Traineeship in Human Resources Operations

The ECB's traineeship programme offers you the opportunity to put into practice the knowledge you acquired during your studies and get a better understanding of what working for Europe entails.

As a trainee you will gain an insight into the ECB’s activities and contribute to the ECB’s mission. The tasks performed by you as a trainee are supervised and vary according to the unit you join. Some examples include research, drawing up draft reports, compiling statistical data, performing operational tasks and participating in ad hoc studies.

Type of contract Traineeship
Who can apply? EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme
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 17.02.2026

Your team: You will be part of the Employee Services Division in the Directorate General Human Resources. The Division provides integration, health and well-being services and processes salaries, rewards, allowances and pensions. Besides assisting more than 4,000 employees throughout their ECB careers and beyond, we help develop and implement human resources (HR) systems at the ECB and deliver state-of-the-art HR analytics. We constantly review our processes, streamlining them and making them more customer-centric.
In your role as a trainee in the myHR team, you will be part of the team responsible for first-line customer support for, and operations around, compensation and benefits, as well as first-line customer support for learning and development. You will work independently on several benefits-related processes, provide customer services to ECB staff, work closely with other team members and gain insights into the different core operations of an HR department.
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 myHR team you will:
  *   be responsible for a subset of benefit-related processes;
  *   answer staff members’ questions on benefits and on learning and development-related topics;
  *   support the analytical work of the team such as data reporting, analysis, quality checks and visualisation;
  *   help to streamline, improve and digitalise human resources practices and business processes related to compensation and benefits;
  *   have the chance to participate in project work, depending on your interests and qualifications.

The traineeship offers you excellent opportunities to gain experience working in HR, particularly in daily operations using SAP Human Capital Management (HCM) and the service management solution SMAX.
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 human resources management, business administration, employment and/or industrial relations, social or organisational psychology, accounting, business information systems, business analytics or another relevant discipline;
  *   an eye for detail and an interest in administering processes and delivering consistent and reliable quality;
  *   great customer service skills;
  *   excellent analytical skills;
  *   a good knowledge of the MS Office package;
  *   an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU

Desired:
  *   a qualification in human resources;
  *   a good knowledge of data analysis, reporting and visualisation.

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.
Other details on the conditions applicable to traineeships<https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/what-we-offer/traineeship/html/index.en.html> at the ECB can be found on our website.

Application and selection process
The recruitment process for this position will include an online interview. During this interview the candidate will be given time to perform a short task in writing.
Further information on how to apply<https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/before-you-apply/how-to-apply/html/index.en.html> is available on our website.

If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months from the closing date for applications, from which you might be considered for other traineeship positions within the ECB.

Who can apply

Students, including PhD students, or recent graduates can apply for a traineeship.

Candidates should:

    be at least 18 years old;

    be a national of a Member State of the EU or of an acceding country;

    have completed at least a first cycle qualification (bachelor’s degree);

    be fluent in English and in another official language of the EU.

Following their most recent qualification candidates should:

    have a maximum of 12 months’ professional experience;

    have been a trainee for no more than six months;

    not have been an ECB trainee or have worked for the ECB previously.

If you would like to apply for a traineeship at the ECB then you should submit your application via our online recruitment system.

Before you apply, make sure you also read the general “How to apply” page.