Context And Mission
The Department of Earth Sciences of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), BSC-ES henceforth (https://www.bsc.es/discover-bsc/organisation/scientific-structure/earth-sciences) is one of the most active groups in air quality and atmospheric composition modelling, climate prediction and climate change simulation, climate services, and environmental computational research and engineering in Europe. The Department is currently made of about 130 people, including scientists, technical and support staff. It is structured in four distinct but closely linked research groups: Atmospheric Composition (AC), Climate Variability and Change (CVC), Earth System Services (ESS), and Computational Earth Sciences (CES).
BSC-ES is looking for a research engineer to lead the CES group and perform his/her own research. The CES group is a multidisciplinary team of 40 members with a broad range of scientific and technical profiles that closely interact with all the other BSC-ES groups and ensures contacts with other BSC departments. The group, which is structured in three teams, provides help and guidance to the scientists in the Department on their technical issues and develops and maintains a framework for the efficient use of the shared HPC resources, software environment and data infrastructure.
The group has two main goals. First, perform and guide research and development in computing and data analysis for Earth sciences including high-performance computing efficiency, software for environmental modelling, workflows, data science and artificial intelligence, and any software development required by the weather, climate and air quality communities. The second objective is the guidance on the use of computational and storage resources, with the aim of designing and implementing the requirements of the necessary IT infrastructure for the research teams in the department to develop their research. The achievement of these objectives involves (i) performing cutting-edge research in computational sciences for weather, climate and air quality applications, (ii) designing an IT infrastructure that ensures an efficient working environment for the development of the BSC-ES research and services, (iii) guiding the BSC-ES groups, as well as external partner institutions, to use a collaborative framework and good coding practices (code version control, testing suites, style guides) to improve the work efficiency, the integration of newcomers and the sharing of the tools, and (iv) leading the group in its national and international collaborations while promoting its participation in competitive research projects.
Key Duties
Lead the CES group in its national and international research activities and regularly design a strategy with the CES team coordinators that identifies risks, gaps and opportunities.
Perform cutting-edge research, leading the corresponding publications.
Manage the group, in collaboration with the CES team coordinators, to ensure that opportunities for the continuous improvement of the team members are provided and to guarantee the group sustainability.
Contribute to the design and implementation of a strategy for the BSC-ES in close collaboration of the CES group with the other BSC-ES groups.
Organise and manage the group resources in collaboration with the CES team leaders.
Explore and lead the group in the participation in research projects and other opportunities to attract funds.
Requirements
Education
An MSc in computer sciences, physics, engineering, mathematics or a related discipline.
Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
Experience in leading/managing research and/or engineering projects in computational sciences.
Demonstrated experience in managing and developing diverse teams.
Proven experience in interacting with internal and external partners.
Contribution to the design of the use of IT infrastructures, such as the use of high-performance computing, large data archive systems and software stacks, based on user requirements.
A consolidated publication record.
Fluency in spoken and written English.
Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
A PhD in a related discipline, although not strictly necessary, will be valued.
Knowledge and experience in Earth Sciences model development, data handling and community tools will be valued.
Experience in Earth science workflows and experimental set up for experiments performed on high-performance platforms considering both energy or time efficiency is important.
Competences
Fluency in other European languages will be also valued.
Ability to take initiative, prioritize and work under set deadlines and pressure.
Capacity to interact and build strong relations with a diverse stakeholder/staff base.
Ability to work in a professional environment and within a multidisciplinary research team.
Excellent decision-making skills.
Conditions
The position will be located at BSC within the Earth Sciences Department.
We offer a full-time contract, a great working environment, a highly stimulating workplace with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, perks like ticket restaurant and private health insurance, and full support to the relocation process.
Duration: Open-ended contract. Salary: A competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona.
Starting date: As soon as possible.
Applications procedure and process
All applications must be made through BSC website and contain:
A full CV in English including contact details
A Cover Letter with a statement of interest in English, including two contacts for further references – Applications without this document will not be considered
In accordance with the OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for every vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will start the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. A profile questionnaire as well as a technical exercise may be required during the process.
The panel will make a final decision and all candidates who had contacts with them will receive a feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.
The evaluation criteria will be:
Education (Bachelor + Master University degree in Physics/Engineering/Mathematics/Related discipline): 25%
PhD in a related discipline: 10%
Professional Experience. At least four years of experience on a similar role: 15%
Experience in managing diverse research teams: 5%
Experience in design of use of IT infrastructures, large data archive systems and software stacks: 10%
Knowledge in Earth science workflows and experimental set up running on high-performance platforms considering: 5%
Excellent in spoken and written English, while fluency in other European languages will be also valued.: 5%
Quality of presentation, competencies and personal qualities shown at the interview/presentation: 25%
The first six aspects will be taken into account for the screening phase.
After this, the top candidates ranked will be invited for a presentation/interview with the recruitment panel and then the final scores will be added.
Also, the panel will consider Career Breaks (e.g. parental leaves) with an extra 5%. in the recruitment phase.
At BSC we are seeking continuous improvement in our recruitment processes, for any suggestions or feedback/complaints about our Recruitment Processes, please contact recruitment@bsc.es.