General Information
Type of contract Traineeship
Who can apply? EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme
Grant The trainee grant is €1,070 per month plus an accommodation allowance (see further information section)
Working time Full time
Place of work Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Closing date 17.04.2023
Your team
You will join the Stress Test Modelling Division in the Directorate General Macroprudential Policy and Financial Stability. We support the activities of the ECB and European supervisory authorities by providing quantitative models, scenarios and advanced analytical input with a view to assessing the potential impact of systemic risks on the stability of the euro area and EU financial system. In addition, we support European and global discussions on systemic risks and the resilience of the financial sector, particularly by contributing to ECB publications and providing appropriate analytical support to the European Systemic Risk Board.
Our Division has around 30 members of staff and is responsible for:
- developing and maintaining the ECB models, infrastructure and systems that are used to perform stress-testing exercises, with a focus on macroprudential stress tests;
- supporting microprudential stress-testing activities (covering credit, market and profitability risks) carried out by the ECB and European supervisory authorities through the provision of scenarios and advanced analytical input;
- analysing interaction between macroprudential policy, financial stability and monetary policy;
- developing state-of-the-art models that assess the implications of climate change for financial stability risks.
You will be part of a specialist team focusing on policy-relevant analysis and model development in one of the specific areas outlined above. 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:
- prepare data for regular internal and external publications;
- contribute to presentations for managers;
- participate in data collection and research for relevant analytical projects, help to develop stress test models (including climate stress test models) and contribute to macro-financial policy assessments;
- help to maintain, update and enhance stress-testing, financial and real economy databases;
- assist with the development of data visualisation tools and coding with a view to increasing the efficiency of data processing and making complex datasets accessible to users;
- work with colleagues across the ECB to maintain and improve the IT systems used for stress testing.
This position will offer excellent opportunities to become familiar with macroprudential policy and financial stability through a variety of tasks and projects. From a very early stage, you will have opportunities to develop your skills and have a real impact on the work of the Division, working alongside 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, computing, programming and statistical resources. You will have invaluable opportunities to network, engage with other employees and increase your personal awareness and business knowledge. 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 finance, economics, statistics, mathematics, engineering, business administration (with a focus on accounting), physics, computer science or a related field;
- an advanced knowledge of programming languages (e.g. MATLAB, Stata, Python, R or SQL) and econometric software (e.g. EViews);
- an advanced knowledge of the MS Office package, particularly Excel;
- some experience of preparing, handling and analysing datasets based on various data sources;
- 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 (either completed or close to completion) in finance, economics, statistics, mathematics, engineering, business administration (with a focus on accounting), physics, computer science or a related field;
- experience of working with big data and/or firm-level data and familiarity with Spark and Apache Hadoop infrastructure;
- a sound understanding of derivative pricing;
- good analytical skills and familiarity with macroeconomic or financial statistics (at sector, institution and transaction level);
- some experience of one or more of the following: econometrics (e.g. macroeconometrics, microeconometrics, time series analysis, financial econometrics, panel data econometrics or empirical banking), analysis of financial statements (e.g. balance sheets of banks and other financial institutions), DSGE models, network analysis and mathematical optimisation models;
- experience of micro-level databases containing climate-related data (such as those produced by Urgentem, Institutional Shareholder Services, Carbon4Finance and Moody’s 427) and the modelling and analysis of climate risk;
- familiarity with a broad range of standard databases containing macroeconomic and financial data (such as those compiled by Refinitiv Datastream, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters Eikon, BankFocus and Haver Analytics).
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
Traineeship of between 3 and 12 months in total.
Other details on the conditions applicable to traineeships at the ECB can be found on our website.
For additional information on this specific vacancy, you can speak to Giuseppe Cappelletti on +49 (0)69 1344 5198 between 10:00 and 11:00 on 4 April 2023.
Application and selection process
Further information on how to apply is available on our website.
The recruitment process for this position will include a remote written exercise in the pre-selection phase and – if you are invited to participate in the subsequent selection phase – an online interview.
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.