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
24.06.2024
Your team
You will be part of either the Stress Test Modelling Division or the Systemic Risk and Financial Institutions Division in the Directorate General Macroprudential Policy and Financial Stability. We work to identify and assess the main risks to financial stability in the euro area with a focus on the banking system and its interactions with the real economy and the broader financial system.
In your role as a trainee, you will join around 50 members of staff responsible for monitoring potential sources of systemic risk in the euro area and developing and maintaining state-of-the-art models that support stress test activities. We use econometric methods to assess the drivers of financial stability risks in the banking sector and the broader financial system, and we analyse the interaction between macroprudential policy, financial stability and monetary policy.
You will be part of a specialist team in one of the Divisions outlined above focusing on analysis and model development to inform policy decisions. The precise nature of the traineeship will depend on the team you join and your personal skill set.
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, you will:
- contribute to analyses for internal discussions related to key policy processes and external publications such as the Financial Stability Review;
- participate in analytical projects and research work on topics of interest to the Directorate General by collecting data and assisting with research, including code development;
- help to prepare presentations, figures and charts for management and senior management;
- maintain, update and further develop databases for stress tests, systemic risk identification and macro-financial policy analysis, as well as for financial and real sector developments;
- develop user visualisation tools and programs/code for efficient data processing, while facilitating user access to complex datasets;
- work with colleagues across the ECB to maintain and improve the IT systems used for stress testing.
This position will offer you excellent opportunities to gain an understanding of macroprudential policy and financial stability through a variety of tasks and projects. You will be able to develop your skills and have a real impact on the work of the Division, learning from experts in the field of financial stability.
You will have the chance to attend a wide range of seminars and access the ECB’s library, and its computing, programming and statistical resources. You will be able to engage with other employees and increase your personal understanding of the work carried out by the ECB. 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 economics, finance, statistics, mathematics, engineering, business administration, physics, computer science or a related field;
- a sound understanding of and practical experience working with one or more programming languages and econometric software packages (e.g. MATLAB, Stata, Python, R or SQL);
- an advanced knowledge of the MS Office package, in particular Excel;
- a sound knowledge of statistical and econometric methods;
- experience in data management, handling and analysing multidimensional datasets;
- 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 economics, finance, statistics, mathematics, engineering, business administration, physics, computer science or a related field (or a master’s degree in one of these areas in the final stages of completion);
- experience with econometric techniques in one or more of the following areas: macroeconometrics, microeconometrics, time series analysis, panel data econometrics, financial econometrics or empirical banking;
- experience with modelling tools such as DSGE models, network analysis and mathematical optimisation models;
- an understanding of financial statement analysis (e.g. balance sheets of banks and other financial institutions);
- experience with macroeconomic or financial statistics and standard databases, such as Refinitiv Datastream, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters Eikon, BankFocus and Haver Analytics;
- experience of working with big data and/or firm-level data (e.g. Apache Spark and Apache Hadoop), or with micro-level databases for climate-related data (e.g. Urgentem, Institutional Shareholder Services, Carbon4 Finance and Moody’s 427;
- a sound understanding of derivative pricing.
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
Initial traineeship of between three and six months, with a possible extension to up to 12 months in total.
Application and selection process
The recruitment process for this position will include a remote written exercise and 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.
