Your role

ECMWF is recruiting for a Research Software Engineer – High-Performance Data handling. We are looking for a candidate experienced in working with high-performance distributed operational systems, and collaborating with a range of international partners in research projects. The successful candidate will be responsible, as part of a team, for the further development, maintenance and support of the FDB software, and other related systems, and helping to drive their future direction.

This position lies in the Data Management Services Team, within the Development Section in the Forecast Department. The Data Management Services Team is responsible for the design and development of all software and systems related to ECMWF’s core data production services. This includes high-throughput specialist software that supports the time-critical operational forecast model, systems for acquisition of incoming observations, management of direct model output, perpetual archive of forecasts and observations and the generation and dissemination of products to member states and clients.

Whilst this position will be based in Bonn, Germany, there will be strong collaboration with staff based at the ECMWF HQ in Reading, United Kingdom. Visits to the HQ in Reading are likely to be required.

About ECMWF

ECMWF is the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. It is an intergovernmental organisation created in 1975 by a group of European nations and is today supported by 34 Member and Co-operating States, mostly in Europe. The Centre’s mission is to serve and support its Member and Co-operating States and the wider community by developing and providing world-leading global numerical weather prediction. ECMWF functions as a 24/7 research and operational centre with a focus on medium and long-range predictions and holds one of the largest meteorological archives in the world. The success of its activities relies primarily on the talent of its scientists, strong partnerships with its Member and Co-operating States and the international community, some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, and the use of innovative technologies such as machine learning across its operations.

Over the years, ECMWF has also developed a strong partnership with the European Union, and for the past seven years has been an entrusted entity for the implementation and operation of the Climate and the Atmosphere Monitoring Services of the EU Copernicus Programme, as well as a contributor to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. The collaboration does not stop there and includes other areas of work, including High Performance Computing and the development of digital tools that enable ECMWF to extend its provision of data and products covering weather, climate, air quality, fire and flood prediction and monitoring.

ECMWF has recently become a multi-site organisation, with its headquarters based since its creation in Reading, UK, its new data centre in Bologna, Italy, and new offices in Bonn, Germany.

For additional details, see www.ecmwf.int.

The WarmWorld project is a BMBF-funded research project to restructure Earth-system modelling to support kilometre-scale climate forecasts on contemporary HPC systems. Part of this work will involve significant developments to the FDB software to increase its flexibility, domain of applicability and performance.

The FDB is a software layer that handles model output data from ECMWF’s Numerical Weather Prediction model (the Integrated Forecasting System, IFS). This software runs at very-large scale within ECMWF’s HPC system as part of the time-critical operational forecasting system and is tightly integrated into ECMWF’s production workflows. All operational data produced at ECMWF is handled by the FDB, roughly 300 TiB/day. This is supplemented by larger non-time-critical data flows from ECMWF’s research activities. Within the next 5 years we are expecting to see the volume increase to 1 PiB/day. The FDB also operates as a hot-data cache in front of ECMWF’s meteorological (MARS) archive, sharing much of its data management philosophy and several technical components.

The Meteorological Archival and Retrieval System (MARS) is a managed archive of meteorological data. It currently stores more than 300 PiB of data, largely in GRIB, BUFR and ODB2 formats. But MARS is more than just an archive. ECMWF operates all of their modelling and data handling systems according to a domain-specific, semantically and scientifically meaningful metadata-driven description of each element of data. This approach and its supporting software comprises the MARS ecosystem. Developments in the FDB, and within ECMWF’s data-handling systems live within this ecosystem.

Your responsibilities

• Developing and maintaining the FDB and related software
• Helping plan and coordinate the evolution of the FDB software and explore novel I/O strategies and new hardware options
• Driving developments in the FDB to support the WarmWorld project.
• Coordinating with WarmWorld and other international project partners
• Contributing to securing external funding in the areas of I/O performance, data storage and scalable workflows

What we’re looking for

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a proactive continuous improvement approach
• Initiative and ability to work collaboratively with other ECMWF staff and WarmWorld project partners, but also able to work independently
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Dedication, passion, and enthusiasm to succeed both individually and across teams of developers
• Highly organised with the capacity to work on a diverse range of tasks to tight deadlines and in a matrix management environment

Education and experience

• An advanced university degree (EQ7 level or above) or equivalent professional experience in computational science, computer science or engineering, physics or natural sciences, mathematics or related discipline
• Demonstrated experience developing large-scale, object-oriented software with C++ is essential
• Experience with deployment and execution in HPC environments would be an advantage
• Experience working with or as part of international research projects is highly desirable
• Experience handling large-scale distributed systems would be an advantage, as would experience with systems handling very large data sets

Knowledge and skills

• Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and interviews will be conducted in English.
• A good knowledge of one of the Centre’s other working languages (French or German) is an advantage.

Other information

Grade remuneration: The successful candidate will be recruited at the A2 grade according to the scales of the Co-ordinated Organisations. The annual basic salary will be EUR 83.888 NET of tax. ECMWF also offers a generous benefits package, including a flexible teleworking policy. The position is assigned to the employment category STF-PL as defined in the ECMWF Staff Regulations. Full details of salary scales and allowances available on the ECMWF website at www.ecmwf.int/en/about/jobs, including the ECMWF Staff Regulations and the terms and conditions of employment.

Starting date: As soon as possible

Length of contract: Up to 3.5 years until 31 March 2027

Location: Bonn, Germany

As a multi-site organisation, ECMWF has adopted a hybrid organisation model which allows flexibility to staff to mix office and tele-working.

Successful applicants and members of their family forming part of their households will be exempt from immigration restrictions.

Interviews by videoconference (MS Teams) are expected to take place shortly after the closing date of the vacancy announcement.

Who can apply

Applicants are invited to complete the online application form by clicking on the apply button below.

At ECMWF, we consider an inclusive environment as key for our success. We are dedicated to ensuring a workplace that embraces diversity and provides equal opportunities for all, without distinction as to race, gender, age, marital status, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, personality, ethnicity and culture. We value the benefits derived from a diverse workforce and are committed to having staff that reflect the diversity of the countries that are part of our community, in an environment that nurtures equality and inclusion.

Applications are invited from nationals from ECMWF Member States and Co-operating States, as well as from all EU Member States.

ECMWF Member and Co-operating States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

In these exceptional times, we also welcome applications from Ukrainian nationals for this vacancy.

Applications from nationals from other countries may be considered in exceptional cases.