EFAS Project Manager and Group Leader for forecast applications  (Consultancy position)

Reference no.: AP12-13

Location:

ECMWF Headquarters at Shinfield Park, near Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

Environment:

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an international organisation supported by 34 States*.

ECMWF’s main computing facility includes supercomputers, archiving and data handling systems. ECMWF is connected to the meteorological telecommunication system and to its Member States via efficient networks linking 44 countries. A detailed description is available at:

ECMWF has been awarded a four-year framework contract to operate the computational centre of the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS, http://floods.jrc.ec.europa.eu/), which is a European Commission initiative to increase preparedness for riverine floods across Europe by utilizing medium-range atmospheric ensemble predictions. ECMWF is responsible for running the EFAS computational tasks operationally with guaranteed 24/7 support, together with associated testing, and support for further research and development.

The vacancy is in the Meteorological Operations (Met Ops) Section of the Operations Department. The Met Ops Section provides a number of important services for ECMWF. These include monitoring and assessing the meteorological performance of the ECMWF operational forecasting systems; providing a range of products to meet users’ requirements; and liaising with users to improve and broaden the use and understanding of ECMWF meteorological products. The Section will also monitor and assess the operational hydro-meteorological forecasts produced by the European Flood Awareness System.

The successful candidate will be expected to devote 75% of their time to EFAS as Project Manager, including co-ordination of all activities of EFAS-funded staff at ECMWF. The remaining 25% of the time will be allocated to developing forecast applications, with an initial focus on managing the ECMWF contribution to the EU FP7-funded GEOWOW project (GEOSS interoperability for Weather, Ocean and Water), which includes the use of weather forecast products in multi-disciplinary activities including river discharge hydro-meteorological applications (www.geowow.eu).

The main duties of the post are:

• Overall project management of EFAS computational centre
  
  
• Responsibility for the communication with all EFAS partners and the EFAS Advisory
  Board, and for the information on the EFAS information system
  
  
• Participation in daily EFAS briefings with partners
  
  
• Organisation of EFAS meetings, training, workshops, reports
  
  
• Responsibility for leading, organising, managing and reporting on the work of the forecast applications group
  
  
• Development of forecast applications
  
  
• Management of relevant FP7 projects, including GEOWOW

Qualifications:

A university degree or equivalent in hydrology, meteorology or a related subject is required, together with substantial experience of meteorological/hydrological models, statistical post-processing and ensemble prediction. Candidates should have excellent communication skills.

The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated ability to develop operational hydro-meteorological applications to meet end-user requirements and to manage such projects.

Remuneration:

This consultancy position is remunerated at a level equivalent to a grade A3 staff position and the annual basic salary will be £62,230 net of tax.  However, for an exceptional candidate, there is the possibility of a grade A4 equivalent remuneration package.

www.ecmwf.int/newsevents/employment/en/

Starting date:

As soon as possible.

Length of contract:

ECMWF has been awarded a four-year framework up to 31 March 2016 for this project, for which the funding is secured annually. Therefore, it is proposed to offer the successful candidate a contract with an anticipated end date of 31 March 2016, subject to annual review and confirmation of funding.

Applications:

An application form in Word format can be downloaded from here (162kb) and completed on-line. If you download, you may (if near to the closing date) e-mail the completed form only back to ECMWF at jobs@ecmwf.int. Please note, however, that you must still send your full application form together with all the attachments to ECMWF by post. Under no circumstances should you e-mail your attachments.

Closing date: Completed applications for this post must reach the Personnel Section of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts not later than 7 September 2012.

* The ECMWF Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The ECMWF Co-operating States are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.