Senior Economic Advisor

Job Title: Senior Economic Advisor

Location: Jakarta, Indonesia, Home-based

Duration: Full-time, 2-years contract

DRS is looking for a Senior Economic Advisor for an independent think tank to support a new flagship initiative. This initiative aims to enhance mining governance in Indonesia, focusing on upstream, midstream, and downstream critical minerals supply chains. The organization works globally with governments, businesses, non-profits, and communities to inspire better decisions and meaningful action for sustainable development.

Scope
As the world transitions from fossil fuels to clean energy, the demand for minerals and metals is set to increase significantly. A key challenge for producing countries is to scale up mineral production and related value chains in a socially just and environmentally responsible manner while delivering on socio-economic development objectives.

The successful candidate will play a key role in supporting efforts to enhance resource governance capacities at the national level in the mining sector. They will lead national consultations with stakeholders in Indonesia to map the nickel production, battery, and electric vehicle supply chains. This process will consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks, challenges, and necessary changes, as well as key opportunities for improved domestic value addition.

Key Responsibilities

• Implement the Minerals for Sustainability Project in Indonesia, supporting the responsible development of the nickel value chain.
• Oversee project implementation to ensure quality standards and adherence to agreed timelines.
• Coordinate with colleagues across various teams on responsible mineral production, clean energy, and sustainable mining practices.
• Collaborate with government departments and agencies to identify challenges and priorities in the nickel value chain, including:
• Production technologies and related environmental and social effects.
• Social concerns such as pollution, deforestation, and land-use changes.
• Gendered implications on local communities and livelihoods, including Indigenous Peoples.
• Energy use considerations aligned with climate and energy transition goals.
• Compliance with evolving global regulatory frameworks and ESG norms.
• Build and maintain a network of stakeholders and partners, with a particular focus on Indonesia.
• Support donor engagement and oversee monitoring, evaluation, and reporting for national activities.
• Provide professional development support for team members.

Technical Expertise and Leadership

• Conduct multistakeholder national consultations to gather strategic insights on opportunities and challenges related to Indonesia’s pathway in the nickel supply chain.
• Undertake robust technical studies on mineral supply chains. Solid understanding of the geo-economic dynamics of the nickel supply chain in Indonesia in particular (and in Asia overall) is key.
• Execute strategic priorities with clear objectives, decision-making support, timelines, and resource requirements.
• Demonstrate clear vision and the ability to execute strategic priorities, communicating statements of results to be achieved, decision-makers to be supported, activities to be undertaken, time frame to meet, resources needed, external funds to be raised, and criteria to be used to measure performance.
• Collaborate with the wider program team to ensure coordinated and timely project execution.

Donor Relationships and Government Engagement

• Lead coordination efforts with the Government of Indonesia to ensure project buy-in and ownership of project co-development.
• Coordinate and engage on a regular basis with the project donor and other development partners working in similar areas in Indonesia to ensure coherence and synergies and avoid duplication of efforts.

Operations and Program Management

• Implement and track project deliverables, ensuring alignment with obligations and objectives.
• Support the team leaders responsible for this project with managing the project implementation and delivery in Indonesia.
• Promote a culture of high performance and continuous improvement that values learning and a commitment to quality.
• Provide timely support to Energy Program processes to develop strategies and theories of change.

Communications and Policy Engagement

• Develop and implement a communications strategy in collaboration with the Communications Manager.
• Help develop a team engagement strategy, including connections and channels of communication with government officials and policy-makers, and network with relevant non-government partners to inform them about the relevance of research and technical assistance.
• Develop a productive relationship with media contacts to provide opportunities for opinion editorials and press releases to reach audiences across the Indonesian media landscape.

Ideal Candidate Profile
Knowledge and Qualifications

• A post-graduate university degree or equivalent related to mining governance, including in economics, engineering, public policy and administration, environmental science, business administration, or a professional qualification in another relevant field.
• 10–15 years of professional experience in the fields mentioned above or experience gained in a national government, the private sector, or an international or nongovernmental organization.
• Excellent English-language research and writing skills, including proven experience conducting applied research and policy analysis on fiscal policy and/or the energy transition (or similar areas), bringing complex content into a publication-ready state and providing final quality control and sign-off.
• Experience in delivering government technical assistance on energy policy and explaining unfamiliar concepts to groups clearly and with impact.
• Experience working with government officials (elected or non-elected government offices).
• Experience coordinating with development partners and donors

Skills and Competencies

• Strong interpersonal, diplomatic, and government relations skills.
• Excellent project and people management abilities.
• Experience with quantitative and qualitative data analysis linked to mineral value chains. Expertise in the nickel sector is an advantage.
• Strong analytical, research, and writing skills.
• Proficiency in IT tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Willingness to travel nationally and internationally.
• Ability to work independently and effectively in remote settings.
• Flexibility and adaptability to work effectively across different topics and themes simultaneously and to pick up knowledge on new topics quickly.
• Experience with the major national policy areas, particularly responsible mining and mineral resource governance.
• Fluency in Bahasa Indonesia, including excellent analytical, research, and writing skills, will be a strong asset.