Ahmed Dawoud | Applied Economist & Causal AI Expert

Professional Journey

Delivering impact for Governments, NGOs, and Corporations.

Head of Decision Science

ProfitOPS.ai | USA, Remote

Sept 2024 – Present

Created ProRCA (Open-source Python library). Creator and lead maintainer of ProRCA, an open-source Python library for applied root cause analysis.
Building robust causal simulation frameworks. Building robust frameworks for causal simulation and counterfactual analysis to assess intervention impacts.
Advising Fortune 100 clients (UPS, WestRock). Leading technical discussions with Fortune 100 clients, including UPS and WestRock, translating model outputs into strategic decisions.

Senior Visiting Fellow

Economic Research Foundation (ORF) | Dubai, UAE

May – Sept 2025

Engineered "AI-Impact Index" for UAE Government. Engineered an "AI-Impact Index" to quantify AI-driven job augmentation and disruption for the UAE Dept of Human Resources.
Built scalable data pipeline using ILO-ISCO-08 standard. Developed a scalable data pipeline to extract and classify job tasks and skills, applying the ILO-ISCO-08 standard.
Analyzed 500k+ job postings using LLMs. Spearheaded the data analysis for the tri-national "Future of Jobs" report (UAE, Egypt, India), leveraging LLMs to process and structure 500,000+ unstructured online job postings.

Head of Data Analytics

Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES) | Cairo

Jan 2021 – Present

Directing team of 10 economists & AI engineers. Directing a multidisciplinary team of 10 economists and AI engineers, pioneering the application of Gen-AI and Causal Machine Learning.
Led USAID projects (30% reduction on release time). Leading flagship research projects funded by international partners like USAID, focused on trade policy; produced a 30% reduction on total release time.
Modeling AI impact on national workforce. Developing novel quantitative models to analyze the socioeconomic impact of AI on the Egyptian labor market, informing national workforce strategy.

Economist

ECES | Cairo

Sep 2017 – Dec 2020

Authored 100+ economic reports and policy analyses. Authored over 100 economic reports and policy analyses, providing timely insights on national economic developments.
Analyzed COVID-19 impact & trade policy. Analyzed diverse topics including the impact of COVID-19 on critical sectors (agriculture, population, informal economy), manufacturing policy, and international trade.
Advising high-level government stakeholders. Provided direct advisory to high-level government and business stakeholders.

High-Impact Projects

USAID Sponsored

Causal AI for Trade Policy

Architected a microdata collection framework across 100 companies. Synthesized a Causal Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) to present strategic recommendations directly to the Minister of Trade.

DoWhy EconML DAGs

National Bank of Egypt

Labor Market Intelligence

Pioneered Egypt’s first talent demand platform. Designed an end-to-end pipeline processing 60,000+ job postings quarterly (ILO-ISCO-08 standard). Validated by World Bank stakeholders.

NLP Data Pipeline

Publications & Policy Briefs

ProRCA: A causal Python package for actionable root cause analysis

2025

Dawoud, A., & Talupula, S. • arXiv

A causal inference package built on DoWhy to discover complete causal chain reactions.

AI-Driven Framework for Real-Time Labor Market Intelligence

2025

Dawoud, A. • ECES Working Paper

Detailed framework for real-time intelligence of demand for skills and talent in the Egyptian labor market.

Business Process Analysis of Exporting and Importing

2023

Dawoud, A., et al. • ECES Working Paper

Application of the UN/CEFACT model and UML to re-engineer national trade procedures, projecting a 70% reduction in export time.

Unveiling the Secrets of Freelancing Success

2024

Dawoud, A. • ECES Working Paper

Comparative study of Egyptian and Indian freelancers against global demand to identify success strategies.

Properly addressing informality in the Arab world

2020

Abdel Latif. A, & A. Dawoud • G20 Policy Briefs

A new framework for addressing economic informality in Arab nations, focusing on formal job creation and social mobility.

Estimation of Corona Pandemic's Impact on Population

2020

Dawoud, A. • ECES

Estimated the impact by measuring the disruptive effect of the pandemic on family planning activities and resources.

Teaching & Leadership

Lead Data Science Instructor

National Bank of Egypt (2023-2024)

Designed and led 30-hour hands-on data analysis workshops for senior leaders.

Public Policy Workshop Lead

The Egyptian Parliament (2022)

Trained 15 Egyptian Parliamentarians on quantitative methods for policy evaluation.

Education & Specialization

Postgrad in Applied Economics & Causal Data Science

Self-Directed Curriculum | 2018 - 2024

A rigorous, multi-year self-directed specialization combining advanced econometric theory with modern machine learning and causal inference methodologies.

Bachelor of Economics (Honors)

Cairo University | 2017

Minor in Statistics. Graduated with Honors. Faculty of Economics and Political Science.

Advanced Coursework & Certifications

Causal Inference & Stats

HarvardX: Design-Based & DAGs MITx: RCTs (J-PAL) Statistical Rethinking (Bayesian)

Machine Learning & AI

Stanford CS229 DeepLearning.AI TensorFlow Developer

Economics & Computation

MITx: Development Economics MIT 6.100L (Python) Harvard CS50