Trainee

**EIF Posting**:
The **European Investment Fund** (EIF) is seeking to recruit for its** Mandate Design and Product Development - Innovation Unit**,** **at its headquarters in **Luxembourg, **a **Trainee **to work under IEU Advisory Services for EIF products’**.**

Duration: 5 months & Starting date: 1st November

**_
Specific Post Environment:_**

You will support the InvestEU Advisory Hub practice and be involved in the implementation of the new EIB-EIF Advisory Service process and agreement.

This traineeship will operate across the various EIF’s InvestEU financial products including Equity, Guarantees and Securitisations and aims to deploy awareness raising and capacity building projects for EIF’s financial intermediaries and key stokeholds.

InvestEU instrument covers all 27 EU Member states and advisory projects are deployed through four key policy priority goals: Sustainability and Green Transition; Innovation; Social Impact, Skills and Human Capital; and Competitiveness and Growth.

**_ Overall objective:_**

Your overall objective will be to:

- help the Advisory Coordinator through the implementation of the IEU Advisory Process for new and ongoing projects and services (e.g. Capacity Building for FIs in Defence, Skills and Education, Impact Equity, Green Equity and Sustainability Guarantee, Gender and Diversity, CCS, etc).

At early stages of a new advisory project set-up, including:

- Concept design for new advisory actions supporting IEU equity and guarantee
- Operational launch and implementation
- Ensure the smooth administrative flow between EIF and EIB)

At later stages of the deployment, including:

- Ensure projects’ are fully compliant with the Advisory Agreement criteria
- End-of project KPIs, analytics and assessment of impact achieved
- Support to Financial Control, including oversight of timesheet management)

The main objectives by the end of the traineeship are to have tested and implemented the new administrative advisory set-up across the 12+ advisory projects ongoing, to help launch new projects supporting IEU Financial Intermediaries, to follow-up on the digital integration of EIF-EIB through Asapp system, to support the final steps of digital integration for EIF’s invoicing to EIB and, in the meantime, to update manually the financial trackers via excel.

The Trainee will have also the chance to gain familiarity with IEU products and thematics and being able to contribute ad hoc with the Thematic Leads for specific project implementations (e.g. events, trainings, masterclasses, market studies, inputs terms of references, etc.)

**_ Responsibilities_**:
Under the guidance of the senior of the team, you shall:

- Follow up on Advisory Implementation Requests: developing a good awareness of the multiple advisory activities supporting financial intermediaries.
- Ensure timely and smooth integration of EIF activities to EIB’s Asapp system and follow-up of validation chains required to speed up the timeline from concept to project approved.
- Support internal teams to properly implement and report on their new advisory-dedicated timesheet codes and update the budget tracker monthly.
- Support drafting of the quarterly budget forecasts and progress reports, and the semi-annual invoices.
- Actively carry a mindset change for all colleagues involved in the Network of Advisors when it comes to timesheet tracking, monitoring and reporting, with some initial handholding required. Confidential HR Eligibility Check Criteria for Interns
- Support the digitalisation project to complete the final steps of system integration allowing advisory financial monitoring, invoicing and reporting to be equally automated..

**_
Expected outcome:_**
- Implementation of the new Advisory Process Design
- Support team on final digitalisation steps for Financial Reporting
- Provide feedback on processes’ improvement areas
- Help change management when it comes Advisory Services invoicing process, ensure guidelines designed are implemented at Investment Office level, in close coordination with Financial Services.

**_ Qualifications:_**
- Final year of master’s in finance, accounting, data science, business and administration, and/or other relevant background,
- Proficient written English
- At least 6 months of previous traineeship experience in the private sector, preferably in strategic consulting, audit and/or other business driven institution.
- Interest in data related workflows, good financial analysis skills and strong understanding of Excel;
- Excellent knowledge of English (oral and written);

**_ Competencies:_**
- Problem-solver and solution oriented
- Good communicator and didactic
- Willingness to help other and openness to learn and executive different tasks and activities
- Excellent organisational and time management skills,
- Diligence, attention to details and accuracy on execution