Policy Fellow - Market Shaping Accelerator

The Center for Global Development (CGD) is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit policy research organization in Washington, DC, and London, UK that focuses on the issues and institutions that are critical to inclusive development. Through rigorous empirical research and active engagement with the global policy community, CGD focuses on the intersections between the policy and financial priorities of low- and middle-income countries and the governments, institutions, and corporations that can be partners in delivering greater progress.

Founded by Rachel Glennerster, Michael Kremer and Christopher Snyder, the Market Shaping Accelerator (MSA), housed at CGD, aims to catalyze the development of advance market commitments and other market shaping mechanisms to incentivize innovations addressing pressing global challenges including in the areas of global health, pandemic preparedness, climate, AI safety, and drug repurposing. Information on MSA’s current projects can be found on our focus areas webpage.

We focus on driving innovation in areas of large social value but incommensurate commercial return in both low- and high-income country settings by identifying promising opportunities, developing high-impact proposals, and engaging with policymakers and funders.

MSA seeks an experienced, self-directed policy professional with a strong foundation in microeconomics to help design workable pull mechanisms, such as Advance Market Commitments, and drive their adoption by governments, multilateral institutions, and philanthropies. These market shaping tools can help accelerate and scale the innovations society needs to tackle urgent global challenges including biosecurity and climate change. The Policy Fellow will be a thought partner to the MSA directors, bringing practical judgment about institutional constraints, stakeholder incentives, and what it takes to move an idea into implementation.

The successful candidate will be adept at communicating and collaborating with industrial organization economic theorists and policymakers. This person will not be writing economic theory papers but must be in a position to comment on them and help turn them into practical policy proposals. This person will test the logic and feasibility of policy proposals, identifying promising routes to adoption, and building relationships with the people who can help make them happen.

The role requires someone who can help set priorities and move work forward independently, with strategic guidance from MSA leadership.

• Lead policy work streams from idea development through engagement and follow-through, in topic areas including at-risk financing.
• Develop strategies for policy adoption: identify relevant decision-makers and potential champions, understand institutional priorities and decision processes, and recommend where and how MSA leadership should engage.
• Build and manage relationships with government officials, World Bank and other multilateral colleagues, philanthropies, researchers, and other stakeholders to advance concrete policy opportunities.
• Help policymakers assess when pull mechanisms are appropriate and select funding approaches suited to their objectives and constraints.
• Write clear, persuasive policy memos, briefing materials, blogs and proposals that translate economic reasoning and evidence into actionable recommendations.
• Review MSA proposals and outputs for their economic logic and policy relevance, working with researchers and domain experts to strengthen recommendations.
• Contribute to policy debates related to the economics of market shaping and innovation.
• Identify and pursue new opportunities for market shaping, and contribute policy judgment across MSA projects.

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