European Banking Authority Jobs

Mission and mandate

The EBA was established by Regulation (EU) 1093/2010 on 1 January 2011 as part of the new European System of Financial Supervision following the recommendations of the De Larosière report. Its mandate is to develop and maintain the Single Rulebook of EU banking regulation, to contribute to consistent supervisory practices across the EU's 27 national banking supervisors and the ECB, to monitor risks across the EU banking sector, and to contribute to consumer protection and the integrity of the financial system.

The Single Rulebook comprises the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD), and the technical standards (Regulatory Technical Standards and Implementing Technical Standards) the EBA drafts under each act. The EBA also drafts guidelines and recommendations addressed to national supervisors and to banks. Technical standards are adopted by the European Commission as binding implementing or delegated acts; guidelines are 'comply or explain' instruments for national supervisors.

The biennial EU-wide stress test, run jointly with the ECB SSM and the national supervisors of the participating banks, is the EBA's most visible operational output. Around 75 banks covering approximately 75% of EU banking assets participate, and the stress-test methodology and adverse macroeconomic scenarios are developed by the EBA with the European Systemic Risk Board. The results are published every two years and have a material influence on supervisory capital requirements and bank capital planning.

The EBA also runs the EU's transparency exercise (annual publication of detailed bank-by-bank prudential data), the Risk Dashboard (quarterly assessment of EU banking-sector trends), the Joint Committee of the three ESAs (EBA, ESMA, EIOPA) work on cross-sectoral issues, and a growing portfolio on AML/CFT prudential supervision (transferring to AMLA from 2025 to 2028) and on ICT and cybersecurity risk under DORA, the Digital Operational Resilience Act.

Structure and operational divisions

The EBA is organised under the Chairperson and Executive Director into five operational departments: Banking Markets Innovation and Consumers (consumer protection, FinTech, payments, virtual assets), Prudential Regulation and Supervisory Policy (CRR/CRD technical standards, supervisory convergence, internal models), Economic and Risk Analysis (stress testing, risk dashboard, transparency exercise, market intelligence), Resolution (BRRD implementation, resolution-planning convergence, MREL methodology), and Operations (legal, finance, HR, IT, corporate services).

The Board of Supervisors (composed of the heads of the 27 national banking supervisors and an ECB observer) is the EBA's main decision-making body. It adopts technical standards, guidelines, and other regulatory instruments and approves the work programme. The Management Board, a smaller body, runs the day-to-day operational governance.

The Prudential Regulation and Supervisory Policy department is the largest single hiring stream. It is sub-divided by topic: credit risk, market risk, operational risk, IRRBB and interest-rate risk, large exposures, securitisation, liquidity and funding, internal models, and supervisory review. Each topic typically has a dedicated AD7 to AD9 team that drafts technical standards and guidelines and represents the EBA in the relevant international working groups (Basel Committee, EU Council working parties, ECB SSM coordination).

The Economic and Risk Analysis department is heavily quantitative: economists, statisticians, and data scientists working on stress-test methodology, the risk dashboard, and transparency exercise. This department also hosts the EBA's macroprudential analysis function and works closely with the European Systemic Risk Board.

The Resolution department is small but high-impact: BRRD implementation, MREL setting methodology, and resolution-planning convergence in cooperation with the Single Resolution Board. The Joint Committee of the three ESAs is structurally inside the EBA's institutional framework.

Hiring landscape over the last 12 months

EBA hiring is concentrated at AD5 to AD9 specialist grades with periodic AD10 senior specialist and AD12 head-of-unit notices. The Prudential Regulation and Supervisory Policy department is the largest hiring stream: rolling AD7 and AD9 notices for credit-risk, market-risk, operational-risk, IRRBB, internal-models, and securitisation specialists are published continuously. The Economic and Risk Analysis department hires economists, econometricians, and data scientists at AD5 entry and AD7 to AD9 senior levels.

In the last 12 months the EBA has published a steady stream of AD7 policy expert notices in the prudential and resolution domains and a smaller stream of AD9 senior policy expert notices for staff with substantive banking-regulation drafting experience. The DORA programme (Digital Operational Resilience Act) has generated several AD7 notices for ICT and cyber-risk specialists.

