The European Central Bank has launched: Student Research Assistant Traineeship Programme - Senior Management Macro-Finance Team
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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), 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 06.01.2026
Your team
You will be part of the Senior Management Macro-Finance team in the Directorate General Research. Our Directorate General has roughly 50 economists who carry out and coordinate economic research at the ECB. We cover topical issues such as macro-financial linkages and the interaction between monetary and financial stability policies. We publish articles in leading academic journals and in the ECB’s own publications such as the Working Paper Series and the Research Bulletin. We also prepare policy notes and reports for internal and external use.
In your role as a Student Research Assistant trainee, you will be part of a team that conducts model-based analysis and policy-relevant research on monetary policy, macroprudential policy and financial stability. You will use and contribute to developing general equilibrium models (e.g. dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models) with financial intermediation to answer topical policy questions. These include questions such as the effects of monetary policy and macroprudential policy on financial stability and the interactions between different policy instruments.
The Student Research Assistant Traineeship Programme is aimed at students with a strong background in modelling and quantitative methods and an interest in policy-relevant applied research. You will work closely with your team and regularly interact with researchers across the entire Directorate General.
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 Student Research Assistant trainee you will:
- produce simulations using macro-finance models, including New Keynesian DSGE models with financial frictions;
- maintain and further develop existing quantitative tools and modelling infrastructure;
- further develop macroeconomic DSGE models to assess macroprudential and monetary policy interactions and their effectiveness;
- develop macroeconometric models to empirically assess the propagation of economic and financial shocks;
- help prepare quarterly policy analyses on monetary policy and financial stability.
- for a traineeship paid at €2,120, a master’s degree and at least two years of PhD studies in economics, finance, statistics, mathematics or computer science, or a related field;
- for a traineeship paid at €1,170, a bachelor’s degree in economics, finance, statistics, mathematics, computer science or a related field;
- experience in simulating macroeconomic DSGE models using Dynare;
- strong programming skills in MATLAB;
- good understanding of macro-finance models;
- good knowledge of the MS Office package;
- advanced (C1) command of English and intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
- for a traineeship paid at €1,170, a master’s degree in economics, finance, statistics, mathematics, computer science or a related field;
- sound knowledge of monetary DSGE models with financial frictions;
- good knowledge of model calibration/estimation techniques (Bayesian methods or the simulated method of moments) using macroeconomic, banking and financial data;
- knowledge of non-linear solution methods for dynamic models (e.g. perfect foresight transitions, function approximation, quadrature, numerical optimisation, higher order perturbation, value function iteration, continuous time methods, sequence space methods);
- further programming skills in addition to the above (e.g. Python, parallel computing, symbolic maths);
- some experience with macroeconomic data and macroeconometric models;
- experience assisting with research.
