The European Central Bank has launched:  Traineeships in Market Operations.

 

Please share these opportunities with your students by forwarding the email to relevant departments/professors, alumni networks, posting the vacancies on job portals or printing them out and showcasing them in display windows.

 

Your team

 

You will be part of one of the divisions of the Directorate General Market Operations. Our Directorate General has 120 staff members responsible for preparing and executing the monetary policy and foreign exchange operations of the Eurosystem. We manage the ECB's foreign reserves and own funds and develop and maintain the framework for its financial market activities. We also coordinate the implementation of the Eurosystem's asset purchase programme and the reserve management services that the Eurosystem provides to non euro area central banks, monetary authorities, public financial institutions and international institutions. In addition, we monitor and analyse financial market developments that are relevant for market operations. The Directorate General works closely with other ECB business areas, the national central banks (NCBs) of the Member States of the EU and non-EU G10 central banks. We also maintain regular contact with financial market participants.

 

The traineeships are aimed primarily at promising graduates with a strong quantitative background and an interest in policy or operational tasks.

 

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 in Market Operations you will be a full-fledged member of a data team while also being embedded in one your division's operational teams. As part of a data team, you will build on your current skill level and aptitude for tools and topics to maintain and improve existing processes and reports using Excel, Bloomberg, Python, SQL, KNIME, Java, etc. You will also showcase and expand your data analysis skills as you:

• collect and process data (from structured data to market intelligence, from ad hoc requests to daily automated scenarios);
• investigate and integrate data from different sources (from microdata to big data, from Excel files to Oracle databases and big data platforms);
• visualise and communicate findings using interactive tools such as Tableau (from setting up dashboards for experts in the division to developing tools for the Eurosystem);
• assist in the development of IT applications by professional teams (from an end-user or business analyst perspective).

 

Furthermore, as part of an operational team, you will gather valuable insights into relevant topics and datasets and will have a unique opportunity to become involved hands-on in producing and delivering findings, reports, presentations and further analytical outputs for your division, the Directorate General's senior management, and the Eurosystem task forces and working groups.

 

Throughout your traineeship, you will be given opportunities to learn and contribute to the goals of your team, all while collaborating with more senior colleagues on some of the following activities.

 

Bond Markets and International Operations Division

·       supporting the coordination and implementation of the asset purchase programmes, and the management of the foreign reserve portfolios and other ECB portfolios managed by the Division;

·       contributing to the regular production of various reports on the financial markets covering, for example, developments in US, Japanese, Chinese and euro area government bonds, bank and corporate bonds, foreign exchange and commodity markets;

·       assisting in the production of ad hoc analyses and summaries of meetings with external counterparties, in particular investment banks.

 

Financial Operations Services Division

·       assisting with the reconciliation of ECB accounts used for the Division's settlement activities, and also of Eurosystem NCB accounts used for operations involving the ECB's foreign reserve assets;

·       performing audit checks;

·       helping manage legal documentation related to the ECB's counterparties, and helping analyse and follow up on regulatory changes.

 

Money Market and Liquidity Division

·       analysing money market developments, both by using transaction-level financial market data and by gathering feedback from external parties;

·       helping analyse the bidding behaviour in the ECB's monetary policy operations, examining changes in the Eurosystem balance sheet, investigating effects of monetary policy decisions on liquidity conditions and the money market;

·       supporting our monitoring of the new benchmark rate €STR and the coordination of market contact groups.

 

Market Operations Analysis Division

·       supporting the monitoring and provision of analytical work regarding the performance and developments of the Eurosystem's monetary policy operations framework, including performing regular tasks to ensure the functioning of the related information systems and supporting the preparation of proposals for changes to this framework;

·       contributing to the various facets of the Eurosystem collateral framework, e.g. monitoring, maintenance and enhancement of this framework on an operational and technical level, in addition to providing adequate communication to the different stakeholders and users;

·       assisting in monitoring and developing the counterparty framework and checking the financial eligibility of monetary policy counterparties, as well as supporting work on other topics including minimum reserve requirements, non-standard measures such as longer-term refinancing operations, emergency liquidity assistance and other Eurosystem balance sheet items.

 

Market Operations Systems Division

·       contributing to maintaining and configuring the ECB's treasury management system, for instance through feasibility analysis for the configuration of new financial instruments, calculation validation, limits configurations or compliance checks;

·       providing functional support for the system, including interacting directly with end users in the front and back offices of the ECB and the NCBs as well as the ECB's risk management and financial reporting functions, and investigating any operational issues reported;

·       contributing to IT projects by, for example, supporting stakeholder communication, assisting experts with the collection and documentation of functional user requirements, preparing test material and participating in software testing.

 

These positions offer you excellent opportunities to experience the practical approaches to monetary policy implementation and investment in a central bank, enhance your knowledge of financial markets, gain experience in handling and analysing financial data and develop your teamwork skills. 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, econometrics, mathematics, statistics, accounting, computer science or a related discipline; 
• an awareness of financial market structures, financial market developments or market operations;
• experience with one or more of the following programming languages and applications: SQL, VBA, R, Python, Java, MATLAB, Stata, Tableau, Power BI, Bloomberg, KNIME and Refinitv Eikon;
• experience of working with complex data (i.e. data preparation, analysis and visualisation), in either a professional or an academic environment; 
• enthusiasm for learning and applying data skills to obtain insights and communicate findings;
• a keen interest in participating in projects involving the business implementation, maintenance, development and testing of IT applications for market operations;
• a good knowledge of the MS Office package, including advanced knowledge of MS Excel;
• 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 finance, economics, econometrics, mathematics, statistics, accounting, computer science or a related discipline;
• a proven ability to collect, organise and analyse large sets of data using Excel, Access, SQL, Python, R, Stata, MATLAB or similar tools for data analysis.

 

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.

 

Who can apply:

EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme.

 

All candidates should:

• be a national of a Member State of the EU or of an acceding country;

• be at least 18 years old;
• have completed at least a first cycle qualification (minimum bachelor's degree);
• be fluent in English and in another official language of the EU.

 

Following their most recent qualification candidates should:

• have a maximum of 12 months' professional experience;
• have been a trainee for no more than six months;
• not have been an ECB trainee or have worked for the ECB previously.

 

Closing date: 10.03.2022

 

Further information

Traineeship of between 6 and 12 months in total, with starting dates as of June 2022.

 

Application and selection process

Further information on how to join us is available on our website.

 

The recruitment process for this position will include an online interview if you are invited to participate in the selection phase. 

 

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 similar positions within the ECB.