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)
Working time
Full time
Place of work
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Closing date
22.07.2021
Your team
You will be part of one of the divisions of the Directorate General Market Operations. Our Directorate General has 120 staff responsible for preparing and executing the monetary policy and foreign exchange operations of the Eurosystem. We manage the ECB’s foreign reserves and own funds and develop and maintain the framework for its financial market activities. We also coordinate the implementation of the Eurosystem’s asset purchase programme and the reserve management services that the Eurosystem provides to non euro area central banks, monetary authorities, public financial institutions and international institutions. In addition, we monitor and analyse financial market developments that are relevant for market operations. The Directorate General works closely with other ECB business areas, the national central banks (NCBs) of the Member States of the EU and non-EU G10 central banks. We also maintain regular contact with financial market participants.
The traineeships are aimed primarily at promising graduates with a strong quantitative background and an interest in policy or operational tasks.
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 age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.
Your role
As a trainee in Market Operations you will work with team members on some of the following activities:
Bond Markets and International Operations Division
- supporting the coordination and implementation of the asset purchase programmes , and the management of the foreign reserve portfolios and other ECB portfolios managed by the Division;
- contributing to the regular production of various reports on the financial markets (covering developments in US, Japanese, Chinese and euro area government bonds, bank and corporate bonds, foreign exchange and commodity markets, etc.), maintaining and improving those reports, and contributing to the design of new market analysis reports and tools using cutting-edge IT methods and processes;
- assisting in the production of ad hoc analyses and summaries of meetings with external counterparties, in particular investment banks, and presenting the findings to the Division and to the Directorate General’s management.
Financial Operations Services Division
- assisting with the reconciliation of ECB accounts used for the Division’s settlement activities, and also of Eurosystem NCB accounts used for operations involving the ECB’s foreign reserve assets;
- performing audit checks;
- managing databases and data, and contributing to the preparation of reports, tables and presentations for the Directorate General’s senior management and Eurosystem task forces and working groups;
- assisting, from a user’s perspective, in the development of relevant IT applications;
- helping manage legal documentation related to the ECB’s counterparties, and helping analyse and follow up on regulatory changes.
Money Market and Liquidity Division
- analysing money market developments, both by using transaction-level financial market data and by gathering feedback from external parties;
- supporting tasks related to the new benchmark rate €STR and the reform of other euro money market benchmark rates;
- helping analyse the bidding behaviour in the ECB’s monetary policy operations, examining the changes in the Eurosystem balance sheet and daily liquidity conditions, and presenting findings to the Division and to the Directorate General’s management;
- expanding your data analysis skills by working on a state-of-the-art integrated data platform;
- visualising and communicating findings using interactive tools such as Tableau;
- developing, maintaining and improving reporting and analytical tools used to monitor money market developments.
Market Operations Analysis Division
- assisting in monitoring and analysing the performance of the Eurosystem’s monetary policy implementation framework;
- contributing to projects related to monetary policy implementation and ongoing regulatory initiatives, including participating in software testing and helping improve internal business intelligence tools;
- assisting with regular data management activities, including maintaining existing reports and improving their performance and efficiency.
Market Operations Systems Division
- contributing to maintaining and configuring the ECB’s treasury management system, for instance through feasibility analysis for the configuration of new financial instruments, calculation validation, limits configurations or compliance checks;
- providing functional support for the system, including interacting directly with end-users in the front and back offices of the ECB and the NCBs as well as the ECB’s risk management and financial reporting functions, and investigating any operational issues reported;
- contributing to IT projects by, for example, supporting stakeholder communication, assisting experts with the collection and documentation of functional user requirements, preparing test material and participating in software testing;
- visualising and communicating information using interactive tools such as Tableau;
- developing, maintaining and improving reporting and analytical tools.
These positions offer you excellent opportunities to experience the practical approaches to monetary policy implementation and investment in a central bank, enhance your knowledge of financial markets, gain experience in handling and analysing financial data and develop your teamwork skills. 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:
- a bachelor’s degree or higher in finance, economics, econometrics, mathematics, statistics, accounting, computer science or a related discipline;
- an awareness of financial market structures, financial market developments or market operations;
- experience with one or more of the following programming languages and applications: SQL, VBA, R, Python, Java, MATLAB, Stata, Tableau, Power BI, Bloomberg, and Thomson Reuters Eikon;
- experience of working with complex data (i.e. data preparation, analysis and visualisation), in either a professional or an academic environment;
- a good knowledge of the MS Office package, including advanced knowledge of MS Excel;
- 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.
- enthusiasm for learning and applying data skills to obtain insights and communicate findings;
- a keen interest in participating in projects involving the business implementation, maintenance, development and testing of IT applications for market operations.
Desired:
- a master’s degree in finance, economics, econometrics, mathematics, statistics, accounting, computer science or a related discipline;
- a proven ability to collect, organise and analyse large sets of data using Excel, Access, SQL, Python, R, Stata, MATLAB or similar tools for data analysis
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 international team and to use your skills and competencies to achieve the objectives of this position.
Further information
Traineeship of between 6 and 12 months in total.
The starting dates of the traineeships will vary, with the earliest starting date being in September 2021 .
Application and selection process
Further information on how to join us is available on
our website.
If you are invited to participate in the selection phase, the recruitment process of this position will include an online interview.
