Appel à candidature : Centre Européen pour les Prévisions Météorologiques à Moyen Terme (CEPMMT) recherche un.e Scientifique – Combinaisons d’ensembles au Royaume-Uni.

Your role

ECMWF is seeking a Scientist (A2) with a strong background in weather and/or climate forecasting to join its team in Reading, UK to focus on new product requirements and opportunities. You will be responsible for enhancing and expanding ECMWF offerings of Ensemble Products at the medium range, including designing and testing innovative products based on combinations of the different ensembles, and applying verification metrics to demonstrate utility.

In June 2023, ECMWF will introduce major upgrades to its operational Ensemble forecasting system. ECMWF will increase the horizontal resolution of its medium-range ensemble forecasts   from 18km to 9km, significantly improving the quality and meteorological content of medium range products provided to users. At the same time ECMWF will also provide daily extended-range ensemble forecasts from day 1 to day 46, with 101 members at 36km horizontal resolution. Therefore, every day for the medium range there will be a completely new overlapping configuration with separate ensembles run at 2 different resolutions, providing opportunities to deliver new and different forecast outputs, via “combination” approaches (blended and/or lagged ensembles). These have the potential to be more skillful, with greater information content (e.g. for weather extremes) than either system can deliver in isolation. In order to realize these user benefits there are challenges to overcome, for instance related to resolution differences.

The goal of your work will be to maximize the benefits of the most recent ECMWF Ensemble forecast upgrade in new operational products meeting a wide range of users’ needs.

Your responsibilities

• Review the current set of operational ensemble-based ECMWF products at the medium range and investigate possible enhancements of products related to the “Boundary Conditions” (BC) Optional programme.
• Investigate different combination approaches to overcome challenges related to resolution differences, and design and test new products that maximize the potential for more skilful and informative forecasts.
• Apply verification metrics to demonstrate the utility of new combination products, and assess their suitability for different parameters, including sensible weather variables, weather features and regimes, ocean waves and downstream applications in hydrology.
• Collaborate with other members of the Forecast Department, notably the Evaluation Section, and liaise with external partners (primarily participating States in BC Optional programme) to ensure that products meet their needs, and are delivered on time and to a high standard.
• Communicate findings and results clearly and effectively, both in written reports and oral presentations, to a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Other related duties if required; this may include complementary but wider-ranging ECMWF forecast performance monitoring and reporting tasks.

What we’re looking for

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, working methodically and proactively.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to critically evaluate and synthesize complex information.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and projects simultaneously, and to deliver results on time and to a high standard.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to work collaboratively with other members of the team and enjoy actively contributing to team technical discussions to jointly identify the best way to proceed, and to liaise effectively with external partners.
• Appreciate and seek opportunities to work with subject matter experts from other fields to understand users’ needs, consider complex technical circumstances, and translate the findings into deliverable requirements.

Your profile

• Advanced university degree (EQF Level 7 or above) or equivalent professional experience or professional qualification in Earth System Science, Physics, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or a related discipline.
• Experience in ensemble forecasting, including the design and evaluation of ensemble products.
• Direct experience of using ensemble products within an operational setting is not essential but would be an advantage.
• Experience with verification metrics, and the ability to apply them to demonstrate the value of new products.
• Knowledge of combination techniques, including blending and lagged ensembles, and their application in operational settings.
• Strong programming skills, with experience in languages such as Python, Fortran, C++.
• An ability to design innovative, informative graphical forecast products that meet users’ needs would be an advantage.

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) and other European languages 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 NET of tax (ECMWF salaries are exempt from national income 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:  26 months with the possibility of further extensions.

Location: Reading, UK.

As a multi-site organisation, ECMWF has adopted a hybrid organisation model which allows flexibility to staff to mix office working and teleworking (up to 10 days/month including up to 80 days/year outside of the duty station country).

Interviews by videoconference (virtual via 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.

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:

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.