Team Lead Banknote R&D

Join the European Central Bank as Team Lead Banknote R&D in the New Banknotes Section of the Directorate Banknotes.

Your team

You will be part of the New Banknotes Section in our Directorate Banknotes. The Directorate has around 70 staff who coordinate and monitor banknote activities within the Eurosystem and with third parties. These activities include designing, developing, producing, issuing, distributing and circulating euro banknotes, as well as supporting anti-counterfeiting measures. The Directorate’s current focus is on ensuring that cash remains accessible and accepted and on developing innovative and safe euro banknotes while reducing their environmental impact across the entire cash cycle.

In your role as Team Lead Banknote Research and Development (R&D), you will coordinate a team of approximately five members of staff responsible for the development and testing of new security features and processes, as well as for supporting the development of concept banknotes and future series of banknotes. The team coordinates and runs a wide range of R&D projects in partnership with a number of stakeholders, including universities, research centres and the national central banks of the Eurosystem. You will plan and steer the R&D portfolio and budget, maintain close dialogue with stakeholders and identify innovative technologies that can support the development of new banknotes.

Your role

• Coordinate the activities of the R&D team in line with the Directorate’s strategy.
• Stay abreast of technological advancements and industry trends to incorporate innovative solutions into banknote development.
• Plan and oversee the R&D budget, in close cooperation with the Directorate’s Budget Team.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, including technical experts, to identify functional banknote requirements.
• Coordinate and present dossiers of a strategic or operational nature, technical reports, presentations and briefings for a variety of audiences, including the ECB’s decision-making bodies.

The position offers you an excellent opportunity to work on a public and widely distributed high-tech product. You will help maintain trust in euro banknotes by ensuring that they are developed using the latest technologies and are both secure and convenient to use. You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens.

We actively support professional development for our staff. Besides learning opportunities such as training and mentoring, we encourage and support horizontal mobility after some years in the same position.

Qualifications, experience and skills

Essential

• A master’s degree or equivalent in physics, chemistry, engineering, technology, mathematics or another relevant field.
• In addition to the above, a minimum of six years’ relevant professional experience, excluding internships and traineeships, in papermaking or printing, and in project management within a scientific environment, including a minimum of three years’ experience coordinating a team of technical staff.
• A sound understanding of banknote-related activities, particularly in technological innovation.
• A proven track record in coordinating technical projects, driving innovation and managing change.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with different types of stakeholder.
• An advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU.

Desired

• Proven experience in the development of security features, design and origination, or banknote processing.
• Experience drafting presentations, memos and reports for a wide audience, ranging from scientists to decision-making bodies.

You engage collaboratively with others. You 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 and can evaluate different views to arrive at solutions. You know and anticipate stakeholder needs. You are skilled at encouraging people to develop their abilities and are able to build up high-performing teams.

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 highly motivated to guide teams in their daily work and support their professional development.

Working modalities

We would be happy to discuss a part-time arrangement for this role.