Your team You will be part of the Market Innovation and Integration Division in the Directorate General Market Infrastructure and Payments. Our Directorate General has around 150 staff working to ensure that Europe’s financial markets can rely on safe and efficient market infrastructure, while embracing innovation and contributing to further European integration. We have three main responsibilities: we provide payment and securities settlement infrastructure under the TARGET Services brand; we monitor financial market infrastructures and payment instruments; and we work with the financial sector to promote innovation and harmonise business practices across Europe. The Market Innovation and Integration Division helps to develop the ECB/Eurosystem’s approach to innovation and integration in the field of payments and post-trade services.

In your role as Principal Market Infrastructure Expert, you will be part of a team of 11 members of staff who help to foster European integration and maintain the efficiency of euro payments. This involves: advancing the Eurosystem’s retail payments strategy, to actively nurture European market initiatives for point-of-interaction payments, among other things; ensuring the smooth functioning of the Euro Retail Payments Board, which brings together the demand and supply sides to cultivate an innovative, integrated and competitive euro retail payments market; and exploring the role of new technologies for central bank money settlement. In performing these tasks, you will interact with central banks from both the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks, the European Commission and market participants.

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 Principal Market Infrastructure Expert you will:

- contribute to the team's work to develop and advance the Eurosystem's strategy and policy stance on retail payments and analyse new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement; - promote payment integration through harmonisation among relevant stakeholders, including payment service providers; - support and represent the Division at various internal and external meetings (including with industry representatives); - prepare briefings, speeches and presentations on relevant topics for senior ECB executives.

The position offers you excellent opportunities to shape the development of European retail payments and the use of new technologies for central bank money settlement. 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 business administration, economics, finance, law, political science, STEM or another relevant field (see How you can join us for details on degree equivalences); - in addition to the above, a minimum of 16 years’ experience in the field of payments, of which at least five years must be in retail payments policy; - in-depth knowledge of retail payments and related schemes, solutions and innovations; - a thorough understanding of the policy questions raised by new technologies used for central bank money settlement; - experience in drafting documentation (e.g. notes, speeches, articles and reports) for decision-making bodies; - 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: - experience in participating actively in meetings and channelling contributions from various stakeholders, in communicating agreed policies and contributing to European/international working groups; - the ability to present complex issues in a clear and concise manner.

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 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 our team and to develop and use your skills and competencies to achieve the aims of this position.

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

Further information Temporary appointments may be extended or made permanent subject to organisational needs and budgetary constraints. This may result in a staff member with a non-convertible fixed-term contract being offered a convertible contract in accordance with the ECB Conditions of Employment.

The contract offered will be fixed-term, the appointment being until the end of June 2025.

For additional information on this specific vacancy, you can speak to the hiring manager, Karine Themejian, on +49 (0)69 1344 5761 between 09:00 and 13:00 on Friday, 23 February.

Application and selection process The recruitment process for this position will be conducted remotely. It will include a written exercise, a presentation and interviews.

If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list (see step 4 of How we hire), from which you might be considered for similar positions within the ECB.

Find out how to apply for a position at the ECB.