Federal Housing Finance Agency

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is an independent federal agency established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) to build a better secondary mortgage market.

FHFA is currently responsible for the oversight of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, which includes the 11 Banks. FHFA’s mission is to ensure the safety and soundness of those regulated entities to serve as a reliable source of liquidity and funding for housing finance and community investments.

FHFA is seeking to bolster its capacity as a world-class regulator by hiring Ph.D. economists to work in its Office of Economic Research within the Division of Research and Statistics. We are posting several job openings simultaneously and encourage candidates to apply to the position with the best fit. We will consider candidates for the other opportunities. For this position, a specialized background is sought to better understand environmental changes and climate factors that affect housing, finance, mortgage markets, or real estate. Helpful research interests might include asset or insurance exposures (flood, wind, or hail damage), disasters (earthquake, hurricane, or wildfire), liabilities (contamination, clean-up, or emission/discharge), natural resources (soil, water, or conservation), or infrastructure (transit or energy). An environmental or climate risk expert should be able to identify, evaluate, and assess the level of adverse, positive, or distributional consequences associated with climate change. These risks should be translatable into modeled scenarios, simulations, or forecasted estimates for risk management, cost-benefit analysis, or impact evaluation.

Ideal candidates are highly motivated and can demonstrate experience with geographic information systems, mapping layers, visualization tools, database software, and statistical or computational programs. The person should be comfortable with cleaning, transforming, and analyzing large datasets. Experience in a query language (SQL), scripting (Python), and statistical software (SAS, Stata, or R) is preferred. Familiarity with data visualization tools (Tableau) and a Unix environment is helpful but not necessary.

Economists are expected to conduct applied research, participate in policy work, contribute to projects related to market monitoring for safety and soundness, present work for feedback at internal, academic, and industry conferences, and conduct original research for publication in academic and professional journals. The position would be appropriate for individuals who enjoy a combination of team-oriented work and independent research. Successful economists will utilize their specialized backgrounds to investigate housing programs, risk-based capital, house price indexes, financial institutions and markets, secondary mortgage market operations, or identify significant and emerging risks such as market, interest rate, operational and credit risks.

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in economics, finance, environmental science, or a related field, with strong quantitative and data skills. Coursework should include at least 21 semester/31 quarter hours in economics and 3 semester/4 quarter hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus. A specialized background should also be demonstrated through work experience or additional coursework in fields such as computer science, environmental science, geography, public policy, or natural resource management. Candidates must demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills. Salary is dependent on education and experience. Both junior and senior candidates will be considered. The preferred start date is May 2021.

FHFA employees enjoy all the standard federal benefits plus additional agency-specific benefits and competitive salaries not tied to the traditional Government's General Schedule pay system. The agency offers job features like dedicated research and travel funds, technology to support remote work, flexible work schedules, paid parental leave, and a high degree of job security.

Submitted materials must include affirmation of U.S. citizenship. FHFA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply.

www.fhfa.gov