Offline Payments Technical Expert – Digital Euro Project

The European Central Bank is seeking an Offline Payments Technical Expert for the Digital Euro Project.

General information

Type of contract

Fixed-term contract which may be converted into a permanent contract after three years subject to individual performance and organisational needs

Who can apply?

EU nationals

Closing date

Your team

You will be part of the Directorate Digital Euro, which is part of the ECBs Directorate General Market Infrastructure and Payments. The Directorate is responsible for leading the digital euro project. It supports the digital euro governance bodies in steering, controlling and monitoring the project, and it oversees all project workstreams managing the scope, budget and resources approved by the Governing Council.

In your role as Market Infrastructure Expert, you will be part of the Offline Team of about eight members of staff, which is responsible for (i) refining and prioritising offline digital euro use cases and aligning them with policy, risk, privacy and inclusion objectives; and (ii) supporting and steering the pilot and technical workstreams by coordinating with original equipment manufacturers and other stakeholders and feeding back lessons learned into the Rulebook and the digital euro app design.

Your role

As an Offline Payments Technical Expert, you will:

• build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders (e.g. consumer organisations, merchants, payment service providers, device manufacturers and standardisation bodies) to understand and integrate their needs and constraints for offline payments into the project;
• define and refine offline payment use cases (e.g. peer-to-peer and consumer-to-merchant) with clear constraints such as transaction limits, usage caps and risk mitigation measures;
• ensure that offline use cases incorporate strong privacy protections (cash-like where possible) while meeting regulatory requirements, and define safeguards against risks such as double spending, fraud and misuse;
• develop offline payment scenarios to enhance system resilience during network outages or disasters and ensure the continuity of basic payments when online infrastructure is unavailable;
• support offline payment pilots, gather feedback from users and stakeholders, and translate findings into refined requirements, and collaborate with usability, security and technical experts to validate solutions;
• draft offline-specific rules and requirements (e.g. transaction limits, dispute handling and synchronisation behaviour) for inclusion in the Rulebook, ensuring alignment with the overall digital euro framework;
• promote offline payment solutions that support financial inclusion and integrate accessibility considerations into user journeys and device interactions for users with limited connectivity, low digital literacy or disabilities.

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.

The position offers you excellent opportunities to be part of the team tasked with developing the most innovative functionality for digital payments. 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 masters degree or equivalent in a STEM subject (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) or another relevant field;
• in addition to the above, a minimum of four years professional experience in applied cryptography or a security-related domain, with at least two of those years specialising in secure elements/smart cards;
• proven analytical skills and experience in drafting concise and clear notes and reports, and experience in presenting complex topics adapted to different audiences;
• 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 developing an offline, or partially offline, payment solution;
• technical knowledge of the standards applicable to payments, payment schemes or solutions in the bank-to-consumer domain;
• experience in launching a product on the market.

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 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

A fixed-term convertible contract typically leads to a conversion into an unlimited contract, except in rare cases of organisational considerations or low individual performance.

The formal title for this position will be Market Infrastructure Project Management Expert.