Economist-Statistician DGS/MOE/FINS (ESCB/IO)

The Monetary and Economic Statistics Division in the Directorate General Statistics develops, compiles and disseminates statistics and statistical indicators. The Division provides related user services regarding monetary financial institutions, other financial corporations, financial stability and financial integration within the euro area and the EU. It also produces general economic statistics, including prices and costs, and surveys on non-financial sectors.

You will work in the Financial Statistics Section, which is responsible for compiling statistics and indicators on payment statistics, various types of financial stability-related statistics, and indicators on financial integration and financial structures, supporting the work of the ECB and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).

In your role as Economist-Statistician, you will work closely with users of statistics in various ECB business areas, the ESRB and beyond. You will also work closely with other teams in the Directorate General as well as with statisticians in the national central banks.

Your role

• Contribute to the quarterly and semi-annual production of the ECB’s payment statistics, including analysing country-level trends, carrying out outlier detection and engaging with national central bank counterparts.
• Use a Python-based IT system for the production and dissemination of payment statistics, understanding and navigating the intersection of business requirements and IT system solutions efficiently.
• Contribute to the conceptual development of the legal framework linked to the evolution of the Payment Services Directive and the Payment Services Regulation, proactively engaging with all relevant stakeholders, ensuring statistics are fit for purpose and capture relevant innovation in fields such as digitalisation, tokenisation and artificial intelligence.
• Engage with the European Banking Authority (EBA) and users on the provision of data on payment fraud under the single data flow, combining payment statistics requirements and EBA guidelines on fraud reporting, and contribute to dialogue on payment statistics with representatives of the banking industry.
• Work closely with other divisions within the Directorate General, other ECB business areas and national central banks, respond to queries from internal and external users, and contribute to meetings of the ESCB Statistics Committee’s Working Group on Monetary and Financial Statistics.

The position offers excellent opportunities to produce and develop statistics and statistical indicators that inform policymaking in a leading central bank. 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 or equivalent in statistics, economics, banking, finance, business administration, data science, computer science or another relevant field.
• In addition to the above, a minimum of four years’ relevant experience in the area of market infrastructures and payments or statistics.
• A proven ability to analyse and interpret complex datasets and to summarise and present results.
• Basic programming skills in Python and proven experience in applying these skills to business processes.
• An ability to explain complicated conceptual or technical issues in simple, non-technical language to different stakeholders, and to draft appropriate documentation.
• Professional experience in regular statistical or market infrastructure and payment-related data production, database management, time series analysis and/or data quality assessment.
• An advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU.

Desired

• Knowledge of the conceptual framework applied in payment statistics.
• Solid experience in collaborating with European or international counterparts (ESCB, European Commission, ESRB, EBA, EIOPA, ESMA, BIS, FSB, IMF) would be an asset.

You engage collaboratively and proactively with others. You pursue team goals by planning and prioritising your tasks and learn willingly from other people’s diverse perspectives. You signal any need for change by explaining it and proposing alternative solutions. You analyse complex information effectively and can evaluate different views to arrive at solutions. You know and anticipate stakeholder needs.

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 motivated to be part of the team and to develop and use your skills and competencies to achieve the aims of this position.

Further information

The contract offered will be short-term ESCB/IO, with the appointment being for 18 months as of the exact starting date of the selected person, extendable to up to 36 months. Candidates must have a contract of employment with their home institution for a period of at least one year beyond the duration of the ECB contract being offered.