General Information
Type of contract
PhD traineeship
Who can apply?
EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme
Grant
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
18.05.2023
Your team
You will be part of the Capital Markets and Financial Structure Division in the Directorate General Monetary Policy.
Our Division is made up of approximately 30 people and is responsible for analysing financial markets from a monetary policy perspective. We monitor and analyse the non-bank transmission of monetary policy, covering the term structure of interest rates, sovereign and corporate bond markets, stock markets, and the financing structure of non-financial corporations. We help to prepare decisions on the ECB’s key interest rates and non-standard monetary policy measures, and we analyse the impact of those decisions on financial markets using quantitative models. We also contribute to internal reports and external publications on monetary policy and euro area financial markets.
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 PhD trainee you will:
- support the analytical agenda on key policy questions;
- conduct empirical and theoretical research using state-of-the-art economic and econometric models;
- have the opportunity to submit papers for publication in the ECB’s Working Paper Series and academic journals.
We are looking for a PhD trainee, who will work on one of the following or related projects:
- A. developing and estimating macro-at-risk models conditional on financial conditions (e.g. quantile regression models, multivariate time series models);
- B. analysing the role of financial frictions for firms’ decisions (including investment, financial structure and price setting) using firm-level financial and survey data (e.g. the survey on the access to finance of enterprises (SAFE), financial statements, corporate bond data);
- C. developing and estimating asset pricing models, such as yield curve models, including those for risk-free rates, sovereign bond yields and market-based inflation compensation;
- D. assessing the impact of demand for bonds from various institutional investors on bond pricing (using, for instance, security-level data on different institutional sectors’ holdings of government and corporate bonds);
- E. carrying out development and estimation of structural macroeconomic models (featuring, for instance, heterogeneity, financial frictions, expectations formation, non-linear propagation) and identification using high-frequency data.
Trainees will be expected to complete their tasks using their own initiative and to work largely autonomously under the supervision of an ECB expert. Successful candidates will have access to the ECB’s library, as well as to computing and statistical resources. They will also have access to most ECB-organised conferences and internal seminars.
The position offers you excellent opportunities to build on your skills by working with state-of-the-art modelling and econometric techniques as well as to contribute to policy preparation work in the Directorate General. 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 master’s degree and at least two years of PhD studies in the field of economics, finance, statistics, data science or a related field;
- a sound understanding of, and theoretical background in, macroeconomics and the economic and institutional context in which the ECB fulfils its mandate;
- excellent knowledge of and a track record in state-of-the-art modelling tools and econometric techniques or data analytics;
- programming skills in one or more of the following software packages: MATLAB, Stata, Python, R or Julia;
- 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:
- experience in working with macrodata and macroeconometric methods and models;
- experience in handling microdata and microeconometric methods and models;
- experience in working with non-linear time series models.
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 aims of this position.
Further information
PhD traineeship of between 3 and 12 months in total. The start date will be as of 1 July 2023.
Application and selection process
The recruitment process for this position will include an online interview.
Further information on
how to apply is available on our website.
If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months from the closing date for applications, from which you might be considered for other traineeship positions within the ECB.
