Traineeship in Communications

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:  28.02.2025

Your team

You will be part of the Public Communication Division in the Directorate General Communications. Our Directorate General has approximately 250 members of staff who are responsible for communicating with the public and the media about the ECB’s work and mission. We manage digital communications, media relations and public communications, and we also lead the ECB’s efforts to engage effectively with its staff. We are currently working on making the ECB more accessible to different audiences, including reaching out to the general public directly on the bank’s social media channels and websites.

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

We are offering three traineeships in the Division. As a trainee, you will be matched with one of the following teams, based on your interests and skill set.

Position 1: Communications trainee in the Campaigns and Civil Society team

You will contribute to:

• preparing scripts, suggesting visuals and assisting during the filming of educational videos designed to enhance public understanding of fundamental economic concepts;
• partnering and engaging with financial influencers and content creators to broaden awareness of the ECB’s activities;
• developing content for educational platforms;
• coordinating with communications agencies;
• conducting research on target audiences and topics for focused initiatives;
• identifying and analysing trends and developments in public discussions regarding economic and monetary policy within the euro area.

Position 2: Communications trainee in the Visitor Centre team

You will contribute to:

• planning and coordinating visits to the ECB Visitor Centre (https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb-and-you/visits/html/index.en.html) and lectures by ECB experts;
• hosting visitor groups from Europe and beyond and giving presentations on the ECB’s work, both onsite and virtually;
• supporting the Visits, Enquiries and Protocol team in organising and delivering current and new outreach initiatives;
• assisting with the revamping of the Visitor Centre;
• analysing issues raised by the public during visits and lectures.

Position 3: Communications trainee in the Blog and Speakers team 

You will contribute to:

• researching policy-relevant topics and compiling information for blog posts targeting a variety of audiences, including experts, students, academics and any other reader who may be interested in economics or central banking;
• coordinating the production of visuals, infographics and images for the blog;
• liaising with communications agencies;
• coordinating training sessions for writers;
• responding to queries from various stakeholders at all levels in the ECB;
• drafting content to support staff in their speaking engagements.

All three positions offer you excellent opportunities to join a fast-paced environment and gain an insight into a broad range of communications activities at the ECB. They also offer you the opportunity to broaden your knowledge of communications and to come up with creative solutions to problems. You will work closely with other teams in the Directorate General and in other areas of the ECB as well as with external stakeholders, including other EU institutions, universities and content creators. 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 communications, economics, international relations, business administration, political science, marketing, public relations or a similar field;
• a strong interest in, and understanding of, the ECB’s mission, combined with the ability to describe this mission in clear and simple terms;
• experience of producing communication materials, both written and visual;
• an ability to simplify complex concepts and texts;
• a good knowledge of the Microsoft 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. https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages...

Desired: 

• a proficient (C2) command of either French or German, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. 

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 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. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/what-we-offer/traineeship/html/index.e...

For additional information on this specific vacancy, you can call Gaia Scotto di Minico on +49 (0)171 5558707 between 15:00 and 16:00 CET on Monday, 24 February or between 11:00 and 12:00 CET on Thursday, 27 February. 

Application and selection process

The recruitment process for this position will include an online interview and a remote written exercise. The starting date will be in autumn 2025.

Further information on how to apply is available on our website. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/before-you-apply/how-to-apply/html/ind...

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.

 

Traineeship in the EU Institutions and Fora Division - DG International and European Relations

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:  04.03.2025

Your team

You will be part of the EU Institutions and Fora Division in the Directorate General International and European Relations. Our Directorate General has 120 staff preparing policy positions for the ECB, the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks on European and global issues.

The EU Institutions and Fora Division has approximately 20 staff, who are responsible for preparing the ECB’s policy positions and analysing EU institutional and policy issues, often in close coordination with other teams at the ECB. The division is committed to providing high-quality policy assessments and positions to ECB’s decision-makers, substantiated by qualitative and quantitative research. We work on policy dossiers linked to deepening Economic and Monetary Union: this includes strengthening its economic governance framework and completing banking union and capital markets union. We also address other EU policy priorities that are relevant for the ECB’s tasks, including climate and the digital transition. In addition, we act as the primary ECB contact with other EU institutions. We coordinate the activities related to institutional accountability for central banking and supervisory tasks, which involves close interactions with the European Parliament. We also coordinate the ECB’s preparatory work for meetings of the European Council, the Eurogroup and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council.

