The Leibniz Institute SAFE is seeking to fill two positions as
Student Assistant (m/f/d) in the Area of Finance and Data Science
Timeframe
40 hours / month
Fixed-Term
max. 12 months
Payment
based on study progress
Start
at the earliest possible date
The Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE - Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe - (www.safe-frankfurt.de) promotes scientific research, transfer work to the public and independent policy advice on all aspects relating to the structure and functioning of the financial system. It aims to contribute to strengthening a sustainable and resilient financial system that drives innovation and serves the needs of the economy and citizens. Researchers from the fields of economics, law, and political science collaborate at SAFE.
Your tasks:
Your tasks depend on the project you will be working on. There are two different types of positions.
Position 1: “SAFE Manager Sentiment Index”
In January 2025, SAFE began releasing its Manager Sentiment Index (https://safe-frankfurt.de/research/manager-sentiment-index.html). This new monthly economic indicator captures top management’s sentiment based on earnings conference call transcripts and financial statements using textual analysis methods.
You will join SAFE’s team working on the Manager Sentiment Index. Besides completing the regular monthly index updates, the team also aims to develop the index further and cooperates with SAFE’s Policy Center on analyses around specific topics (e.g., tariffs and trade tensions). Your responsibilities will include assisting in the collection and pre-processing of the text data and supporting empirical analyses. Contributions to the Policy Center’s work around the index are also very welcome. This project offers the opportunity to acquire/improve your programming skills and to deepen your knowledge of data management. Furthermore, you will gain insights into how research-based insights are communicated to the broader public.
Position 2: “Support of research projects”
This position is not assigned to a specific project. Instead, you will work with the researchers from the Finance and Data Science team at SAFE on their ongoing projects. Current research includes a project on short selling reports, a project on a web-based firm network measure, and a project constructing a measure for individual firms’ exposure to tariffs. Tasks may include assisting with data collection and processing, merging datasets, performing empirical analyses, conducting literature reviews, and proofreading papers. This project offers the opportunity to improve your skills in conducting empirical analyses and your knowledge of finance and economics, and to gain insights into the research conducted at SAFE.
Your profile:
- According to § 6 WissZVG in conjunction with § 82 HHG, your enrolment at a German university is a mandatory requirement for employment at our institute.
- Student of accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management, information systems, or computer science.
- High personal motivation and good self-management.
- Candidates should work independently and be eager to learn.
- Good English skills.
- Previous experience with an empirical project or empirical research (e.g., bachelor or seminar thesis) is a plus but not required. Programming skills are also very welcome, but are not required.
We offer:
The infrastructure of a modern research center with excellent contacts to the scientific and financial community. You will be working with an enthusiastic team of colleagues in the House of Finance at Goethe University. Partial remote work is possible. The position is for 12 months (a shorter duration is possible) with 40 working hours per month (fewer working hours per month are also possible). Candidates can apply for both positions. For a position that combines the two projects the maximum number of working hours per month is 80. Working days and times are flexible based on mutual agreement. To gain additional insight into the research conducted at SAFE, you can join the weekly SAFE brown bag seminar in which Ph.D. students, postdocs, and faculty present their research.
SAFE seeks to increase the share of women in research and thus strongly encourages female scholars to apply. We are also committed to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities and therefore invites them in particular to apply.