Senior Climate Science Data Analyst

Your responsibilities

We are currently seekingSenior Climate Science Data Analystto lead theClimate Services and Tools Group in Climate Analytics. Initially, the incumbent will predominantly work on the current flagship Horizon project – the Forest Navigator.
The Climate services and toolsgroup brings high-quality, state-of-the-art climate risk and adaptation data to policy makers and adaptation practitioners in order to facilitate climate action. To this end, Climate Analytics has developed open-access, user-friendly and interactive online tools that make climate impact projections or policy analysis outcomes easily available to policymakers, journalists, NGO staff members and researchers. These tools can be accessed viathis page. Several other tools are currently under development, or will start being developed in the next months.
The ForestNavigator project is funded by the European Commission under the HorizonEurope scheme, started in October 2022 and will end in September 2026. The scientific consortium working on the project is led by IIASA (based in Laxenburg, Austria), but is made up of more than 20 international (mostly EU-based) institutions. In this project, Climate Analytics is responsible for the co-development with policymakers and other stakeholders of two webtools visualizing important scientific outcomes of the project. The first tool will enable exploration of high-resolution information about the health status, carbon sequestration potential and other ecosystem services provided by European forests. The second tool will offer information on possible policy scenarios for forest management to the EU member states. The information visualized in the webtools will be directly derived from data generated by forestry scientists and modelers from the ForestNavigator consortium.
The analysis of the data and its preparation for integration on the webtools is performed in-house at Climate Analytics, and supported by exchanges with the ForestNavigator partners, in particular with IIASA. IIASA is responsible for some of the back-end development, particularly the validation of the datasets generated as part of the project, their storage on their servers, as well as the creation of APIs to access those data. The front-end development will be done by web designers subcontracted by Climate Analytics.
Your Responsibilities

Manage and guide the Climate Services and Tools work at CA

• Coordinate the development of webtools to be developed as part of the ForestNavigator project:
  
  1. Set up processes to ensure the timely articulation of the various contributions feeding into the development of the webtools
  2. Oversee the data processing for the webtools developed as part of the ForestNavigator project
  3. Exchange with the scientists/modelers producing the data to understand their scientific relevance and identify appropriate data processing methods.
  4. Ensure the implementation of good standards for scientific programming and working with GitHub or GitLab to ensure reproducibility of your work
  5. Collaborate closely with web designers in charge of the front-end development of the webtools, to advise them about how to visualise the scientific messages extracted from the data, make sure that they receive data in the right format and check the scientific accuracy of the visualisations they will produce as a result
  6. Actively participate in meetings with colleagues aimed at advancing the conceptualisation of the tools, to provide your perspective on the technical feasibility and implications
  7. Overseethedebugging of the Beta version of the tool,refine the data processing procedures and identify how to address potential issues of relevance for the users
• Providetechnical guidance and advice for the maintenance and further development of Climate Analytics’ webtool environment
• Lead development of other tools as the need arises

Strategic Leadership

• Conduct and lead research and analysis aligned with the groups focus and general vision of Climate Analytics
• Lead-PI for projects in their area of expertise
• Provide overall direction and leadership to their group and encourage the preparation and publication of peer-reviewed papers
• Strategic development of their field of research at Climate Analytics, in coordination with other team leaders
• Leading proposal development in their area of expertise

Group Management

• Line management responsibilities
• Day-to-day supervision of content work in the relevant group.
• Performance Reviews in consultation with ST Lead
• Support ST Lead in long-term staff planning and development.
• Facilitation of group outputs
• Quality assurance of content delivery
• Delivery assurance of project products including projects for which the lead lies within the group as well as project group members contribute to

Knowledge Application

• Contact point for support to other teams
• Provide scientific advice on the group topic internally to non-science colleagues and externally to stake-holders/within projects

CA Internal Management

• Participate in relevant thematic and coordination meetings
• Maintain communication and coordination with Science Team lead
• Coordinate on staff and capacity planning with science Team lead

External representation

• Establish and maintain research networks, and contribute to relevant scientific assessment processes
• Present results of scientific work and analyses to relevant audiences, media and/or stakeholders
• Represent Climate Analytics in their area of expertise

Your profile

You will ideally have the following qualification and skills:

• Several years of academic or professional experience with at least one of the following work areas:
  forestry, land-use, or climate data analysis - with proven familiarity with the other work areas.
• A PhD in forest, land-use and/or climate modelling, or an equivalent qualification that has provided you with a comparable understanding of the current state of the art of science in the fields of forestry, land-use and/or climate risk assessment, and similar experience with scientific practices
• Good scientific programming skills and knowledge of programming languages, including Python (excellent)
• Experience with programming web interfaces, in particular with JavaScript, is an asset
• Knowledge and experience in system administration (UNIX) and/or IT support is an asset
• Interest in climate policy
• Strong organisational skills
• Motivated and flexible, with the ability to work independently and take initiatives but also as part of a larger team
• Our working language is English, therefore very good English writing and verbal skills are necessary. Other language skills are an asset

Our offer

• A job with purpose. With us you will work in a team of engaged people and with your skills you can make a positive contribution to our work in the field of climate change.
• A positive and inspiring working atmosphere in an international team. Our Berlin office near Moritzplatz in Kreuzberg, well connected to the transport system and with excellent lunch choices.
• We also offer the possibility to attend German classes.

Conditions
Application Deadline:
10.05.2024
Starting date:
as soon as possible
Location:
Berlin, Germany
Terms:
2 year fixed term contract with the perspective of an extension depending on performance and funding.
Please apply with your CV, cover letter exclusively using the application form by10.05.2024. Please include a link to some code that you have published (for example to your github or gitlab profile). You may also want to add unpublished examples of code that you have written, in this case please add a short description of what it intends to do and how it operates. If applicable, please add links to web pages that you have contributed to program, in this case describe your exact contribution and ideally attach part of the underlying piece of code. Please indicate in your cover letter your earliest starting date.
This position is categorized as a Level 6 Position with a salary range of 64.348€ (Salary band 6.1) to 70.944€ (Salary band 6.3) annually depending on qualifications and experience.
Applications by email or by post can unfortunately not be processed.About us

We are a global climate science and policy institute established in 2008 to bring cutting-edge analysis to bear on the most pressing issue of our time – climate change. Our vibrant, international team is composed of more than 120 staff - half are based at our headquarters in Berlin, Germany, and the remainder work out of our five regional offices in Africa, Australia &
Pacific, the Caribbean,South Asia and North America.Click here to find out more.