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:

• support the team in identifying and analysing issues relating to EU integration and governance, the ECB’s accountability and the EU’s internal and external policies;
• contribute to the development of ECB policy positions on the issues mentioned above;
• develop research and analysis, and contribute to publications on topics related to the EU Institutions and Fora Division’s work, including by assisting with data collection and analysis;
• prepare briefing notes for senior ECB staff and decision-making bodies on issues that fall under our Division’s remit;
• monitor and analyse the activities of other EU institutions, including the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

This position offers you excellent opportunities to work at the forefront of policymaking in high-level EU fora, and to deepen your understanding of EU policies and interinstitutional relations. It also enables you to develop your technical and policy skills by working with large datasets and state-of-the-art analytical tools to support the development of ECB’s policy stances, often in collaboration with other ECB business areas. You will work under the guidance of an experienced mentor in a team of highly qualified experts at the crossroads of political economics, international finance, and macroeconomics. 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 economics, econometrics, finance, political science, European studies or another relevant field;
• a sound understanding of the set-up and functioning of EU institutions as well as a good knowledge of the functioning of Economic and Monetary Union;
• a sound understanding of macroeconomics and/or international finance, as demonstrated by completion of relevant courses and/or a relevant publication record;
• a sound knowledge of the MS Office package, especially Excel;
• experience with basic analytical tasks, such as developing descriptive statistics, collecting and managing data;
• 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. https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages...

Desired: 

• experience using statistical or econometric software packages and/or data visualisation software (e.g. Stata, R, Python, Tableau, Julia, and/or MATLAB);
• experience conducting qualitative and/or quantitative research, especially if applied to topics relevant to policy.

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 six months, with a possible extension to up to 12 months in total. The start date will be in autumn 2025.

Other details on the conditions applicable to traineeships at the ECB can be found on our website. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/what-we-offer/traineeship/html/index.e...

Application and selection process

The recruitment process for this position will include a remote written exercise 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. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/before-you-apply/how-to-apply/html/ind...

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.

 

PhD traineeship in the Directorate General Economics

Type of contract:  PhD traineeship 

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 

Closing date:  05.03.2025

Your team

You will be part of the Business Cycle Analysis Division in the ECB’s Directorate General Economics. Our Division consists of around 30 experts responsible for analysing and forecasting macroeconomic developments in the euro area. As part of our work, we develop tools for nowcasting economic activity, using state-of-the-art text mining and machine learning tools. We are also investigating the role of household and firm heterogeneity in driving aggregate fluctuations, the impact of economic and policy uncertainty on the behaviour of households and firms and the macroeconomic impact of monetary and fiscal policies. 

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 analysis using state-of-the-art economic and econometric models;
• help to enhance analytical, econometric and forecasting tools under the supervision of ECB experts; 
• submit papers for publication in the ECB’s Working Paper Series and academic journals.

We are looking for PhD trainees to work on the following projects:

A: using alternative data (e.g. big data) and methods (e.g. machine learning algorithms) to forecast short-term GDP developments;

B: using household-level data (e.g. the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey and the Household Finance and Consumption Survey) to study the drivers of consumption and saving decisions and inequality;

C: using firm-level survey data and financial statements to investigate the drivers of business investment; 

D: developing (non-linear) time series models to investigate the role of various types of demand and supply shocks;

E: developing a Heterogeneous Agent New Keynesian model to investigate the aggregate and distributional impact of sector-specific and aggregate shocks.

You will be expected to complete your tasks using your own initiative and to work largely autonomously under the supervision of an expert. You will have access to relevant statistical and computing resources and the opportunity to attend most of the conferences and internal seminars organised by the ECB.

The position offers you excellent opportunities to build on your skills using state-of-the-art modelling and econometric techniques. 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 master’s degree and at least two years of PhD studies in economics, finance, statistics, data science, engineering or a related field;
• a sound understanding of and theoretical background in macroeconomics and the economic and institutional context in which the ECB fulfils its mandate;
• excellent knowledge and proven experience of state-of-the-art modelling tools and econometric techniques or data analytics, such as those needed to conduct one of the projects listed above;
• programming skills in one or more software packages, such as MATLAB, Stata, R, Python or 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.https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages...

Desired:

• experience of handling microdata and using microeconometric methods and models; 
• experience of solving and calibrating or estimating heterogeneous agent models.

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. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/what-we-offer/traineeship/html/index.e...

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.