Overview
Summary
WHO WE ARE:
About 1 billion women remain excluded from the formal financial system. Women’s World Banking researches, designs, and invests in financial solutions, institutions, and policy environments in emerging markets to create greater economic security and prosperity for women, their families, and their communities. For Women’s World Banking, research is the fuel for our advisory and advocacy engines, uncovering the insights on which the organization's decisions and actions are based.
Women’s World Banking’s research team employs and integrates qualitative, quantitative, and data science methods to examine challenges and opportunities for advancing women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment; inform the design of new financial services and products tailored to women; and evaluate the impact of financial services on women’s economic agency and well-being.
We conduct primary research through large-scale survey data, semi-structured interviews, observations, and other participatory qualitative and design research techniques. We analyze data from primary and secondary research, including quantitative data we collect, administrative data from financial service providers, and survey datasets collected by other institutions. We use quantitative research to produce insights on women customers’ needs. We use this research to better understand women in the context of their financial and economic lives and their environment, so that we can contribute to policy and financial services that benefit them.
Additionally, our research team leads projects on algorithmic bias detection and mitigation, algorithmic decision-making, and automated financial advisors. These initiatives offer valuable insights to interested parties through open-source platforms, publications, and technical assistance engagements with other financial service providers.
INTERNING AT WOMEN’S WORLD BANKING
The research team at Women’s World Banking seeks a student intern to contribute to data science research on algorithmic bias research.
We work closely with our interns to design work plans that fit each intern’s technical abilities and professional development goals. Our interns are fully integrated into the research team, joining weekly team meetings and weekly one-on-one meetings with their assigned manager. They will work in multi-disciplinary teams with researchers trained in quantitative and qualitative analysis, financial product specialists, design strategists, and policy and advocacy experts. This is a great opportunity for a student seeking hands-on experience in international applied research for social impact.
Roles and Responsibilities
What you’ll be doing:
The intern will be expected to work 20 hours per week and undertake some combination of the following activities:
- Contributing to data science research by designing and coding machine learning algorithms
- Preparing and cleaning real-world datasets, and then testing them using developed algorithms to evaluate their performance in various scenarios presented by each dataset
- Drafting report sections, executive summaries, blog posts, and presentations based on the intern’s findings
- Presenting research findings to staff
- Conducting literature reviews on topics related to algorithmic fairness and reject inference
- Performing other duties as required
Required Qualifications
The skills and experiences you bring include:
- A current graduate student in a master’s program in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Computational Mathematics, Economics, or similar fields which have strong emphasis on quantitative skills
- Completed at least one graduate-level course in applied machine learning (ML) using Python
- Possess the ability to work remotely
Preferred Qualifications
You are an ideal candidate if you have:
- Experience working with matching techniques, counterfactual learning, or algorithmic bias
- An advocate for justice, gender equality, and AI fairness
How to Apply
To apply, please submit:
- Brief cover letter that describes why you are interested in this role, relevant experience for the position, and dates of availability for this work (dates listed above are flexible)
- Resume/CV
- List of quantitative coursework and grades received
- List of ML projects
- Sample Python scripts/link to the applicant’s GitHub page
- Two references
Starting April 17th, we will review applications on a rolling basis and will remove this posting once we extend an offer.
Please note that all Women’s World Banking internships will be virtual and unpaid, although students are welcome to seek outside funding. For the position to be called an internship, academic credit remains a requisite (otherwise, it must be called a volunteer position).
For any questions about the position or process, please contact Mehi Mirpourian (mm@womensworldbanking.org).
About Women's World Banking
We believe in being a force for the greater good, devoted to accelerating and growing the financial inclusion of women. With rapidly changing markets, influenced by technology and social behavioral expectations, we are embarking on a new chapter to transform the way we design and implement solutions.
For over 40 years, Women’s World Banking has partnered with financial institutions, showing them the benefit of investing in women as customers. We equip these institutions with in-depth research and data driven insights to develop financial products and educational programs. While our clients are financial service providers, our mission is to engage consumers – women who are marginalized by financial systems.
Women’s World Banking and WWB Asset Management is an equal employment opportunity for all regardless of race, color, citizenship, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran or reservist status or any other category protected by federal, state or local law.