Europe à United States

• 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

Your team

You will be part of the Directorate General Monetary Policy. Your traineeship will be either at the Directorate General level, where you will support the senior management team, or in the Capital Markets and Financial Structure Division. The Directorate General is responsible for preparing the monetary policy decisions of the ECB’s Governing Council. It analyses the ECB’s monetary policy strategy as well as monetary and financial developments. It also contributes to external communications (e.g. through economic research papers, speeches and official ECB publications).

The Capital Markets and Financial Structure Division analyses financial markets from a monetary policy perspective. The Division assesses the non-bank transmission of monetary policy, covering the term structure of interest rates; the sovereign bond, corporate bond and stock markets; and the financing structure of non-financial corporations. It helps to prepare decisions for the ECB’s Governing Council on monetary policy and uses quantitative models to measure and analyse the impact of those decisions on financial markets. The Division also contributes to internal reports and external publications.

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 :

• 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 in academic journals.

We are looking for PhD trainees to work on one of the following projects or related projects :

A. developing and estimating asset pricing models (e.g. yield curve models), including models for risk-free rates, sovereign bond yields and market-based inflation compensation, possibly featuring a macro-finance nexus;

B. assessing financial conditions for firms, using firm-level financial and survey data (e.g. data from the Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises in the euro area, financial statements and corporate bond data);

C. developing and estimating structural macroeconomic models featuring, for instance, heterogeneity, financial frictions, deviations from rational expectations and / or non-linear propagation;

D. conducting empirical analysis on the impact of monetary policy (e.g. using high-frequency identification), focusing especially on non-linearities and granular 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 conferences organised by the ECB and to internal seminars.

The position offers you excellent opportunities to work 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

• a master’s degree and at least two years of PhD studies in the field of economics, finance, statistics or data science, or a related field;
• a sound understanding of, and a theoretical background in, macroeconomics or finance, 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 and 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 of working with one of the following : macrodata and macroeconometric methods and models, non-linear solution methods, microdata and microeconometric methods and models, non-linear time series models and machine learning techniques.

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 PhD traineeship of between three and six 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 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.