Research Fellow - Tax Justice Network

Key details

Application closing date: Wednesday 4 October 2023, 23:59 UK time (GMT+1)
Start date: As soon as possible
Reports to: Head of Research
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 22.5 hours per week (60% FTE)
Salary: £26,315.40 – £30152.40/€30,811.80 – €35,255.40/$31,669.20 – $36,236.40 (actual, based on 60% of full time equivalent) plus employer pension contribution, or equivalent based on contractual requirements.
Location: Home-based and globally flexible (subject to contractual ability). We currently have employment contract arrangements within the UK, France, Germany, Israel and Spain, otherwise alternative contracting arrangements will be made. Candidates must have the right to work in their country of residence.

About the Tax Justice Network

The Tax Justice Network believes our tax and financial systems are powerful tools for creating a just society that gives equal weight to the needs of everyone. Launched in 2003 we are dedicated to high-level research, analysis, campaigning and advocacy in the area of international tax and financial regulation and work to inspire and equip people and governments everywhere to reprogramme their tax systems to work for everyone. We are clear that we must take a rights-based approach in all our work, and one that challenges inequalities head-on.

We are a network of researchers, activists, tax experts, communicators, lawyers, political scientists, organisers, academics, campaigners and human rights defenders who pursue systemic changes that address the global inequalities that arise from poor tax policies; ineffective implementation of national and global tax policies and weak financial regulation. Covid 19 and the climate crisis make the coming months and years a transformative time for our societies but also for how Tax Justice Network engages with partners across the world. We are committed to supporting and engaging with approaches that recognise the critical value of cooperation and collaboration.

Founded on a co-operative ethos we are a virtual organisation, with staff working from their homes across multiple countries and continents. We are supported by grants and donations from a range of donors including Norad, the European Union and Open Society Foundation.

Role description

The Research Fellow works with a range of Tax Justice Network projects (both internal and external, often in partnership with others and often involving novel public as well as confidential administrative datasets) and products that generate and analyse data, including the Financial Secrecy Index, Corporate Tax Haven Index, State of Tax Justice Report, as well as our work on the scale of tax injustice, human rights and the race to the bottom. Much of our work is data-intensive, and we need to be able to communicate technical data to a wider audience as part of our work to change narratives around the global tax and financial system. The Research Fellow helps us to do this by carrying out research, incl. state-of-the-art econometric analysis, implementing causal inference methodologies, drafting reports and academic papers, and presenting the results to the academic community and the wider audience.

The role focuses on “holding the pen” on various research projects that we carry out. The Research Fellow does this by leading or co-leading a team of researchers and being responsible for delivery of research outputs. The Research Fellow also helps other team members of TJN by connecting and curating new databases and data visualisations to support future reports, undertaking rapid analyses of data produced by partners or covered in the news, providing original research and data support to the four TJN workstreams, working with internal and external stakeholders to ensure data integrity and compatibility, and undertaking other original (and often peer-reviewed) research.

We are looking for an experienced and capable researcher with strong technical skills, who combines attention to detail and a commitment to excellence with the ability to produce results quickly and with minimal support. The right candidate will have strong interpersonal and team-working skills, as well as a can- do attitude and the willingness to work remotely and with limited supervision. We are flexible about where in the world the postholder is located (and in which time zone), subject to the need to find a contracting arrangement that meets all applicable compliance requirements.

Key Responsibilities

Participating in and undertaking excellent original research of the highest standards and submitting the outputs to leading academic journals in economics (general interest as well as top field journals) and taking it through a process of peer review and publication
Maintaining and using baseline infrastructure for the Tax Justice Network’s data use and dissemination while ensuring integrity, reproducibility, and usability
Creating databases and related data visualisations to support new reports and outputs (for example, a ‘State of the world’ report on tax justice, with indices and estimates of revenue loss etc.)
Undertaking reactive work based on reports and research published by other organisations (for example, running quick analyses and producing databases and visualisations using datasets or indices published by international organizations or other research and advocacy organisations)
Represent the Tax Justice Network and contribute to cross-organisational projects

Person specification

The following skills, knowledge and or experience are seen as essential to the role and you will be asked to demonstrate these as part of the selection process:

Skills

Original research / You will need to be comfortable in drafting scientific texts and carrying out research projects from start to finish.
Data / You will need to be comfortable working with and manipulating large datasets, including creating data pipelines, carrying out statistical analysis, and developing data visualisations.
IT / You will need to be very comfortable working with programming languages used for statistical analysis, including Python (Jupyter notebooks) and Stata.
Communications / You will need to be able to tell compelling and accessible stories using data, as well as communicating effectively and succinctly with colleagues and partners in person and in writing
Delivery / You will need to be able to cope with a large, complicated and varied workload, working quickly and efficiently without sacrificing the quality of the results
Management / You will need to be able to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and to manage projects with multiple team members, including more junior roles of research assistants and junior researchers

Experience

One of the following:

Demonstrated track record of peer-reviewed publications in economics or related fields, OR
Working on empirical economic research, preferably in a multilingual and multinational environment (we are ideally looking for someone with at least 5 years’ experience and of working on 2 large/complex projects within the last 3 years), OR
PhD in economics or related fields, or being close to a completion of a PhD in economics or related fields

Attributes

Commitment / To be focused on achieving high standards in pursuit of the Tax Justice Network’s objectives
Adaptability / To find ways of dealing with unexpected opportunities and challenges
Resourcefulness / To achieve results with limited financial and human resources
Collaboration / To work supportively and effectively as part of a team
Integrity / To choose the right course of action when the alternative might be easier

How to apply

Please upload a CV (resume) and answer a set of questions addressing some of the skills and attributes listed along with your motivation for applying at this application form by 23:59 GMT+1 on Wednesday 4 October 2023. Please apply in English.

We anticipate that first round interviews will be held on 11 October 2023 by remote video link (Zoom).

Apply now