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’s Copernicus component of its Space 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.

About the Team

The C3S Reanalysis Team is part of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). It develops, maintains and safeguards the quality of state-of-the-art global climate reanalysis. In collaboration with C3S contractors, it also oversees the collection of historical satellite and in-situ observations and the development and production of regional reanalysis.

The production of climate reanalysis is an important activity at ECMWF with a long history. The state-of-the-art latest ERA5 reanalysis is a C3S flagship product which provides a gapless hourly product from 1940 onwards for many quantities of the atmosphere, land surface and ocean waves and which serves over 110,000 registered users. It is based on the same data assimilation (DA) methodology as applied in operational numerical weather prediction where observations are mixed with a model first guess to produce an optimal (re)analysis. Currently, the C3S Reanalysis Team is maintaining ERA5 close to real time and is preparing for ERA6, the next generation reanalysis. Looking further ahead, and in close collaboration with the ECMWF Coupled Assimilation Team of the Earth System Assimilation Section (ESAS), developments have started towards the next generations of fully coupled Earth system reanalysis.

Part of these developments are conducted in the context of the EU funded CERISE (CopERnIcus climate change Service Evolution) project. The CERISE project will develop new and innovative coupled land-atmosphere data assimilation approaches and land initialisation techniques to pave the way for the next generations of the C3S reanalysis and seasonal prediction systems.

The Reanalysis Team and the Coupled Assimilation Team work closely with the other teams of the Earth System Assimilation, Modelling, and Predictability Sections, as well as with the teams working under the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring and Emergency Management Services (CAMS and CEMS).

For additional details, see www.ecmwf.int, https://climate.copernicus.eu, and https://www.cerise-project.eu.

Summary of the role

The scientist will work in the C3S Reanalysis Team in collaboration with the Coupled Assimilation Team, as part of the EU funded CERISE project.

The work will consist of two phases. In the first year, the scientist will support research and reanalysis developments targeted towards enhancement of the ECMWF coupled land-atmosphere data assimilation system. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and evaluating the impact of coupled land-atmosphere skin temperature assimilation to analyse land surface temperature variables. From the second year onwards, the scientist will be responsible for the setup and production of the CERISE coupled reanalysis prototypes that will include fully coupled ocean, sea ice, atmosphere, land assimilation and for adaptation of the system to reanalysis needs. The role also involves evaluating the benefit of coupled Earth system assimilation for reanalysis activities.

Main duties and key responsibilities

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• Compare and assess ECMWF skin temperature information from the atmospheric extended control variable and the land surface systems
• Develop and assess the impact of coupled land-atmosphere skin temperature assimilation to analyse land surface temperature variables for the coupled reanalysis prototype framework
• Set up, produce, monitor and assess the CERISE coupled reanalysis prototypes using the advanced ECMWF full two-way coupling of ocean, sea ice, upper-air, and land, and integrating the CERISE unified coupled land-atmosphere assimilation system
• Contribute to regular progress reports and deliverables for the CERISE project and to international collaborations with the project partners
• Take part in and contribute to routine C3S Reanalysis and Coupled Assimilation Team meetings

Personal attributes

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a proactive continuous improvement approach
• Initiative and ability to work collaboratively with other ECMWF staff and other external partners in addition to working independently
• Excellent interpersonal and communication (both verbal and written) skills
• Dedication, passion and enthusiasm to succeed both individually and across teams
• Highly organised with the capacity to work on a diverse range of tasks to tight deadlines and in a matrix management environment.

Education, experience, knowledge and skills (including language)

Education

• An advanced university degree (EQF Level 7 or above) in a physical, mathematical or environmental science

Experience

• Experience in meteorology, climate and/or land surface processes is required
• Experience in handling Earth observation datasets is required
• Relevant experience in working with climate reanalysis is highly desirable
• Experience in land surface data assimilation and radiative transfer modelling is highly desirable
• Experience with developing and contributing to complex shared code is highly desirable
• Experience with high-performance computing platforms is desirable

Knowledge and Skills

• Excellent programming skills in a high-level programming language (e.g., Fortran, C++, python) and UNIX scripting is essential
• Candidates must be able to work effectively in English (the interviews will be conducted in English)
• A good knowledge of one of the Centre’s other working languages (French or German) would be 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 and the annual basic salary will be GBP 68,374.56 or ​​​​​​​EUR 78,035.40 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: 01 January 2024

Length of contract: 30 months (with the possibility of extension)

Location: The position can be based either at ECMWF’s duty station in Bonn, Germany or ECMWF’s HQ in Reading, United Kingdom.

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

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

Interviews by videoconference (Via Teams) are expected to take place during the week 19-23 June 2023

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.