Analyst/Associate - Financial Economics (Immediate Hire)

Who is Charles River Associates?

Charles River Associates is a leading global consulting firm specializing in economic, financial, and management consulting services. 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 unique combination of functional expertise and industry knowledge, and for its objective solutions to complex problems.

CRA’s Financial Economics practice provides financial institutions, legal teams, and regulators with the experience and quantitative analysis capabilities they need to achieve their objectives in regulatory and litigation matters related to consumer finance and risk management. The practice applies rigorous statistical modeling techniques to matters involving a full spectrum of consumer finance issues including lending discrimination, mortgage practices, risk management, credit risk and credit scoring. They also conduct regulatory reviews involving federal financial regulatory agencies, including the CFPB, OCC, FRB, FDIC and HUD.  The Practice staff are based primarily in Washington, DC and junior staff would be expected to work in that office.

What can CRA do for you?  

• Learn from and work alongside some of the most respected scholars, specialists, industry experts and regulators in the world. CRA colleagues overseeing your development will often have PhD-level training and/or extensive industry or strategy consulting experience.
• Analysts at CRA follow career paths to senior positions, or springboard from CRA to top graduate programs.
• Formal and informal training programs, including:
• Research and analysis training program focused on technical skills, consulting skills and networking with colleagues
• Quarterly technical training taught by in-house experts and affiliated professors
• On-demand library of technical training workshops
• Presentation skills and management training
• Graduate school coaching and workshops, featuring small group Q&A with top admissions officers
• Mentorship and coaching from an assigned senior staff colleague
• Flexible feedback framework to provide continuous on-the-job feedback
• Leadership roles in recruiting, training, corporate sports teams, and volunteer activities in the local community
• Tuition reimbursement program to cover training and skill development outside of CRA
• Wellness program to promote health and well-being (e.g. nutrition counselling, financial wellbeing seminars, team fitness competitions)
• Superior benefits package

What can you expect working as an Analyst in our Financial Economics Practice?

• Technical Skills
• Conducting sophisticated economic, financial, and strategic analysis in a project based environment
• Developing familiarity with data that serves as input to this analysis, including company financial reporting, consumer financial account information, Census data, macroeconomic data, and social and economic survey data
• Ensuring reliability of analysis via peer review focused on testing the robustness of results
• Developing familiarity with research tools most relevant for your practice area
• Communication/Interpersonal Skills
• Interacting with clients, by participating in client meetings, typically through conference calls and Webex sessions
• Assembling compelling evidence from data and research that support our expert opinions and business recommendations
• Working collaboratively with senior-led teams, including respected scholars and industry experts

What do we look for?

• Seeking students graduating from undergraduate or Masters programs
• Programming, model building, and regression analysis in statistical analysis programs (such as Stata, SAS, R, or Python, and ArcGis)
• Experience building data sets including merging, appending, and feature generation in a statistical analysis programming language
• Curious, analytical, highly-motivated graduates who have majored in economics, finance, mathematics, computer science, accounting, engineering, physical and biological sciences, or another quantitative discipline  
• Research experience and quantitative ability
• Economic and financial concepts 
• Attention to detail
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills
• Demonstrate a high level of initiative and take pride and ownership in their work
• Ability to use data to solve client problems
• Work collaboratively with a team
• Clear and demonstrated interest in your preferred practice area, observable in coursework, work experience, or other activities
• Effectively manage your time and prioritize tasks

Check out our Analyst’s blogs about a typical day at CRA and how you can make an impact!

Interested in applying?

To be considered please submit the following:

• Cover letter – please describe your interest in CRA and how the analyst role matches your goals. 
• Resume – please include current address, email, and telephone number
• Transcript – may be unofficial

Workplace Flexibility and COVID Safety

At CRA, we believe in creating 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 individuals may realize a range of benefits when working from home. We currently ask that individuals spend at least 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). The specific days may be determined in coordination with your practice or team. There may be times of the year (e.g. over holiday periods) when additional remote work options are offered to those whose work commitments permit it, although our offices will remain open for those who choose or need to be there.

CRA values the health, safety, and well-being of our colleagues and will require proof of COVID vaccination for employment with CRA US offices (excepting cases of medical or religious exemption) and proof of COVID vaccination for entry to our Toronto office. For those who begin the interview process with CRA, your recruiting point of contact will be available to answer any questions about work location and COVID safety.

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.

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