Traineeship: Accounting Section (EU Nationals Only)

Position description

Duration: Initial traineeship of six months, with a possible extension to up to 12 months in total. The start date is planned to be in the first half of 2026.

Type of contract: Traineeship

Who can apply?: EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme

Grant: The trainee grant is €1,170 per month plus an accommodation allowance (see further information section)

Working time: Full time

Place of work: Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Closing date: 16.09.2025

Your team

You will be part of the Accounting Section in the Financial Accounting and Reporting Division within the Directorate Finance.

In your role as a trainee in the Accounting Section, you will be part of a team of 25 members of staff responsible for processing incoming and outgoing invoices, dealing with VAT and other tax matters, maintaining the ECB’s fixed asset and leasing accounts, levying fees on supervised credit institutions, contributing to payroll and pension accounting, and performing other financial accounting tasks. These include closing the corresponding accounts at year-end and contributing to the disclosures required for the ECB’s annual accounts preparation process. We look to continuously improve our processes and procedures in all these areas, moving towards straight-through processing, automation and digitalisation.

The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. We encourage you to apply irrespective of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.

Your role

As a trainee in the Accounting Section you will:

• contribute to regular accounting processes not related to monetary policy (such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets and year-end procedures) that involve working with ECB SAP components relevant to financial accounting;
• advise purchasing business areas, contractors (creditors or debtors) and other relevant stakeholders on accounting issues, and contribute to the development and implementation of accounting concepts for new business cases;
• support the analysis and presentation of accounting data to management for information and decision-making purposes;

• help optimise and document internal processes and procedures, such as the analysis and implementation of innovative business processes and solutions. 

The position offers you excellent opportunities to gain insight into how the ECB works, acquire hands on experience in finance and put your theoretical knowledge into practice. 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 bachelor’s degree or higher in accounting, finance, business administration or another relevant field;
• knowledge of accounting or information technology for financial accounting;
• a good knowledge of the MS Office package, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
  an advanced knowledge of MS Excel and other tools for data management and analysis;
• a working knowledge of other software applications and data visualisation tools, and programming skills (e.g. for Python), including the ability to document and explain code;
• an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

Desired

• knowledge of accounting principles and financial statements;
• experience and interest in accounts payable or accounts receivable processing;
• knowledge of enterprise resource planning systems (such as SAP);
  experience and interest in data analysis and the ability to interpret data;
• a basic (A2) command of German according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

You are curious and eager to learn, and want to further develop your ability to analyse complex information. You are keen to collaborate with others, pursue team goals and learn from other people’s diverse perspectives. You strive to know and anticipate stakeholder needs, and will signal any need for change and propose alternative solutions.

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

Further information: Initial traineeship of six months, with a possible extension to up to 12 months in total. The start date is planned to be in the first half of 2026. Other details on the conditions applicable to traineeships at the ECB can be found on our website.

Application instructions

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