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: 05.12.2024

Your team

One of the tasks of the ECB is to ensure that Europe’s banks are in good shape. We carry out this task as part of a system of European banking supervisors called the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).

We supervise the euro area’s largest banks and oversee the supervision of the remaining banks, working in Joint Supervisory Teams with supervisors from across the euro area. We supervise banks on a day-to-day basis, conduct on-site inspections and specialise in areas such as internal governance, credit risk, capital markets, operational risk (including climate and cyber risk), business models, internal models, capital planning, crisis management, stress testing, supervisory policy and supervisory methodologies.

We grant and withdraw authorisations to supervised institutions. We assess qualifying shareholders and decide on the significance of credit institutions. We assess the suitability of their management bodies (fit and proper assessment). We also impose enforcement measures and sanction banks breaching prudential requirements. We monitor the consistency and effectiveness of our supervisory actions. We develop our supervisory processes, IT systems and communication tools, leveraging also on artificial intelligence.

We are keen to draw on fresh perspectives and are looking to fill 100 traineeship positions in various fields.

Your role

As a trainee you will gain unique hands on experience carrying out day-to-day supervisory activities.

For example, you may:

• participate in risk meetings with supervised banks and banking supervisors;
• assess the impact of macroeconomic developments on banks’ risk profiles;
• analyse banks’ reports and look for undesirable developments;
• check whether banks are complying with supervisory demands and regulatory requirements;
• collect and scrutinise data, producing tables, charts and reports;
• support the efficiency of core business processes and systems;
• automate repetitive data processing tasks;
• contribute to projects that implement supervisory practices and standards;
• contribute to one of the key supervisory processes, e.g. authorisations, supervisory technology, vertical and horizontal analysis.

You will be working alongside international experts who look forward to benefiting from your enthusiasm and recent academic education.

The traineeship offers you excellent learning opportunities, such as training courses and workshops. You will also be able to hone your communication and collaboration skills, contributing to memos and presentations and interacting with internal and external audiences. You will also be assigned a mentor to help you develop these 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.

As part of the ECB trainee community, you will have the opportunity to build your own professional network.

Qualifications, experience and skills

Essential:

• a relevant bachelor’s degree or higher (or evidence of having successfully completed three years of higher education, i.e. proof that you have obtained at least 180 ECTS credits by the closing date for applications);
• analytical, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, team spirit and adaptability;
• a keen interest in working for a European institution and protecting the stability of the banking system;
• an eagerness to learn about banking, finance, banking supervision, financial regulation, supervisory standards and practices, risk analysis (in particular climate and cyber risk) and the implications of the digital transformation for the financial world;
• motivation to make the most of the development opportunities that this traineeship has to offer;
• 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:

• knowledge of and initial work experience in any of the fields mentioned above;
• knowledge of financial and/or EU regulation;
• experience of data management, data analytics and data visualisation tools (e.g. Tableau), coding (e.g. R, Python) and artificial intelligence;
• project management skills;
• a strong interest in working in a multicultural environment or gaining experience abroad, as demonstrated through, for example, language skills, education, work experience or volunteer work.

Further information

We will be offering traineeships with an initial duration of six months, with a possible extension of up to 12 months in the same or another business area in ECB Banking Supervision.

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

The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. To achieve a more representative spread of nationalities for these traineeships, we may adjust our initial filtering of applications to bring them more in line with the relative size of the EU population.

We encourage you to apply irrespective of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.

Application and selection process

The recruitment process for this position will include a pre-recorded interview in the pre-selection phase and – if you are invited to participate in the subsequent selection phase – 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.