Research Software Engineer – Novel Access Patterns for Petabyte-Scale Climate and Weather Datasets

ECMWF; Bonn; Vor Ort; EUR 90.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

A leading climate data institute in Bonn is seeking a Research Software Engineer to enhance the capabilities of their data access systems. You will extend the GribJump library to support additional data types and integrate it into major data systems such as MARS and the Copernicus Climate Data Store. The ideal candidate has a relevant degree and strong software development skills, with a passion for solving complex scientific challenges. This full-time position offers a basic net salary of EUR 89,168.64 annually plus benefits.

Qualifikationen

• Experience with high-throughput software and services.
• Knowledge in accessing and processing large datasets.
• Familiarity with climate data and meteorological systems.

Aufgaben

• Extend GribJump for more use cases and data types.
• Integrate into major data systems like MARS and CDS.
• Contribute to the ClimEmpower project.

Kenntnisse

Software development

Data management

Problem-solving

Ausbildung

Relevant degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

GribJump

Cloud storage systems

Jobbeschreibung

Help shape the way that climate and weather data is used in the future!

The way we use computers is evolving fast — and so is the way we handle data. Whether it’s training powerful AI models or zooming in on climate patterns in specific regions, modern science demands quick, flexible, and smart access to massive amounts of data.

At ECMWF, we hold one of the world’s largest collections of weather and climate data, from freshly produced forecasts through to decades worth of historical archives. These data live across a mix of supercomputers, cloud storage and tape-backed long-term archive. Typically, we store 2D slices of our atmosphere (think of the skins of an onion). But scientists and developers should not be burdened with concerns where this data lives or how it is stored – so we build systems to make this data available according to descriptive scientific metadata. This is nowhere more true than for climate-related datasets of the Copernicus programme, which have an audience far outside that for typical weather forecasting data.

That’s where you come in!

We’ve built a new service called Polytope, which lets users request just the parts of datasets which they need – not just finding specific 2D slices, but accessing smaller, arbitrary regions, and accessing slices across different axes, such as time series. These capabilities have the potential to revolutionise the way meteorological data is accessed and used. The implementation includes a library, called GribJump, which provides the low-level accesses to our stored data. In-situ, able to pick a few bytes out of massive Gigabyte arrays. Even if that data is compressed.

We’re looking for a Research Software Engineer (A2) to take the capabilities of Polytope and GribJump to the next level. You’ll extend GribJump to work for more use cases and more types of data. You’ll also help plug it into our major data systems including the MARS archive and the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS). You will be applying GribJump to the very popular and impactful dataset ERA5 and later to ERA6, finalising and building on the work carried out in the ClimEmpower project.

You’ll be part of the Data Management Services Team, where we handle all things data – from real-time observations coming in, to model output, to long-term archival and dissemination to clients. We design specialist high-throughput software and services to make sure weather, and climate, gets where it needs to go, with specific focus on the use of semantically meaningful metadata, efficient routing and novel tech to handle the ever-growing scale of the field.

If you love writing software, solving complex challenges, and contributing to science that matters, this could be the right position and a unique opportunity for you!

Salary and Grade: Grade A2 EUR 89,168.64 (Germany) NET annual basic salary + other benefits
Contract Duration: 3 years up to 30 September 2028, with possibility of extension