General Information
Type of contract
Traineeship
Who can apply?
EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme
Grant
The trainee grant is €1,170 per month plus an accommodation allowance (see further information section), The trainee grant is €2,120 per month plus an accommodation allowance (see further information section)
Working time
Full time
Place of work
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Closing date
05.01.2021
Your team
You will be part of the Price-setting Microdata Analysis (PRISMA) team in the Directorate General Research. The PRISMA team conducts research into the macroeconomic consequences of price-setting using microdata and theoretical models and interacts closely with national central banks through the PRISMA research network. We are currently working on analyses in support of the ongoing review of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy and exploring the effectiveness and transmission of monetary policy measures.
In your role as Student Research Assistant Trainee, you will support the team’s work by compiling and analysing large panel datasets and by helping to solve nonlinear general equilibrium models. You will have access to unique proprietary price-setting datasets from two main sources: store-level and household-level scanner data from multiple euro area countries; and web-scraped data from large euro area supermarkets. You will have the opportunity to use the ECB’s state-of-the-art big-data infrastructure.
The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. We encourage you to apply, irrespective of your gender, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability or other characteristics.
Your role
As a Student Research Assistant Trainee in the PRISMA team you will:
- construct and maintain large databases;
- present data in conjunction with economic and econometric analysis;
- develop and implement theoretical econometric procedures for research projects.
As a trainee in the Student Research Assistant Programme, you will have the opportunity to work closely with our economists and support them in academic research projects and in work of an operational nature, such as the preparation of policy-related notes for the ECB’s Executive Board. This will enable you to develop your analytical skills and gain an insight into the ECB’s research activities and policymaking processes. The programme will also expose you to new ideas and stimuli that can provide a useful foundation for your future career and/or postgraduate studies. You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens.
Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:
- for a traineeship: a bachelor’s degree or higher in economics, statistics, finance, computer science, mathematics or a related field;
- for a PhD traineeship: a master’s degree and at least two years of PhD studies in economics, statistics, finance, computer science, mathematics or a related field;
- extensive experience in at least one of the following high-level programming languages: MATLAB or R;
- some experience in at least one of the following languages: Stata, Matlab, R, SQL, C, Fortran or Python;
- experience in at least one of the following areas: solving heterogeneous agent and/or nonlinear macro models; compiling and analysing large microeconomic databases;
- an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Desired
- for a traineeship: a master’s degree or at least one complete year towards a master’s degree in economics, statistics, finance, computer science, mathematics or a related field.
You are curious and eager to learn, and want to further develop your ability to analyse complex information. You are keen to collaborate with others, pursue team goals and learn from other people’s diverse perspectives. You strive to know and anticipate stakeholder needs, and will signal any need for change and propose alternative solutions.
You are motivated to contribute to the ECB’s mission, to serve the citizens of the EU as a member of a public institution and to work with colleagues from all over Europe. You are keen to be part of our team and to use your skills and competencies to achieve the objectives of this position.
Further information
Traineeship/PhD traineeship of between 6 and 12 months in total.
Application and selection process
Further information on how to join us is available on our
website.
The recruitment process for this position will include an online interview via WebEx.
