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
10.02.2021
Your team
You will join the Directorate General Market Infrastructure and Payments, which has around 200 staff working on ECB activities relating to the provision of payment and securities settlement services, the oversight of financial market infrastructure and payment instruments, and cooperation with market stakeholders with a view to fostering the integration of payment and securities settlement markets in the euro area. Among other things, we are currently working on a number of issues relating to today’s fast-moving digital landscape. We are proud to be at the forefront of work on retail payments, instant payment solutions and cyber-resilience. At the same time, we are keenly aware of the new challenges that we face in the area of payment systems, with issues being raised by new products such as crypto-assets and stablecoins.
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 trainee in our area, you will be involved in one or more of the following tasks:
- contributing to the management of financial market infrastructure projects and operations (including planning, monitoring and reporting);
- supporting a variety of project activities and coordinating testing and launch activities, for which you will interact directly with the main stakeholders;
- working with internal and external parties on administrative matters and standard enquiries, ensuring effective communication within your division and beyond, with committees of the European System of Central Banks and with various other working groups;
- supporting the planning of internal and external meetings and conferences;
- managing internal and external information flows in your business area, in line with deadlines and confidentiality requirements, by updating, recording, storing and/or distributing information;
- maintaining data management processes, databases, systems and tools, gathering information, and processing documents, charts, dashboards and presentations.
You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens.
We are looking for trainees who are eager to learn from working with others and are not afraid to bring their own ideas to the table. We want enthusiastic and open-minded people who are looking for a traineeship that will give them exposure to a wide range of different roles and tasks in one of the most exciting areas of the ECB. If that sounds like you, we would like to hear from you.
Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:
- a bachelor’s degree or higher in economics, business administration, econometrics, programming, computer science, engineering, finance (or a related/quantitative discipline – e.g. mathematics or physics), auditing, communication, law (with specialisation in the area of financial markets) 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 for some or all teams:
- basic experience of market infrastructure and/or back office applications;
- basic knowledge of central banking;
- knowledge of project management principles relating to IT projects;
- strong analytical skills (particularly as regards transforming business requirements into test scenarios and test cases);
- knowledge or experience of payments, securities settlement or collateral management;
- a general understanding of IT applications and their life cycle (particularly as regards the testing phase);
- basic knowledge of XML and ISO 20022 messages.
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
Traineeships of between 3 and 12 months in total. The traineeships will have different start dates, with the earliest being in August/September 2021.
Application and selection process
Further information on how to join us is available on our
website.
The recruitment process for these positions will include a pre-recorded video interview and an online interview via WebEx.
