Finance Expert in the Budgeting and Controlling Division (ESCB/IO)

Join the Budgeting and Controlling Division in the Directorate Finance as a Finance Expert. The Directorate has around 100 staff performing accounting, budgeting, controlling, financial reporting and procurement activities, and is currently working on a digitalisation roadmap to promote efficiency and innovation in finance.

The Budgeting and Controlling Division has around 40 staff organised into five teams. Its work includes facilitating the planning, monitoring and controlling of resources for all ECB business areas, providing decision-making analysis, supporting executive leadership and business area management, delivering secretariat services to three committees, overseeing the supervisory fee framework, implementing systems innovation within Directorate Finance and providing functional support for the ECB’s procure-to-pay process.

The role focuses on local and Eurosystem project controlling and on preparing resource-related advice and financial and management reporting for high-level stakeholders.

Your role

• Provide expertise and analytical support to assigned business areas in budgeting, controlling and resource management matters, maintaining regular dialogue with key stakeholders representing financial controlling.
• Develop a high-level understanding of the strategy and operational activities of assigned areas to identify and estimate the budgetary impact of regular business and project proposals, and prepare clear summaries and advice for decision-makers.
• Provide management information, ad hoc analysis and reporting to internal stakeholders and to ECB and Eurosystem committees on financial and human resources management.
• Prepare, coordinate and/or contribute to main budget-related ECB reports and proposals for key stakeholders.
• Identify and prepare proposals for process and policy improvements and innovations to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness in the context of the Division’s goals and the Directorate’s digitalisation roadmap.
• Help prepare and deliver presentations and other communication materials for a diverse audience.

For this role, experienced candidates who demonstrate growth potential are sought, and support will be provided in developing the required skills. A track record of diverse relevant experience gained in the Eurosystem context is valued.

The position offers opportunities to work on a broad range of budgeting and controlling topics, interact with different stakeholders and actively share knowledge within 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 business administration, economics, finance, information technology or another relevant field.
• At least four years’ professional experience in budgeting and controlling, financial analysis, or financial performance analysis.
• Proven professional experience in complex financial data and business case analysis, project controlling and producing multi-annual projections.
• Demonstrated ability to engage with senior stakeholders and provide sound financial advice related to resource management, cost recovery and cost-benefit analyses to decision-makers, supported by tools such as dashboards, reports and presentations.
• Experience in using and digitalising financial processes in SAP or similar enterprise resource planning systems or other project and resource management systems, and advanced analytical tools such as SAP Analytics Cloud, Tableau, Power BI, Excel or Mendix to prepare reports, dashboards and financial analyses.
• Excellent drafting, presentation and moderation skills, and the ability to prepare presentations aimed at diverse high-level audiences.
• An advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU.

Desired

• Knowledge of project controlling and Eurosystem governance frameworks.

You engage collaboratively with others, pursue team goals 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, evaluate different views to arrive at solutions and anticipate stakeholder needs.

You are motivated to contribute to the ECB’s mission, serve the citizens of the EU as a member of a public institution and 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 an appointment for 12 months from the selected person’s exact starting date, extendable 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.