Part-time research assistant, Department of Economics and Business, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona

27 Mar 2026
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Pompeu Fabra University

Department

Economics and Business

Research Field

Economics

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Positions

Master Positions

Application Deadline

14 Apr 2026 - 23:00 (Europe/Madrid)

Country

Spain

Type of Contract

Other

Type of Contract Extra Information

Open-ended

Job Status

Part-time

Hours Per Week

17.5

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Horizon Europe - ERC

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Job announcement: ECON-PSR-INDF-2026-10
Part-time research assistant, Department of Economics and Business, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona

Position overview

Starting ideally in May 2026, Professor Manuel García-Santana seeks to hire a part-time research assistant for his ERC-funded research project. The chosen candidate will build and operate large-scale data collection pipelines from web sources (full details in sections below). 

Job location

Barcelona (Spain), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Ciutadella Campus, Department of Economics and Business. The work is to be carried at the campus.

About UPF: https://www.upf.edu/web/universitat/
About the Department of Economics and Business: https://www.upf.edu/web/econ/publications

 

Funding body and project
This contract is funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe Programme, European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant ‘Government Intervention and the Macroeconomy: Micro-evidence on the Transmission of Government Procurement’, 2025–2030, grant agreement ID: 101125744 (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101125744 ).

Principal Investigator 
Professor Manuel García-Santana (PhD CEMFI) is a tenured Associate Professor at Pompeu Fabra University, Affiliated Professor at the Barcelona School of Economics, CREI Research Associate and CEPR Research Fellow. Since 2024 he is co-leader of CEPR-STEG Theme 5: The Role of the Public Sector. At present he serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of International Economics and the Journal of the Spanish Economic Association.

He is an applied macroeconomist with interests in trade, growth and development. His research focuses on understanding how trade, government policies, and market distortions affect aggregate productivity and welfare by changing the way resources are allocated across firms.

https://sites.google.com/view/manugarciasantana/home

Position category
Research Support Staff (personal de suport a la recerca), Department of Economics and Business, Pompeu Fabra University.

Type of contract: Open-ended, in accordance with Decree RD 32/2021 of 28 December 2021. 
Incompatibilities: This contract might be incompatible with other contracts.
Employer: Pompeu Fabra University.

Starting date: Ideally in May 2026.

Job description

Building and operating large-scale data collection pipelines from publicly available web sources. The chosen candidate will write production-grade scraping code and integrate AI-assisted extraction to achieve high precision in identifying and structuring information from heterogeneous, frequently changing pages. The role requires strong software engineering fundamentals and a focus on efficiency, reliability, and data quality at scale.

Reporting line: this position reports to the principal investigator of the project.

REQUIREMENTS

EXPERIENCE 
1. Previous positions as a research assistant in academia. 

2. Experience in data collection, AI-assisted web scraping, data cleaning, econometric analysis and programming.

QUALIFICATIONS

Master’s degree in Economics. Ideally currently enrolled in a PhD program in Economics.

SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE

• Scientific software: Advanced or proficiency command of Python, Matlab, Stata, R, QGIS. Version control and debugging is a plus.
• Language: Advanced or proficiency level in English, both spoken and written.

Expected remuneration
Annual gross salary: 25826,42 euros.

Group and level: Group 1, level F

Working hours: Part-time, 17.5 hours/week

Where to apply

E-mail

mariona.novoa@upf.edu

Requirements

Research Field

Economics

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Additional Information
Selection process

OVERVIEW OF THE SELECTION PROCESS

27 March 2026 Job advertisement is posted in:

• EURAXESS
• Department of Economics and Business (Pompeu Fabra University): https://www.upf.edu/web/econ/research-project-positions
  Job opportunities > Research Project Positions > Research Support Positions
  Position reference: ECON-PSR-INDF-2026-10

All the announcements about the selection process for this position will be posted on the Pompeu Fabra University website.

14 April 2026 Application period ends, 23:00pm (UTC+1).

29 April 2026 Selection process ends.

The candidate with the highest score in the selection process will be awarded the job. The minimum score needed to pass the selection process is 80 points.

The selection committee will choose candidates from those applicants meeting the requirements of the position based on the applicants’ CVs and motivation letters. 
If the committee deems it necessary, candidates will be requested to submit recommendation letters, and/or perform a brief test, and/or have an interview. 

Rating system

Experience: 65 points
Qualifications: 15 points
Skills/knowledge: 20 points
If requested: recommendation letters: 10 points; test: 10 points; interview: 20 points

Selection Committee

Chair: Manuel García-Santana
Committee members: Paula Bustos (UPF) and Isaac Baley (UPF)

Application documents

• CV in English (maximum: two pages).
• Motivation letter in English explaining the applicant’s interest in and fit for the position.
• Scanned copy of the master’s degree diploma.

Submitting an application

• A zip file containing all the application documents should be sent to Mariona Novoa via email (mariona.novoa@upf.edu ), with the subject line ECON-PSR-INDF-2026-10. Please name the zip file ECON-PSR-INDF-2026-10_Lastname_Firstname.
• The application submission deadline is 14 April 2026, 23:00pm (UTC+1).

Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
Data protection
Please refer to: https://rat.upf.edu/en/ll014

UPF Equality Plan: https://www.upf.edu/web/pla-igualtat

Additional comments

Please send any inquiries about this vacancy to:  
Mariona Novoa
Department of Economics and Business
Pompeu Fabra University
mariona.novoa@upf.edu

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Department of Economics and Business

Country

Spain

Geofield

Contact

City

Barcelona

Website

http://www.econ.upf.edu

Street

Ramon Trias Fargas, 25

Postal Code

08005

STATUS: EXPIRED

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