Research Analysts in the Directorate General Market Operations

Reference:2016-154-EXT

Closing Date for Applications: Thu, 1 Sep 2016

Functional area:Market Operations

Function:

Within the Directorate General Market Operations of the European Central Bank (ECB), the Money Market and Liquidity (MML) Division is responsible for the following tasks:

executing centralised and directing decentralised monetary policy operations;

monitoring, analysing and reporting on short-term and structural developments in domestic and international money markets;

analysing and internally reporting on the participation of some individual institutions in the Eurosystem’s operations as well as on the impact of these operations;

calculating and publishing the liquidity situation of the euro area banking system;
calculating and publishing the EONIA;
contributing to policy proposals in the fields of her/his responsibility.

Within the same Directorate, the Bond Markets and International Operations (BMI) Division is responsible for the following tasks:

continuously monitoring, reporting on and analysing global financial markets and preparing related briefings, e.g. for the Executive Board member in charge of the Directorate General and for international meetings;
interacting with market participants to generate market intelligence in the relevant financial market segments;
contributing to the preparation of policy dossiers for the Market Operations Committee and the ECB’s decision-making bodies;
preparing, coordinating and participating in the implementation of the Eurosystem’s expanded asset purchase programme (i.e. the asset-backed securities purchase programme (ABSPP), the third covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3), the corporate sector purchase programme (CSPP) and the public sector purchase programme (PSPP);
managing the ECB’s shares of the corresponding portfolios (including the portfolios related to the Securities Markets Programme and the earlier covered bond purchase programmes) and the securities lending activities related to these portfolios;
carrying out the tactical asset allocation of the ECB’s foreign reserves (preparing tactical benchmarks and performing investment analysis);
managing and executing transactions involving the ECB’s own funds portfolio;
producing internal reports on all investment activities, and maintaining and developing the ECB’s investment frameworks;
preparing, coordinating, implementing and reporting on the ECB’s foreign exchange interventions, including ERM II interventions;
calculating the euro foreign exchange reference rates;
providing secretariat services and contributing to the preparation of documents for internal working groups, committees and contact groups.

For MML, the successful applicant will be entrusted with the following main tasks:

contributing to and supporting the analytical work of the Division’s experts;
developing and maintaining complex databases of financial, monetary and operational data, coordinating them, where necessary with those used in the field of the ESCB’s statistical and information systems;
developing and maintaining regular reports on financial market and operational issues relevant for ECB’s policy-makers;
using, maintaining and developing the proprietary applications developed within the Division (including MS Excel, MS Access);
contributing to part of some operational tasks;
contributing to some projects with other business areas.

For BMI, the successful applicant will be entrusted with the following main tasks:

contributing to and supporting the analytical work of the Division’s experts;
supporting the efficient management of the ECB’s own funds portfolio by monitoring the repo market and the activities of a securities lending agent;
carrying out repo and reverse repo transactions in the context of managing the ECB’s own funds portfolio;
producing regular reports on financial market developments, on the implementation of the expanded asset purchase programme and on the portfolio management activities;
supervising the Section’s trainees and contributing to the smooth coordination of trainee tasks;
developing and maintaining various IT applications and tools used at the division level, including complex databases of financial and operational data and coordinating these, where necessary, with those used in the field of the ECB’s statistical and information systems;
ensuring operational readiness and business continuity;
occasionally contributing to the work of specific ECB or Eurosystem committees/working groups;

participating in and summarising the main conclusions from counterparty visits to the ECB.

Qualifications and experience:

Applicants should have the following knowledge and competencies:

a bachelor’s degree in economics, finance, business administration or a related discipline;

a good understanding of the functioning of financial markets, preferably including the fixed income markets;
an extensive knowledge of IT applications supporting market monitoring and portfolio management activities;
experience in data management and processing;
experience in the production of regular reports;
experience in the development and maintenance of IT applications and tools would be an asset;
experience in project management would be an asset;
experience in the field of cash management (reverse repos and securities lending) would be an asset;
a proven ability to draft briefings on financial market developments would be an asset;
an in-depth knowledge of MS Excel, MS Access, MS Visual Basic for Applications and MS Office;
experience with market information services (e.g. Bloomberg or Reuters) and/or, for BMI, portfolio management systems (e.g. Wallstreet Suite);
some knowledge of MATLAB, SQL or other statistical software or programming languages would be an asset;
an advanced-level oral and written command of English;
a good knowledge of at least one other official EU language.

Competencies:

The successful candidate will have the following behavioural competencies:

conducts projects with an energy and drive, generating agreed results in tight time frames;
simplifies complex processes resulting in increased speed and/or quality of output;
shares information and supports team members in the achievement of common goals;

adapts to quickly changing business needs and priorities;

pays due attention to accuracy and detail, also under time pressure;
works comfortably without close supervision, but knows when to involve others;

gets to the root of the problem quickly to identify areas for development and when facing new challenges;
communicates ideas in an effective manner and ensures mutual comprehension;
demonstrates intellectual curiosity and interest in monetary policy implementation.

Further Information:

Fixed-term contract until 14 November 2017 (MML Division), or 31 March 2019 (BMI Division), respectively. These may be extended subject to individual performance and organisational needs.
The successful applicant to this position may be required to work on a shift basis. In addition, he/she will occasionally be expected to perform work during non-standard working hours owing to market developments or specific business needs.
The recruiting business area is willing to consider part-time arrangements for this position.
To further enhance the diversity of its workforce, the ECB particularly encourages applications from female candidates.

The selection committee may place suitable candidates on a reserve list, from which candidates may be appointed to similar positions in the same or another business area. It may also be decided to fill the position advertised in this vacancy notice with a suitable candidate from the reserve list resulting from a recruitment procedure for a similar position. Candidates will be informed accordingly if this happens.

How to apply:

Applications are to be made in English and submitted using our online application form. An “Applicants’ Guide” can be downloaded from our recruitment pages.

The recruitment process may include a pre-screening exercise, a written exercise, a presentation and interviews.

Further information on the ECB’s conditions of employment for fixed-term positions can be found at http://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/newcomers/fixed-term/html/index.en.html.

Applications are accepted from nationals of Member States of the European Union.

The requirements laid down in the vacancy notice must be met by the closing date for applications.

This vacancy notice may be used to fill the same position again, or similar positions, within 12 months of the selection decision.

This position has been allocated to salary band:E/F

Read more and apply here.

Research Analysts in the Directorate General Market Operations – European Central Bank (ECB)