Principal Research Analyst, Office of the Chief Economist

The primary purpose of the analyst is to research, analyze, interpret, and present data in pursuit of the mission of the Office of the Chief Economist as a technical expert by delivering solutions to regulators.

Essential Job Functions:

Under general direction of the Chief Economist and the Deputy Chief Economist, the Principal Research Analyst is responsible for and owner of one or more primary databases within FINRA’s purview for purposes of the Office’s work product.

The Principal Research Analyst is the subject matter expert in OCE in his/her area(s) of expertise.



* Serve as an OCE expert for one or more primary databases, encompassing several functions including independently-executed analyses of the relevant data, primary support for rulemaking related to the relevant data, and research using the relevant data.


* Provide expertise in data availability, extraction and manipulation to facilitate economic analysis in support of rulemaking and policy.  


* Collect, encode, test, clean, and combine data from multiple systems and documenting complex procedures.  


* Independently devise/modify/develop new procedures to solve complex problems considering computer equipment capacity and limitations, operating time and form of desired results.


* Provide expert technical support and analyses of the financial markets, and specifically the intersection of regulation and policy with financial and securities markets.


* Develop a high quality work product that is timely, complete, accurate and of professional appearance.


* Solve novel data and analytical problems.


* Provide to FINRA staff data, information and reporting on a wide range of issues related to the financial products and services marketplace, including regulatory research, regulatory and policy developments.


* Summarize for FINRA staff findings and research in written products of various types, including tables, charts, short summaries, as well as longer analytical policy memos and reports.


* Create and prepare economic analyses, written materials, including briefing or issue papers, and memoranda for senior management and members of the financial industry.


* Provide written and oral status reports on projects;


* Mentor junior analysts develop expertise in data analyses and in the execution of essential job duties.

Education/Experience Requirements:


* Bachelor’s degree in finance, statistics, economics or equivalent with 6 years of related experience or a Master’s degree with 4 years of related experience; advanced degree preferred 


* Proficient in extracting financial and securities-related data from sources including databases (using tools such as SQL) and big data environments


* Expert quantitative skills, including data analysis using spreadsheets and statistical packages (such as R, SQL, and other programming skills or similar open source tools) to apply academic research to real-world issues an...