Trade Policy & Facilitation
Trade Economist
TRACE Consulting works at the intersection of policy, technology, trade, and institutional reform, supporting governments, development partners, and private-sector organizations through advisory, research, technical assistance, and digital solutions.
We are seeking an experienced trade economist to lead and support TRACE's work on trade policy, trade facilitation, trade-related regulations, investment climate, export competitiveness, import dependency, and regulatory reform. The role combines rigorous policy and quantitative analysis, periodic trade and investment intelligence, support to consulting projects and business development, and communication of contemporary trade and investment issues to professional and public audiences.
The trade economist will work closely with the CEO and TRACE's multidisciplinary project teams and will play a central role in shaping the technical quality and credibility of TRACE's trade-related advisory work.
What TRACE Offers
● The opportunity to shape Bangladesh's trade and regulatory reform agenda through high-impact analytical work.
● Direct exposure to government agencies, development partners, and international trade institutions.
● A collaborative, growth-oriented environment with visibility across TRACE's project portfolio.
● Opportunities to represent TRACE in public and professional forums, including media and policy dialogues.
Application Instructions:
Interested candidates should submit:
● A CV along with a short cover letter explaining their interest in the position and relevant experience.
● A relevant writing sample or analytical work product (e.g., a policy brief, research paper, or technical report), where available.
Compensation: Competitive and commensurate with experience
Send to: contact@traceconsultingltd.com
Subject Line: Application for Trade Economist
Or Submit via website
Key Responsibilities
- Review Bangladesh's trade policies, strategies, laws, rules, regulations, administrative orders, and procedures, and identify gaps, inconsistencies, outdated provisions, and areas requiring reform.
- Develop evidence-based recommendations for the amendment, updating, simplification, and modernization of trade-related rules and regulations.
- Conduct WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) gap assessments and develop or maintain implementation matrices, assessment tools, progress trackers, and reform roadmaps.
- Support assessments related to customs, SPS, TBT, standards, licensing, certification, inspection, border procedures, and other trade-related regulatory requirements.
- Monitor WTO, regional, and international trade-policy developments relevant to Bangladesh and prepare analytical notes and briefings.
- Lead preparation of TRACE's periodic Trade and Investment Outlook, covering exports, imports, trade balance, investment, tariffs, exchange rates, logistics, trade costs, and major regulatory and market developments.
- Prepare analytical reports on export trends, export diversification, market concentration, import dependency, investment barriers, sector competitiveness, and emerging trade and investment opportunities.
- Undertake comparative analysis and international benchmarking to support policy, regulatory, and institutional reform recommendations.
- Analyze trade flows, tariffs, taxation, non-tariff measures, regulatory costs, investment trends, competitiveness, and other relevant economic indicators.
- Collect, clean, analyze, and present data from national and international sources, including government agencies, the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF, the ITC, UNCTAD, and UN Comtrade.
- Apply economic analytical tools — including cost-benefit analysis, trade impact assessment, and regulatory impact assessment — to support evidence-based recommendations.
- Build and maintain economic and trade datasets, ensuring all data is properly sourced, verified, and clearly cited.
- Prepare policy briefs, technical reports, regulatory reviews, sector studies, briefing notes, presentations, and other analytical products.
- Provide analytical support to trade-related project management, including methodologies, work plans, indicators, diagnostics, and monitoring tools.
- Review technical deliverables to ensure analytical rigor and consistency with project objectives.
- Contribute trade and economic expertise to multidisciplinary project teams, working alongside legal, technical, and communications colleagues.
- Contribute to Expressions of Interest, technical proposals, concept notes, and methodologies.
- Support the analysis of terms of reference and the identification of new consulting opportunities.
- Provide technical and economic inputs for costing and budget assumptions on trade-related assignments.
- Participate in consultations, interviews, workshops, policy dialogues, and meetings with government agencies, development partners, business associations, and private-sector organizations.
- Monitor contemporary trade and investment issues and, as assigned, present and explain these issues through television, print, digital media, conferences, seminars, and webinars.
- Present findings and recommendations clearly to clients, government counterparts, and development partners.
- Perform other trade and economics-related responsibilities assigned by the CEO.
Required Qualifications
- Master's degree in economics, international economics, development economics, applied economics, trade policy, public policy, or a closely related field.
- At least 8–10 years of relevant professional experience in trade policy, international trade, economic analysis, development consulting, regulatory reform, or related areas.
- Strong understanding of Bangladesh's trade policy, export-import regime, investment environment, and regulatory framework.
- Demonstrated experience in quantitative analysis, trade-related research, and preparation of analytical and policy reports.
- Strong command of MS Excel and working knowledge of statistical or econometric tools such as Stata, R, Python, SPSS, EViews, or similar software.
- Familiarity with major international trade and economic databases, including WTO, World Bank, IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, and UN Comtrade.
- Strong written and spoken English and Bangla.
- Ability to manage multiple assignments independently and meet deadlines under time pressure.
- Experience with WTO agreements, WTO TFA, trade facilitation, and customs reform.
- Experience with export-import policy, tariffs, taxation, non-tariff measures, and regulatory reform.
- Experience with export competitiveness, import dependency, investment climate, and private-sector development.
- Familiarity with SPS, TBT, standards, market access, agriculture, and food systems.
- Experience in government, development partner, donor-funded, or consulting assignments.
- Prior experience in technical proposal development and analytical support to project delivery.
- Experience in policy communication, stakeholder engagement, media presentation, or public speaking.
- Ability to use AI/LLM tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) responsibly to support research, analysis, and drafting, with appropriate verification of outputs