
Position Summary
The Research Director develops, directs, and coordinates research on economic development, industry, labor market information, and business trends; supervising analysis of key issues, trends, and reports; and manages the WEDC portfolio of research tools. The Research Director provides oversight and guidance which produces high quality reports and presentations for leadership and external partners to make data-driven decisions, as well as provides support and training to staff and partners on various analytical resources.
Responsibilities
The Research Director will spend the majority of their time in these activities:
- Lead the work of the Research Team.
- Manage and direct research and monitoring of economic development, labor market information, and business trends.
- Direct research, statistical analysis, verify data, and maintain statistical information reporting systems on the local, state, national and global business climate.
- Provide expertise in economic modeling tools and techniques for determining return on investment to assist in funding determinations.
- Preside over the preparation of detailed and customized company profiles and research to facilitate the contact by WEDC personnel and external partners.
- Guide sound, concise, and timely recommendations and reports based on research to advance WEDC and its investment strategies.
- Manage and develop professional staff within the Research Team who are responsible for the successful implementation of requests for information, labor market information and proactive data analysis for WEDC.
- Lead in identifying opportunities for tool improvements and assist in finding potentially new application areas.
- Responsible for the coordination of WEDC research tool procurement and oversee the catalog of WEDC research tools.
- Administer identification, collection, analyzation, verification, and maintain data sets.
- Maintain mastery and continue to develop skills with various databases, staying abreast of data and tools that continue to become available.
- Coordinate and facilitate meetings of the WEDC Research Roundtable.
- Maintain effective relationships cross functionally within the organization to ensure effective lines of communication.
- Represent WEDC in speaking engagements and participate in activities, seminars, and conferences.
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Economic Development, Community Development, Urban or Regional Planning, or related field; Master’s degree preferred.
- Minimum of seven years of experience in economics, statistics, business analysis, urban or regional planning, public policy, or related field.
- At least one year of management experience.
- Certified Economic Research Professional (CERP), Certified Economic Developer (CEcD), or Economic Development Financial Professional (EDFP) preferred.
Skills and Talents:
- Understanding of economic development theory and practice.
- Advanced and refined research skills using a range of sources.
- Versed in economic tools to analyze labor market information and other types of data (e.g. Economic Modeling, Shift Share Analysis, Location Quotients, and Regression Analysis).
- Strong quantitative, qualitative, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Leadership skills and ability to motivate others.
- Ability to think strategically, systemically, and creatively.
- Proficiency in navigating public resources to attain labor market and business intelligence information.
- Highly structured, organized, and attentive to detail.
- PC applications including word processing, spreadsheet, database management and Windows software.
- Strong project management and organizational skills.
- Strong research, writing, and communication skills.