Traineeship in the Directorate General Monetary Policy

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 11.11.2024

Your team

You will be part of the Monetary Analysis Division in the Directorate General Monetary Policy. Our Division has around 40 staff across two sections: the Bank Lending Conditions Section and the Money, Credit and Financial Accounts Section. The Division monitors and analyses monetary and financial developments in the euro area to advise on monetary policy.

Both sections help calibrate standard and non-standard monetary policy measures through bank and non-bank intermediaries. The Division contributes to core policy processes and publications, including staff macroeconomic projections and the Economic Bulletin. We also analyse broader matters from the perspective of monetary policy transmission, such as climate change and central bank digital currencies. Our analysis features in policy notes and presentations for the ECB’s Governing Council and in official publications.

In your role as trainee, you will be part of a team that uses a wide range of datasets and state of the art modelling and data visualisation techniques. This includes microeconometric analysis of granular data and macroeconometric models based on more aggregate data, accounting for macro-financial linkages. Coding, programming and managing large datasets are important aspects of what we do.

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:

• work with datasets, including macroeconomic and microeconomic data and high-frequency financial data;
• maintain, develop and enhance the Division’s data infrastructure, including its management tools and dashboards;
• work closely with the Division’s economists and research analysts, supporting the team with daily tasks and analytical projects;
• contribute to the Division’s input for policy decision-making by using data analysis and statistical and econometric tools to help with empirical assessments;
• update charts and tables for regular internal and external reports and presentations, liaising with other ECB business areas.

The position offers you excellent opportunities to enhance your quantitative skills and work with experienced economists while gaining insight into analysis and policy within a central bank. 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, econometrics, mathematics, statistics, data science, social sciences or another related field;
• knowledge of statistical and econometric software, such as Python, R or Stata;
• experience with one or more of the following types of economic data – macroeconomic data, financial market data, firm-level data, accounting/supervisory bank data, transaction-level data, high-frequency data, panel data, survey data, other microdata or large datasets (i.e. big data);
• a good knowledge of the MS Office package, especially Excel and PowerPoint;
• an understanding of the economic issues covered by the Division;
• 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, econometrics, mathematics, statistics, data science or another related field (or being close to completing a degree in one of these fields);
• experience with statistical software packages, such as Python, R, Stata or MATLAB;
• experience working with relational databases, using SQL or other big data analytic tools;
• experience using visualisation tools, such as Shiny or Plotly/Dash;
• experience in econometrics (especially time series econometrics, econometrics of panel data and microeconometrics), or statistics and data science (e.g. web scraping, text analysis or other advanced machine learning techniques);
• experience with assisting research, such as providing data support for research projects;
• experience using market data services, such as Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters/Refinitiv (Eikon and/or Datastream), IHS Markit iBoxx, Haver Analytics, SNL Financial, Bureau van Dijk Orbis Bank Focus (formerly Bankscope) and Orbis Europe.

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 6 months, with a possible extension to up to 12 months in total.

Other details on the conditions applicable to traineeships at the ECB can be found on our website.

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.