Offer Description
Prof. Gabriela Stockler is looking to hire a research assistant to work with her at the Barcelona School of Economics on a project studying how market structure and network frictions shape prices, liquidity, and allocation in financial markets.
Specifically, the project studies how trading networks and intermediaries shape market outcomes in decentralized financial markets, such as those for bonds and derivatives.
The Research Assistant will work on the empirical side of the grant. The role does not involve theoretical work.
The candidate will be supervised by Prof. Gabriela Stockler. The successful applicant should have a Master’s or PhD degree (completed or in progress) in economics, finance, or a related quantitative field, solid training in econometrics, programming experience in Stata, R, or Python (including work with large datasets), and clear written English.
S/he should also have a genuine interest in finance and empirical research, be curious, and be able to work independently. Experience with financial databases or network analysis, and some knowledge of AI tools for empirical work (for example, to find data or to speed up coding), are valued but not required.
The work has two main components. The first is a review of the recent empirical literature on decentralized markets, trading networks, and intermediation, together with the search for relevant data sources. The second is hands-on empirical work with financial data, which includes potentially collecting, cleaning, and documenting data, producing descriptive statistics, and running simple analyses. The specific datasets, tasks, and methods will be defined with the PI as the project advances.
The applicant will join a vibrant Economics community in Barcelona and have opportunities to get involved with the academic life at the Barcelona School of Economics. This is a two month position starting on December 1st, 2026. The annual gross salary is 22.020€. (reference for full-time RA).
The project is one of the BSE Seed Grants 2026, one of the initiatives of the Severo Ochoa accreditation, supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) through the Severo Ochoa Program: Grant «Excelencia Severo Ochoa» CEX[contact details available in the full listing]-S funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/[contact details available in the full listing]/.
About BSE hiring policies: Barcelona School of Economics has endorsed the 40 principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers and committed to the implementation of the HRS4R for the research jobs at BSE.
Requirements
Skills/Qualifications
- Programming experience and proficiency in Stata, R, or Python, including work with large datasets
- Ability to clean, document, and analyze data in a replicable way
- Analytical skills
- Solid training in econometrics
- Clear written English
- Spanish working permit (recommended)
- Valued, not required: experience with financial databases (for example WRDS, TRACE), familiarity with network analysis, and some knowledge of AI tools for empirical work
Specific Requirements
- Genuine interest in finance and empirical research.
- Highly self-motivated and able to take initiative without much supervision
- Curious, rigorous, and attentive to detail when handling data
- Able to work independently and take initiative, and to raise problems early
- Reliable in written communication (including reproducible code), with a short weekly report to the PI.
- Ability to meet the PI at least once a week, remotely or in person
Languages: English — Excellent
Additional Information
Benefits
- Close collaboration with the PI
- Direct exposure to the empirical research process, from data sourcing to first results
- Flexible, mostly remote work
Eligibility criteria
Programming and data skills (40%), qualifications and knowledge of the area (20%), experience (30%), and motivation and ability to work independently (10%).
Selection process
Interested candidates should fill this FORM BSE Research Assistant part-time Project “Networked Markets: How Market Structure Shapes Prices, Liquidity, and Allocation” 25 hours/week
It has to include One single file named as: “Job offer Title_Lastname_Firstname” with the CV and a motivation letter.
Additional comments: Position reference: SG2026-14 Research Assistant
When the application period ends, the selection committee will select the candidates that meet the selection criteria. Shortlisted applicants will be contacted via email to arrange an online interview.
