Function

The Directorate General Legal Services (DG/L) provides advice on all legal aspects of the regulatory, contractual and institutional framework of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It also prepares legal instruments and addresses questions relating to the interpretation of the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It prepares the ECB’s opinions on draft legislation and contributes to the definition of the ECB’s legal position vis-à-vis European Union (EU) institutions and in international fora. It also provides legal advice to the ECB’s management on administrative matters and represents the ECB in court.

The Financial Law Division forms part of DG/L. It has a wealth of expertise on financial law and advises on legal questions related to market operations, monetary policy, financial market infrastructure (including ESCB projects, such as TARGET2, TARGET2-Securities and CCBM2), statistics, financial services legislation and financial stability. In these areas of expertise, the Financial Law Division represents the ECB before the EU and national courts. The Division consists of four business practice teams, each of which is coordinated by a Principal Legal Counsel (team leader).

The advertised position is allocated to the Infrastructures Law Team. However, selected candidates may be offered mobility to similar positions in other business practice teams of the Financial Law Division.

The successful applicant will be entrusted with the following main tasks:

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  providing legal support work on all matters falling within the competence of the Infrastructure Law Team;
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  supporting the Head of Division (HoD) and the Deputy Head of Division (DHoD) in the assessment and preparation of legal documentation pertaining to the work of the Infrastructure Law Team;
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  contributing to any other relevant work of DG/L;
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  ensuring proper knowledge-sharing and adherence to agreed business processes.

The recruiting business area is willing to support temporary part-time arrangements for this position.

Qualifications and experience

Applicants must have the following knowledge and competencies:

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  master’s-level university qualification in law or an equivalent professional qualification as a lawyer obtained in an EU Member State, while additional university degrees, postgraduate studies in financial law, relevant academic publications and bar association membership would also be an asset;
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  at least 3 years’ professional legal experience;
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  knowledge of EU and central banking law, as well as of the legal and contractual framework for the ECB and ESCB;
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  knowledge of financial law;
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  familiarity with market developments and financial products and infrastructures would be an asset;
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  fluent command of English with proven drafting ability;
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  a working knowledge of at least one other official language of the EU, preferably French or German;
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  a working knowledge of MS Office (in particular Word, Excel and PowerPoint);
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  a knowledge of web-based document and workflow management systems, preferably based on Livelink would be an asset.

Behaviour Competences

The successful candidate will have the following behavioural competencies:

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  shows a high level of commitment to the achievement of organisational goals; ·
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  takes the initiative in improving policies, processes, products and decisions;
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  manages multiple assignments and tracks progress on numerous processes simultaneously within tight time frames;
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  shares information, seeks the opinions of knowledgeable colleagues and keeps the relevant stakeholders informed;
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  supports other members of the team without taking the credit for their work;

Duration of contract / Closing date

Fixed-term contract until 31 December 2013, which may be extended subject to individual performance and organisational needs.

Closing date for applications: 2 February 2012

Further information

Applications are to be made in English and submitted using our online application form. An “Applicants’ Guide” can be downloaded from the “FAQs & Help” page.

The recruitment process may include a pre-screening exercise, a written exercise, presentation and interviews.

Further information on the ECB’s conditions of employment for fixed-term positions can be found at http://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/jobs/html/index.en.html.

Applications are accepted from nationals of Member States of the European Union.

This position has been allocated to salary band F/G.