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
05.01.2026
Your team
You will be part of the Macroprudential Policy Division in the Directorate General Macroprudential Policy and Financial Stability. Our Directorate General provides analysis and policy advice on issues relating to financial stability, non-bank financial intermediation, financial regulation and macroprudential policy.
In the Macroprudential Policy Division, we assess country-specific systemic risks within the financial sector and beyond, including the household, corporate and real estate sectors. We assess macroprudential policy measures taken by national authorities to address identified risks, and carry out analyses that help the ECB implement the macroprudential measures it is responsible for under Article 5 of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) Regulation.
In your role as a trainee, you will be part of a Division made up of approximately 30 staff who are responsible for analysing macroprudential risk and policy, developing tools and models and communicating the ECB’s views on these issues. You will work closely with our experts, contributing to regular tasks and key analytical projects. 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:
- maintain, update and further develop large and complex data infrastructures used to identify systemic risk, analyse macroprudential policy and monitor developments in the financial sector and the real economy;
- develop tools for data processing and analysis, along with visualisations, to ensure users can efficiently access and interpret complex datasets;
- participate actively in the general work of the Division, for example by (i) contributing to analyses for inclusion in regular internal reports and external publications, such as the ECB’s Macroprudential Bulletin and Financial Stability Review, (ii) contributing – through data collection, research assistance and programming – to analytical projects focused on issues of current interest to the Directorate General, and (iii) helping the Division’s management and staff to prepare presentations and notes.
The traineeship offers you excellent opportunities to familiarise yourself with macroprudential policy and financial stability in the euro area and to develop your technical skills. You will be able to develop your potential and will quickly make a real difference to the work of the Division. As a trainee, you will have the opportunity to work in a team of committed and highly qualified colleagues and leaders in the field of financial stability and macroprudential policy.
You will be able to attend a wide range of seminars and will have access to the ECB’s library as well as its computing, programming and statistical resources. You will have the opportunity to network and engage with other employees, grow personally and expand your 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, physics, computer science, data science or a related discipline;
- a good understanding of, and practical experience of working with, one or more programming languages and econometric software packages (e.g. R, Stata, MATLAB, Python, SQL);
- a sound knowledge of statistical and econometric methods;
- experience in preparing, handling and analysing datasets from a variety of data sources;
- an advanced knowledge of the MS Office suite, in particular Excel and PowerPoint;
- 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, or studies towards a master’s degree that are close to completion, in finance, economics, statistics, mathematics, engineering, business administration, physics, computer science, data science or a related discipline;
- experience in one or more of the following fields: econometrics (e.g. macroeconometrics, microeconometrics, time series analysis, financial and panel data), economic modelling and machine learning;
- knowledge of financial stability analysis and banking sector regulation, and/or knowledge of macroeconomics;
- knowledge of bank balance sheets and bank-level data analysis;
- experience of working with a broad range of standard macroeconomic and financial databases (e.g. ECB Data Portal, Bloomberg, Credit register data, Orbis and MSCI Real Capital 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
Initial traineeship of between three and six months, with a possible extension to up to 12 months in total. The earliest starting date will be mid-May 2026 and additional starting dates will be available throughout summer 2026.
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.
