Climate System Modeller (R2-RE2)
Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Climate: Past, Present & Future (CL)
Earth and Space Science Informatics (ESSI)
Reference: 104_26_ES_CVC_RE2
Job title: Climate System Modeller (R2-RE2)
About BSC
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.
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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.
We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.
If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.
Context And Mission
Within the Earth Sciences Department of Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-ES), the Climate Variability and Change (CVC) group undertakes fundamental research to (1) understand climate variability and change, including climate extremes, (2) investigate global biogeochemical dynamics, as well as the effectiveness and impacts of carbon removal technologies to mitigate climate change, (3) develop new Earth system modelling capabilities, and (4) improve our ability to simulate and forecast climate variations from one month to multiple decades into the future, both at global and regional scales. The group is also part of the development team and a key user of the EC-Earth global climate model (http://www.ec-earth.org) and as such collaborates closely with all members of the EC-Earth consortium.
CVC is looking for a research engineer or scientist to contribute to the group’s core modelling activities. We are particularly interested in candidates with a strong background in Earth system modelling, either at postdoctoral or research engineer level, who combine solid technical expertise (e.g., model configuration, coupling, HPC environments, workflow management, and code development) with scientific understanding of climate system processes and variability. The successful candidate is expected to actively support model development, experimentation, and diagnostics, while also contributing scientifically to ongoing research activities within the group and in collaboration with EC-Earth partners.
Depending on experience and interests, there is scope to contribute to research activities in areas such as:
- Data assimilation and initialization strategies
- Climate emulators and hybrid modelling approaches
- Very high-resolution simulations and digital twins of the Earth system
Key Duties
- Support model development, testing, documentation and validation activities to maintain and improve EC-Earth4, a next-generation European Earth System Model.
- Design, run, monitor, and troubleshoot automated workflows for climate simulations on HPC platforms (e.g. CMIP7 and decadal predictions).
- Collaborate with other members of the EC-Earth consortium on model development, coordinate development across different working groups.
- Diagnose model performance and possible improvements.
- Contribute to the preparation of relevant datasets (e.g., initial and/or boundary conditions) and diagnostic tools for different types of model simulations (e.g. control simulations, transient simulations and initialized predictions).
- Prepare documentation and promote knowledge sharing
Requirements
- Education
- PhD in Climate Sciences, Meteorology/Oceanography, Theoretical Physics, Applied Mathematics or a closely related field. (or MSc with equivalent experience)
- Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
- Experience with Earth system models and/or climate model components (atmosphere, ocean, land surface and/or sea-ice).
- Excellent computing skills in high-level computer languages (especially FORTRAN and C/C++) and experience with UNIX/LINUX environments, scripting languages (bash, Python, CDO…) and debugging tools
- Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
- Familiarity with component models in EC-Earth, such as OpenIFS, NEMO, PISM, XIOS, LPJ-Guess and model coupling frameworks (e.g., OASIS-MCT) is an advantage
- Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git), workflow management tools, and HPC environments
- Hands-on experience with CMIP6 and/or CMIP7 workflows
- Experience contributing to international modelling projects or intercomparison exercises
- Competences
- Very good interpersonal skills
- Fluency in English
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to take initiative, prioritize and work under set deadlines
- Ability to work both independently and within a team and collaboratively in an international research environment
Conditions
- The position will be located at BSC within the Earth Sciences Department
- We offer a full-time contract (37.5h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
- Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
- Holidays: 22 days of holidays + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
- Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
- Starting date: 01/05/2026