Your role

ECMWF is opening an exciting new position for a Computing and Software Support Specialist (A2) in the User Services Section in the Forecast and Services Department of ECMWF.

The Computing and Software Support Team provides technical advice and support to all users of ECMWF software and computing, including Member and Co-operating States, ECMWF and public users. As part of a team of ten staff, you will provide day-to-day 2nd-line support to users and work on continuous improvements of our services, processes and documentation. 

With a growing user community and constant technological evolution, we are looking for a dedicated individual with a genuine interest in helping others make the most of ECMWF’s software and platforms. Open data, cloud services (e.g. www.europeanweather.cloud), GPU resources and machine learning developments have brought an increased number of data users and diverse applications resulting in the need for outstanding support processes.

We are looking for a highly organised individual, with a keen interest in latest technological developments, who enjoys managing competing priorities and a variety of tasks. You will be expected to exercise sound technical judgement in prioritising, escalating and resolving user issues, working independently while contributing to team and section objectives.

In this role you will have a direct impact on our user community by solving technical issues and shaping our client services and technologies. Excellent communication and collaboration skills are equally important in this role.

About ECMWF

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is a world leader in Numerical Weather Predictions providing high-quality data for weather forecasts and environmental monitoring. As an intergovernmental organisation, we collaborate internationally to serve our members and the wider community with global weather predictions, data and training activities that are critical to contribute to safe and thriving societies.

The success of our activities depends on the funding and partnerships of the 35 Member and Co-operating States who provide the support and direction of our work. Our talented staff together with the international scientific community, and our powerful supercomputing capabilities, are the core of a 24/7 research and operational centre with a focus on medium and long-range predictions. We also hold one of the largest meteorological data archives in the world.

ECMWF has also developed a strong partnership with the European Union and has been entrusted with the implementation and operation of the Destination Earth Initiative and the Climate Change and Atmosphere Monitoring Services of the Copernicus Programme and the Strengthening Early Earning in Africa (SEWA) Programme. Other areas of work include High Performance Computing and the development of digital tools that enable ECMWF to extend provision of data and products covering weather, climate, air quality, fire and flood prediction and monitoring.

Our vision: The strength of a common goal
Our mission: Deliver global numerical weather predictions focusing on the medium-range and monitoring of the Earth system to and with our Member States

ECMWF is a multi-site organisation, with its headquarters in Reading, UK, a data centre in Bologna, Italy, and a large presence in Bonn, Germany, as a central location for our EU-related activities. ECMWF is internationally recognised as the voice of expertise in numerical weather predictions for forecasts and climate science.

www.ecmwf.int

Your responsibilities

• Provide high‑quality support to internal and external users, developing and maintaining strong working relationships with counterparts in Member and Co‑operating States, with a deep understanding of their operational activities, workflows, and requirements. 
• Co‑develop, maintain, support, and monitor time‑critical operational activities delivered to Member and Co‑operating States, responding promptly to operational issues and ensuring service continuity. 
• Contribute to IFS and AIFS forecast system upgrade activities by performing detailed quality control on data products, participating in internal working groups, and supporting external users in preparing for and adapting to operational changes to minimize disruption. 
• Play a key role in major technical transitions (e.g. changes in data formats and standards), with strong understanding of data definitions, templates, and downstream impacts, helping to minimise operational risk and user disruption. 
• Test new or upgraded software prior to operational deployment and maintain selected in‑house and externally used software packages, scripts, and interfaces. 
• Review, improve and develop documentation, processes and workflows to effectively support users
• Provide training on the use of ECMWF’s computing platforms and software to users inside ECMWF, and in Member and Cooperating States
• Work with other teams in ECMWF to ensure user needs are met

What we are looking for

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with a diverse user community
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with a proactive and structured approach
• Sound technical judgement, particularly in incident response, prioritisation and escalation decisions
• Ability to collaborate across team boundaries, translating between technical and user-facing perspectives
• Flexibility and adaptability in a dynamic operational environment, with a strong commitment to supporting users

Your profile

• Candidates should have an advanced university degree (EQ7 level or above) or equivalent experience in computer science or engineering, computational science, physics or natural sciences, mathematics, or a related discipline.

Required experience and skills

• Experience in providing support for computing services in a Linux or Unix environment is required
• Experience in handling user queries and incidents with professionalism leading to successful resolution is required.
• Experience supporting users on cloud and/or HPC technologies is required
• Relevant experience in providing technical training to users is desirable
• Experience in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) domain is desirable
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English including the writing of technical documentation
• Knowledge of software management and scripting in Linux environments is required
• Knowledge of a scripting language such as Python is required
• Knowledge of compiling and running scientific codes on high-performance computing facilities is desirable 
• Knowledge of AI tools and techniques relevant to software development, user support or data analysis is desirable.
• Knowledge of data formats commonly used in meteorology (e.g. GRIB, BUFR, NetCDF) is desirable.
• Knowledge of a high-level programming language, such as Fortran or C/C++ is desirable
  
  

Other information

Grade remuneration: The successful candidates will be recruited according to the scales of the Co-ordinated Organisations. Details of salary scales and allowances are available on the ECMWF website at www.ecmwf.int/en/about/jobs.

Starting date:  as soon as possible.

Candidates are expected to relocate to the duty station, either Bonn, Germany, or Reading, UK. As a multi-site organisation, ECMWF has adopted a hybrid organisation model which allows flexibility to staff to mix office working and teleworking, including away from the duty station (within the area of our member states and co-operating states).

Interviews by videoconference (MS Team) are expected to take place shortly after the vacancy closing date.

Successful applicants and members of their family forming part of their households will be exempt from immigration restrictions.

Who can apply

Applicants are invited to complete the online application form by clicking on the apply button below.

At ECMWF, we consider an inclusive environment as key for our success. We are dedicated to ensuring a workplace that embraces diversity and provides equal opportunities for all, without distinction as to race, gender, age, marital status, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, personality, ethnicity and culture. We value the benefits derived from a diverse workforce and are committed to having staff that reflect the diversity of the countries that are part of our community, in an environment that nurtures equality and inclusion.

Applications are invited from nationals from ECMWF Member States and Co-operating States as well as nationals of European Union member states. In these exceptional times, we also welcome applications from Ukrainian nationals for this vacancy. Applications from nationals from other countries may be considered in exceptional cases.

ECMWF Member States and Co-operating States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.