KCB Bank Kenya is seeking a Head of Economic & Market Research to lead the strategic direction of the research department. This role ensures that analytical outputs are aligned with organizational objectives and customer needs, effectively embedding research into business planning cycles such as annual budgeting and quarterly product reviews. The Head of Economic & Market Research will lead the development of econometric models to forecast key economic variables and build intelligence services to monitor market trends, informing customer engagement strategies and providing critical risk assessments to internal committees.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership: Set the strategic direction for the research department, ensuring analytical outputs align with organizational objectives.
Institutionalize Research: Embed research directly into business planning cycles (annual budgeting, quarterly product reviews) to ground strategic moves in empirical evidence.
Economic Forecasting: Lead the development and maintenance of econometric models to forecast GDP, inflation, interest rates, and foreign exchange.
Consumer & Market Intelligence: Build intelligence services to monitor consumer health metrics, business financial health frameworks, and emerging market trends to inform customer segmentation and engagement.
Sector & Industry Analysis: Direct deep-dive research into priority sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and energy to identify risks, opportunities, and business implications.
Scenario Planning: Build detailed narratives for various economic paths to help business leaders prepare for volatility.
Decision Support: Provide critical research and risk assessments to internal bodies like the Assets and Liability Committee (ALCO), Credit Committees, and Global Markets.
Stakeholder-Specific Outputs: Tailor research to different audiences, providing risk assessments for Executive Management and tactical signals for Retail and Corporate banking teams.
External Engagement: Act as a public spokesperson, engaging with media, policy think tanks, and international bodies (e.g., IMF, World Bank) to establish the Bank as a thought leader.
Stakeholder Management: Collaborate across diverse functions and Group subsidiaries to ensure research supports both institutional and retail investor audiences.
Minimum Position Requirements
Bachelor's Degree in Economics or Financial Economics from a recognized university.
Professional qualifications in financial or statistical analysis will be an added advantage.
A Master's degree in Economics is an added advantage.
At least 8 years' relevant work experience in Economic research and macroeconomics analysis.
At least 6 years of progressive people management and leadership.
Experience in company and/or macro modelling, including valuation methodologies.
Experience in presentation at Economic Fora and/or advocacy engagements.
Experience in stakeholder management of varied calibres.
Added advantage: Work experience in market and consumer intelligence analytics.
Added advantage: Proficiency in econometric or statistical software such as STATA, R, Python, Power BI/Tableau.
