Insight Lead, Education, Skills and Learning

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Why we are recruiting

The World Economic Forum’s Centre for the New Economy and Society is the global platform for shaping prosperous, inclusive and equitable economies and societies that create opportunity for all. It provides leaders with an integrated hub to understand emerging socio-economic trends and to shape the future through new policies, practices and coalitions. It accelerates impact on five interconnected Missions: 1) Economic Growth and Transformation; 2) Work, Wages and Job Creation; 3) Education, Skills and Learning; 4) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and (5) Global Risks and Preparedness.

In addition, the Centre has two horizontal functions – (1) Community Engagement and (2) Impact Design and Coordination – that help the Centre achieve its objectives and deliver on its activities across its five thematic Mission areas.

The Insights Lead for Education, Skills and Learning will specialize in shaping and managing thought leadership activities and insight products on the thematics of education and skills in the context of the shifting demands of the labour market, with an objective of delivering a tangible impact on education, reskilling and upskilling globally.

Reporting lines and interactions

The Insights Lead will report to the Head of the corresponding thematic Mission and will work closely with other staff across the Centre and the organization to deliver outcomes efficiently.

Main responsibilities:

• The Insights Lead will work within the Mission on Education, Skills and Learning and will lead or co-lead a portfolio of thought leadership activities within that mission. Workstreams may include major annual flagship products such as The Future of Jobs Report, thematic surveys, white papers and toolkits (e.g. Education 4.0 framework), and other knowledge generation activities related to a growing network of action initiatives (e.g. Reskilling Revolution, Education 4.0 Initiative, Closing the Skills Gap Accelerators), and associated leadership, expert and practitioner communities.

• Manage key parts of the Mission activity portfolio, drawing upon relevant insight-related functional impact tools and templates to meet ambitious targets for insight-based impact and engagement from the public and the world’s leading business, government, academic and civil society stakeholders.

• Work in close alignment and collaboration with their Mission, cross-cutting Impact Design and Coordination function, and other colleagues across the Centre to co-design the overall objectives and to ensure seamless internal and external engagement..

• Develop and curate insight project communities related to the Lead’s thematic portfolio of work, initiating, expanding, and maintaining relationships with diverse stakeholders.

• Ensure implementation of harmonized approaches and methods across the Lead’s thematic portfolio of work and supporting continuous improvement and iteration.

• Keep a consistent focus on ambitious impact and engagement outcomes. Track and report quantitative and qualitative metrics for systems-change impact across the Mission and within the Lead’s activity portfolio.

• Represent the Centre for the New Economy and Society internally across the organization and externally as required.

• Support Centre-wide planning, communication flows and delivery against the Centre’s strategy and objectives.

• Support onboarding and guidance of new colleagues and understand and role model a supportive, ambitious and collaborative team culture.

The successful candidate will be assessed on

• Strong knowledge on the education, skills and learning agenda, relationships and experience with public-private collaboration on this thematic and keeping abreast of issues relevant to this portfolio and to the borader socio-economic agenda.

• Focused approach to applied research, analyzing, synthesizing and leveraging quantitative and qualitative data.

• Fluency in the use of internal and external digital platforms and tools for data analysis, activity design and project management.

• Formulating strategies and workplans for activities within their thematic portfolio of work, integrating multiple views.

• Agile coordination and management of insight methodologies, benchmarking frameworks, and data-based narratives within their thematic portfolio of work.

• Outstanding writing and editorial skills; analyzing and synthesizing quantitative and qualitative data in support of insight development; data visualization.

• Developing, managing and coordinating strategic partnerships with external partners on insights-based engagement.

• Ability to engage with senior stakeholders and disseminate key narratives within the context of the Lead’s thematic portfolio, the broader Mission, and the Centre as a whole.

• Ability to collaborate efficiently and transparently within the team as a strong team player.

• Ensuring that results and milestones are documented consistently and regularly shared with internal and external stakeholders.

Requirements and preferred experience

• Advanced university degree in public policy, economics, social sciences, or other relevant fields, including substantive knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Focus on labour economics would be a plus.

• 8+ years of relevant professional experience, ideally across business, government, non-profit, international organization and/or think tanks.

• Proven track record and interest in driving impact and systems change in the areas of Education, Skills and Learning and dedication to interdisciplinary approaches.

• A proven track record in the drafting of thought leadership, familiarity with using data to build strong narratives and experience in creating global partnerships.

• Fluency with statistical tools such as R, Python, STATA and advanced knowledge of Excel.

• Proven excellent project management and coordination; attention to detail; capacity to apply critical thinking, synthesize various viewpoints, consult broadly, work collaboratively in a multicultural team, and manage both long- and short-term objectives in a fast-paced environment.

• Excellent teamwork, collaboration and operational management skills.

• Fluency in English, with excellent written, digital and verbal communication skills; knowledge of other languages would be an asset.

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!