Financial Economist (Country Risk) -Direct Hire

Clarification from the agency

United States Citizens

This position is located in the Country Risk and Economic Analysis Division (CREA), Office of Economic Analysis, Export-Import Bank of the United States. The CREA is primarily responsible for assessing the external creditworthiness of approximately 140 countries. In that capacity, CREA participates in two important country risk for a: 1) it serves as the Secretariat for the Inter-Agency Country Risk Assessment System (ICRAS), whose risk ratings determine the budget cost levels for all USG international loans, guarantees, and insurance; 2) it is a major participant in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Country Risk Experts' Group, which determine risk classifications that set minimum risk premia for all member export credit agencies.
In addition, CREA is responsible for researching country risk methodological issues and making recommendations intended to refine the country risk rating process. Finally, CREA conducts economic analysis of issues pertinent to the operations of EXIM Bank.

At the full performance level, duties include, but are not limited to:

• Determines recommended ICRAS ratings for both sovereign and non-sovereign medium- and long-term markets. When necessary, defends recommended ICRAS ratings before the ICRAS forum.
• Develops arguments to justify a country's appropriate final OECD risk classification.
• Analyzes the impact of various macroeconomic indicators on country creditworthiness and formulating recommended alterations to ICRAS and/or OECD country risk modeling.
• Provides written and oral briefings for board directors, senior management and staff (particularly the lending and asset management divisions) on country conditions and medium-term repayment prospects.
• Regional concentration: Latin American and the Caribbean/ and or Africa.
• Communicates to external clients in Spanish.
• Convert documents from English to Spanish.

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship
• Background and Security/Suitability Investigation
• May be required to serve a one-year probationary period
• Specialized experience MUST be documented on your resume
• Current or Former Political Appointees: If you are, or have been employed in the last 5 years, you must disclose this information. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action including removal from Federal Service.
• May require financial disclosure of personal and immediate family financial holdings, outside positions, and interests.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

A. Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

In addition to the Basic Requirements noted above, applicants must also meet and demonstrate the specialized experience listed below:

GS-13: You must have one (1) year of specialized experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal Government. Specialized experience includes:

• Experience in macroeconomic principles and theories, as well as independently conducting economic research assignments requiring planning, analysis, evaluation, conclusions, and recommendations;
• Experience independently preparing and/or contributing to written reports and delivering written or oral briefings to management and peers on research findings and resulting recommendations;
• Experience in international monetary economics, open economy macroeconomics, sovereign and non-sovereign risk assessments;
• Experience in quantitative methods, including econometrics and/or statistics, and software that facilities quantitative analysis; and
• Experience conducting quality controls and methodology assessments on databases, updating and maintaining databases and files for econometric, sovereign and non-sovereign ratings models.

Education cannot be substituted for experience at the GS13 grade levels. For qualification determinations, your resume must contain the following for each work experience listed:

• Organization/Agency's Name
• Title
• Salary (series and grade, if applicable)
• Start and end dates (including the month and year)
• Number of hours you worked per week
• Relevant experience that supports your response to the specialized experience that is stated in the job announcement

If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.

NOTE: Do not copy and paste the duties or specialized experience from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications and your application may be marked as incomplete/ineligible and you will not receive consideration for this position.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. Please visit the following links for more information:

• http://www.naces.org
• http://www.fceatlanta.com

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined here.
All requirements must be met by 07/13/2026, the closing date of the announcement.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated for this position based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

This position is processed under a Direct Hire authority; therefore, veteran's preference and Category Rating procedures do not apply.

Your resume and supporting documentation will be used to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified for this position, your resume and supporting documentation will be referred to the selecting official for employment consideration.

You will be notified by email if your application is forwarded to the hiring official for further consideration.

If it is determined that your technical competencies do not meet the proficiency requirements for this position to move forward to the next evaluation stage, you will be notified by email.

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Your Resume (applicants are required to submit a resume with job title, series/grade (if federal employee), duties and accomplishments, employer's name, starting and ending dates of employment, number of hours worked per week, and annual salary). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.
  • Effective September 27, 2025, federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in accordance with the Merit Hiring Plan. If you have not already done so, please update your resume under your profile before applying for any federal job. For additional details, visit click the following link.
• Unofficial Transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.
• Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.
• Special Priority Selection rights under CTAP or ICTAP:
  • Copy of your agency notice (RIF Separation Notice, Notice of Proposed Removal, etc);
  • Copy of your most recent performance appraisal (with at least a satisfactory rating),
  • Most current SF-50 showing career/conditional tenure competitive status, position title, grade level, and duty location.
• Proof of Veteran's Preference - DD-214 (Member 4 Copy), if you are a veteran. Additionally, applicants claiming 10-point preference must complete Standard Form (SF)15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, as well as additional documentation required by the SF-15, such as a VA letter, if applicable. If a DD-214 (Member Copy 4) is not available, other documentation listing the beginning and ending dates of active service and the type of discharge must be submitted to verify eligibility.
• Submission of any required documents listed in vacancy announcement, if applicable.

Please note that if you do not provide all required information/documents, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible).

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