Contract-agent hiring is concentrated in IT (FG IV), data engineering (FG IV), legal support (FG III to FG IV), communication, and corporate services. The AML/CFT prudential supervision function is transferring to AMLA from 2025 to 2028, which has slowed AML-specific hiring at the EBA but has not affected the broader prudential and resolution hiring streams.

Seconded national experts from national banking supervisors, central banks, and finance ministries are a continuous and important channel, typically 20 to 30 SNE postings active at any given time. The ECB feeder effect on the EBA is strong both ways: many EBA hires come from the ECB SSM, ECB DG Macroprudential Policy, or national central banks, and EBA staff often move to the ECB or to large national supervisors after five-to-ten years at the agency.

Salary realism by grade and the Paris coefficient

EBA staff are paid under the EU Staff Regulations and the Paris duty-station correction coefficient is 115.8, the highest among the major EU agency duty stations. An AD7 step 1 in Paris grosses €7,876 × 1.158 = €9,120 monthly basic; an AD9 step 1 grosses €10,083 × 1.158 = €11,676; an AD12 step 1 grosses €13,830 × 1.158 = €16,015. With expatriation (16%) and household allowance for a married hire with one child the on-paper figure for an AD9 typically lands around €15,000 to €16,500 gross monthly.

The Paris coefficient compensates for materially higher cost of living: two-bedroom rents in central Paris run €1,800 to €3,500 monthly; the suburbs around La Défense (Levallois-Perret, Courbevoie, Puteaux, Nanterre) are roughly 30% to 50% cheaper and are the typical EBA-staff geography. International-school fees are high but covered by the education allowance. Transport (Navigo Pass) is moderate. Net purchasing power for an EBA AD9 in Paris is broadly comparable to an ECB AD9 in Frankfurt despite the higher nominal pay, and is materially above an AD9 in lower-coefficient duty stations.

The relocation from London to Paris in 2019 (after the Brexit referendum) reshaped the agency's staff geography: many of the legacy London-based staff did not relocate, and the Paris build-up phase between 2018 and 2021 created an unusual hiring window that attracted candidates from across the EU. The current staff profile is heavily continental European with a substantial French representation.

Languages, security clearance, and competition profile

English is the working language of the EBA in practice, all technical standards, guidelines, and policy work are drafted in English. Knowledge of French is useful for daily life in Paris but is not required for the work itself. The regulatory second-language minimum applies under the Staff Regulations.

Most EBA staff do not require security clearance. Selected posts involving classified market-sensitive information (e.g. confidential stress-test design, supervisory market intelligence) require EU Confidential. The EBA's information-security posture has tightened materially since the Brexit relocation and several recent posts have involved upgraded clearance requirements.

The EBA is not recruited via EPSO. All vacancies are advertised on the EBA careers portal and the EU Careers platform. Selection processes are run in-house. The competition profile is highly specialist: well-credentialed banking regulators, central bank economists, and senior consultants from large banking advisory practices form the bulk of the candidate pool, and the case-study stage is demanding. For candidates without prudential regulation, economist, or supervision background the bar at written test and interview is high. Internal mobility is significant: many AD9 to AD12 head-of-section posts are filled internally and the ECB SSM feeder dynamic is strong.

Application paths

Three main routes. Temporary agent: the dominant route for prudential policy experts, economists, risk analysts, and resolution specialists. Apply directly to the published vacancy notice on the EBA careers portal; expect a CV and motivation letter screening, a written test (frequently a regulatory or supervisory case study), and a structured competency-based interview. Reserve lists typically valid for 12 to 36 months. Most EBA TA contracts are initially fixed-term and convertible to indefinite after five years of service.

Contract agent: smaller share of hiring, concentrated in IT, data engineering, legal support, communication, and corporate services. Candidates register on CAST Permanent in the relevant function group and respond to EBA notices that draw from the CAST pool, or apply directly to EBA CA notices.

Seconded national expert: serving banking supervisors and central bank economists from EU national banking authorities, central banks, and finance ministries apply through their national point of contact. SNE postings are typically two to four years and are particularly important for technical standards drafting on specialist topics (IRRBB, internal models, securitisation) where national supervisors have deeper operational expertise than the agency.

A practical note: the EBA is highly internally cohesive at the prudential regulation specialism. Career staff typically spend five-to-ten years at the agency and then move laterally to the ECB SSM, a large national supervisor, the Single Resolution Board, or a major banking group. The career capital from a substantive prudential policy stint at the EBA is high in the EU financial-regulation labour market.