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
09.02.2021
Your team
You will be part of the Directorate Banknotes, which seeks to safeguard the integrity of euro banknotes, ensuring that they are an efficient means of payment and protecting them against counterfeiting. Among other things, our Directorate coordinates all banknote development and production activities, both across the Eurosystem and with third parties.
You will be working in the New Banknotes (NBN) Section, which is responsible for the design and development of euro banknotes and has a dedicated R&D team that sponsors and monitors activities in the field of banknote R&D. The NBN Section covers all technological aspects of banknotes, working hand in hand with the Directorate’s Anti-Counterfeiting Section and the Production Section.
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.
In order to further enhance the diversity of our team, we particularly encourage applications from female candidates.
Your role
As a trainee, you will:
- contribute to the design, execution and monitoring of testing procedures for new banknotes, assessing their perceptual impact and ease of use (for both individual features and the banknote as a whole) and looking at their overall resilience to counterfeiting;
- monitor testing activities (such as laboratory tests and on-site production trials) supporting the establishment of specific banknote parameters;
- help to assess tools and procedures measuring the behavioural, visual and haptic properties of banknotes.
This position will offer excellent opportunities to work closely with experts in the fields of banknote development, R&D, communication and counterfeiting. 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 applied psychology, neuroscience (or a related field), biophysics, medical biotechnologies or neuromarketing, or any other degree involving specialisation in the field of vision and perception or neuroscience (or a related field);
- a good knowledge of the MS Office package;
- 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:
- a master’s degree in applied psychology, the neuroscience of vision and perception, biophysics, medical biotechnologies, neuromarketing or a related field;
- a good understanding of the statistical methods used to analyse quality control and measurement systems;
- the ability to keep abreast of new technological developments through active monitoring of scientific publications and other sources of information.
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 of between 3 and 12 months in total.
When you submit your application, please provide details of any publication history or patents filed in your name.
For reasons of confidentiality, work carried out during the traineeship may not be used in any publication, thesis, external research, etc. without specific prior written permission.
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.
