Senior Analyst – MENA Focus

• Monitor and assess political, security, and socio-economic developments across MENA
• Conduct daily monitoring of Arabic- and English-language media, social media, official statements, and other open-source information
• Track violent extremist organisation and non-state armed group activity, including propaganda, communications, governance, operations, and regional linkages
• Identify new narratives, actors, platforms, and threats across online ecosystems
• Apply structured analytical techniques to assess complex information and identify patterns and relationships
• Lead and contribute to daily, weekly, monthly, flash, and deep-dive analytical reporting
• Translate and assess Arabic-language documents and source material
• Contribute to client-facing discussions, briefings, and ad hoc research requests
• Develop and maintain subject-matter expertise across designated countries, actors, organisations, and themes
• Lead and contribute to regional source coverage and propose new actors, entities, channels, and outlets
• Verify and assess sources in the original language
• Maintain coverage against intelligence requirements
• Contribute to taxonomy and tagging decisions for MENA and violent extremism data
• Translate analytical judgement into structured data with research and data teams
• Support the Team Lead with reviewing and quality assurance of analytical outputs
• Mentor junior analysts on research methodology, analytical standards, and source validation
• Support other ExTrac teams on projects and deliverables
• Help develop research methodologies, monitoring frameworks, and analytical processes
• Integrate AI systems and AI-assisted workflows into analytical practice

Requirements

• At least five years of professional experience in intelligence analysis, geopolitical risk, disinformation analysis, strategic communications, international security, international relations, or a related field
• Strong subject-matter knowledge of the MENA region, including its key political and security actors and regional dynamics
• Working understanding of VEOs, their online ecosystems, communications strategies, narratives, and operational activity, built through direct analytical experience
• Fluency in written Arabic across Modern Standard Arabic and local dialects, including knowledge of slang
• Ability to monitor, analyse, and translate Arabic-language content from a range of sources
• Demonstrable experience applying structured analytical methodologies to complex information environments and online ecosystems, including OSINT, network analysis, narrative analysis, sentiment analysis, or other quantitative and qualitative approaches
• Strong written communication skills and a track record of producing concise, high-quality, policy-relevant intelligence and analytical outputs under tight deadlines
• Hands-on experience curating source coverage, identifying and verifying online sources, assessing affiliation, and maintaining structured datasets to a defined standard
• Experience proofreading, editing, and quality-assuring analytical products
• Strong organisational skills and ability to work independently while managing multiple concurrent workstreams and competing priorities
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to communicate complex political, security, and extremist-related developments clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences
• Comfortable integrating AI systems into workflow to improve outputs and efficiency
• Strong understanding of legal and ethical considerations surrounding intelligence collection, open-source research, and data handling
• Legally able to work in the UK without visa support; ExTrac is currently unable to support skilled worker visas

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in intelligence analysis and geopolitical risk with a strong focus on the MENA region, including fluency in Arabic and proficiency in structured analytical methodologies. Capable of producing high-quality analytical outputs and effectively communicating complex developments to diverse audiences.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Intelligence Analysis
• Geopolitical Risk Assessment
• Fluency in Arabic
• Structured Analytical Methodologies
• Online Ecosystem Monitoring

Hard Skills

• Analytical Reporting
• Source Verification
• Data Structuring
• Network Analysis
• Narrative Analysis
• Sentiment Analysis
• OSINT
• Research Methodology
• Quality Assurance
• Translation of Arabic Documents

Soft Skills

• Strong Written Communication
• Organizational Skills
• Attention to Detail
• Independent Work
• Mentoring

Industry Keywords

• MENA Region
• Violent Extremist Organizations
• Disinformation Analysis
• International Security
• Strategic Communications
• Open-Source Research
• Ethical Considerations in Intelligence

Tools & Technologies

• AI Systems Integration
• Monitoring Frameworks
• Analytical Processes

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