Senior Associate (Financial Economics practice)

About Charles River Associates

Charles River Associates is a leading global consulting firm that provides economic, financial, and business management expertise to major law firms, corporations and governments around the world. CRA advises clients on economic and financial matters pertaining to litigation and regulatory proceedings, and guides corporations through critical business strategy and performance-related issues. Since 1965, clients have engaged CRA for its combination of industry experience and rigorous, fact-based analysis that provide clients with clear, implementable solutions to complex business concerns.

Position Overview

Our Financial Economics practice is a leader in providing economic analysis, advice, and testimony for consumer financial services clients in the U.S. Our work as financial economics and fair lending experts focuses on rigorous empirical assessments, whether before a court or a regulatory agency.  CRA Financial Economics consultants have an exceptional breadth of knowledge and experience in consumer compliance and model validation. We set a high standard for the clear communication of sophisticated economic analysis in regulatory compliance, supervisory matters, enforcement matters, and class action and single-plaintiff litigation matters. We advise and provide empirical analyses for residential mortgage lenders, auto lenders, credit card providers and FinTech firms. In the Financial Economics practice, your work will help clients build models that promote fair and equitable access to credit in housing finance, auto lending, student lending and other credit programs.

Senior Associates work closely with senior consultants on project teams. Successful candidates have a strong knowledge of economic concepts and a range of research and quantitative skills. A typical Senior Associate would:

• Conduct research in a team-oriented environment alongside some of the most respected academics, industry experts and regulators in the world;


• Use techniques from statistics, machine learning and deep learning to conduct fair lending analyses of client models and tools, such as evaluating whether models have disparate effects on different demographic groups and how those effects vary among alternative model formulations


• Program, build models and/or perform regression analyses in statistical analysis programs (such as Stata, SAS, Python, R) that clean, coordinate and analyze large volumes of data related to underwriting, pricing, and redlining analyses;


• Supervise, train and mentor junior analysts;


• Assist in the development and presentation of client deliverables, including expert reports and white papers to explain analytical decisions and comply with clients’ model risk management and model validation requirements;


• Act as a primary point of contact for attorneys and other industry or government clients on a variety of practice-relevant issues;


• Ensure the integrity and accuracy of analyses and opinions;


• Participate in practice-building activities (training, recruiting, publication, expertise sharing, etc.).

As most of our work is done in the office, minimal travel is required.

Qualifications

• PhD degree in economics with an academic focus on quantitative research, with specializations like industrial organization, applied microeconomics, econometrics, labor, corporate finance, financial accounting, or other quantitative areas, and up to 3 years of relevant professional experience in designing and performing economic analyses (consulting experience preferred),
  
  
  
  • Alternately, Bachelor's or Master's degrees (preferred), plus 5-7 years of relevant professional experience in designing and performing economic analyses (consulting experience preferred);
  
  
  
  


• Curious and analytical thinkers who bring creative approaches to non-standard problems;


• Effective written and oral communication skills;


• Eagerness to learn new skills and programming languages;


• Demonstrated high level of initiative and leadership;


• Strong teamwork and collaboration capabilities;


• Excellent time management and task prioritization skills;


• Clear and demonstrated interest in consulting through coursework, work experience, activities, or attendance at CRA recruiting events;


• Demonstrated understanding of, and ability to explain, economic, financial and/or accounting concepts, and quantitative and qualitative analysis methods;


• Experience in Stata, Python, R, SQL, SAS, Excel, ArcGIS/ArcPy.

As much of our work occurs in our offices, minimal travel is required.

To Apply

To be considered for this position, we require the following:

• Resume – please include current address, personal email and telephone number;


• Cover letter – please describe your interest in CRA and how this role matches your goals.

Career Growth & Benefits 

• CRA’s robust skills development programs, including a commitment to offering 100 hours of training annually through formal and informal programs, encourage you to thrive as an individual and team member. Beginning with research and analysis skill building, training continues with technical training, presentation skills, internal seminars, and career mentoring and performance coaching from an assigned senior colleague. Additional leadership and collaboration opportunities exist through internal firm development activities.


• We offer a comprehensive total rewards program including a superior benefits package, wellness programming to support physical, mental, emotional and financial well-being, and in-house immigration support for foreign nationals and international business travelers.

Work Location Flexibility

CRA creates a work environment that enables our colleagues to benefit from being together in the office to best deliver on our promise of career growth, mentorship and inclusivity. At the same time, we recognize that individuals realize a range of benefits when working from home periodically. We currently ask that individuals spend 3 to 4 days a week on average working in the office (which may include traveling to another CRA office or to a client's location), with specific days determined in coordination with your practice or team. At certain times of the year (e.g. holiday periods), additional remote work options are offered to those whose work commitments permit it, although our offices remain open for those who choose or need to be there.

Our Commitment to Diversity

Charles River Associates is an equal opportunity employer (EOE/AAE). As part of our focus on equity and inclusion, we work to ensure a fair and consistent hiring process. We celebrate diversity and we are committed to an inclusive work environment.

The District of Columbia requires CRA to include a good-faith estimate of the wage range for this role. This range is specific to individuals applying to work in our Washington, DC office and considers several factors including but not limited to experience, education level, and expertise. A good-faith estimate of the base wage range for this role is $115,000 - $220,000; actual total compensation may also include benefits and bonus.