Traineeship Operations & Change - October 2026

Allow your talent to flourish and enjoy the best experience in our Operations and Change traineeship

About the traineeship: Operations & Change (October 2026)

Our Operations and Change traineeship enables you to steer your career in a direction that suits your talent and passion. The 2 year programme allows you to discover yourself through a wide selection of (online) professional and personal skills trainings.

Make an impact as a trainee

The financial industry has been turned upside down in recent years. Our entire field of work and the world around us have changed. Customers have different needs than before and there are new competitors on the market.

At ING we are always broadening our horizons. Our people have a forward-thinking mentality, a strong can-do spirit and enjoy working in an agile environment.

The Chief Operations Office (COO) is leading when it comes to transforming and running ING as the bank of the future. COO brings together many disciplines which means that as a trainee you will be working at the intersection of digitalisation, process engineering, data management and optimising the client journey. Therefore, this role asks for talented people that can drive optimisation and change, always look at things end-to-end, are true believers of standardisation, and can switch easily between an operational environment and the board room.

Your first year

Your HR trainee manager will assist you in choosing your first rotation based on your own interest and learning goals. This rotation lasts approximately six months.

For example, you can work on improving the operational excellence of teams that deal with customer enquiries and requests or tackling an ever-changing series of different projects as a Blackbelt, e.g. for Wholesale Banking or Retail Banking.

During your first rotation you also work together with fellow trainees from other tracks on a group assignment to tackle a challenge that is relevant to our business. This gives you the opportunity to expand your network within ING and practice your stakeholder management skills.

With these new experiences and contacts, you are in charge to arrange your second rotation. Now it comes down to addressing your network and taking the initiative. We encourage it to gain international experience during this six-month period, which is not only great fun but is also good for your personal and professional development.

Your second year

After two rotations, you now have a better understanding of which direction you would like to go and are ready to choose your third rotation. Are you broadening your knowledge within your track or would you like to explore a business area within another track?

During your third rotation you’ll start networking for your fixed position. This permanent lets you go deeper into the field of operations and change right from the start. You expand your knowledge and hone your skills, while working on your further development as e.g. a Junior Consultant, Blackbelt or Lead of a Customer Loyalty Team.

During the rotation part of your traineeship, you will also contribute to ING’s sustainability goals. How?

1. One of your three rotations will be sustainability related. There are many options! You can join a sustainable finance team, work on financial health topics or join a green tech initiative.
2. You take part in a (group) assignment, next to your rotation, on a sustainability related topic. The choice is yours.

Training and Coaching

As a trainee there will be many opportunities to discover and develop yourself. Your HR trainee manager coaches you during your three rotations. For extra guidance you can reach out to your line manager or ask a senior manager to mentor you. After graduation you’ll also benefit from a few personal sessions with an external coach.

During your traineeship, you participate in two Global Trainee events focused on professional and personal skills together with all ING’s trainees – across all tracks – from around the world. On top of this, throughout the year various virtual trainee days are organized where you’ll learn about ING and work on your professional skills.

Our Operations and Change trainee

• Has an academic master’s degree from a university, preferably in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business Information Management, Change Management, Business Administration or (Industrial) Engineering.
• Has an interest in financial services and an innovative take on banking; is metrics and process driven and has an unconditional drive to turn ideas into reality.
• Has worked on personal development through various extracurricular (international) activities.
• Has a strong drive for efficiency, optimization and standardization.
• Is good at managing stakeholders and communicates easily on different levels.
• Is enthusiastic, hard-working and humble.