Your role 

The position of Scientist - Hydrological Evaluation is at the core of evaluating the quality of our hydrological forecasts, deriving new ways to measure the performance evolution at each cycle upgrade, monitoring monthly the skill of the forecasts and developing products that help users in their decision-making process. One important part will be to benchmark the CEMS-Flood forecast products against other regional or global forecast services, and to investigate the use novel Machine Learning techniques. 

Joining us as a Scientist - Hydrological Evaluation you will be part of a dynamic and diverse matrix-managed group developing and running the CEMS Hydrological Forecast Computational Centre, and at the core of delivering the EFAS and GloFAS Early Warning Systems. In this exciting role you will take responsibility for the evaluation and verification of the quality of all CEMS-Flood and ECMWF hydrological forecasts, and for their communication to users in the form of products so they can make the best informed decisions for their application. This includes developing “headline scores” to measure the evolution of the forecast skills following cycle upgrades, including the benchmarking of performance compared to other world-leading forecasting systems, and designing workflows and algorithms to continuous monitor forecast skills in terms of hydrological extreme and hydrological signature. The work will be applied to forecast ranges from short-medium to sub-seasonal and seasonal horizons. As forecast verification relies on reference datasets, ideally from observations, you will also be tasked to explore Machine Learning techniques to extract as much information from Earth Observation datasets, such as satellite products, and extend the hydrological and river discharge observational database in both time and space. You will lead the CEMS-Flood Data Governance group and manage the observational database used for verification and calibration, collaborating with other teams and the CEMS Hydrological Data Collection Centre. 

You will work in the Evaluation Section and closely interact and work with scientists working on hydrological modelling and forecasting systems in a science driven, world-leading innovative international organisation. 

Through your work you will actively contribute to delivering the next generation of Early Warnings Systems, helping to mitigate some of the most devastating impacts of the climate crisis. 

Your responsibilities 

• Design methods, metrics to assess the quality of the ECMWF and CEMS-Flood hydrological ensemble forecasts, including for hydrological extremes and hydrological signature 
• Evaluate the realism of the simulations using observations and benchmarking results with existing reference datasets 
• Continuously monitor hydrological forecast skills at different lead time through new headline scores and regularly present results to ECMWF and CEMS-Flood communities as relevant 
• Develop new forecast products that summarise skill of forecasts and oversee their integration within the operational CEMS-Flood service 
• Work with computing scientists to integrate all new methods in the hydrological software workflow used at ECMWF 
• Develop new methods to extend the observational hydrological database (river discharge and water levels) for calibration, verification and post-processing activities 
• Lead the CEMS-Flood data governance group for managing software and datasets used in the project, and actively collaborate with the Hydrological Data Collection Centre  
• Document all activities internally and through the public facing wiki, and publish scientific results in the peer-reviewed literature 
• Contribute to deliverables and reporting activities, engage in outreach activities and projects meetings 

CEMS Hydrological Forecast Computational Centre 

ECMWF has long recognised the value of high-quality forecasts in mitigating the effects of natural disasters. Recognising that floods are among the costliest natural disasters in Europe, the European Commission instigated the development of the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) at its Joint Research Centre (JRC). Development and testing were carried out in close collaboration with national hydrological and meteorological services, European civil protection agencies (through the Emergency Response and Coordination Centre (ERCC)), and other research institutes.  

Since 2011, ECMWF has been part of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service - Early warning for floods (CEMS-Floods), becoming the Hydrological Computational Centre (COMP) responsible for the operational production and dissemination of EFAS forecasts data and services first, and from 2028, those of the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS). COMP also provides data for the CEMS-Drought EWS.  

CEMS-Flood helps to protect citizens, the environment, property and cultural heritage when major floods occur by providing: 

• Added value early flood forecasting products for hydrological services 
• Unique overviews of current and forecast floods in Europe (EFAS) and the world (GloFAS) more than three days in advance and 
• A network of operational hydrological services 

More than 140 hydrological services and civil protection services in Europe are part of the EFAS network, whilst there are over 10000 registered GloFAS users. ECMWF is also part of the Aristotle- partnership delivery multi-hazard information to the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of the European Commission on possible upcoming floods in Europe and the world.  

In parallel, ECMWF is exploiting recent advances in physical science and parallel computing to fully integrate an hydrological module, ECLand-CaMaFlood, in its Earth System Modelling system, paving the way for the next generation of global environmental forecasting systems.  

What we’re looking for

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a proactive and constructive approach 
• Initiative and ability to work collaboratively with other ECMWF staff and CEMS-Flood centres, as part of multidisciplinary and geographically distributed teams, but also to work independently and autonomously 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills 
• Dedication, passion and enthusiastic to succeed both individually and across teams, and for engaging and collaborating with others 
• Highly organised with the capacity to work on a diverse range of tasks to tight deadlines and in a matrix-management environment. 
• Genuine interest in ECMWF, especially on hydrological forecast and Early Warning Services 

Education and experience

• Advanced university degree (EQF Level 7 or above) or equivalent professional experience or professional qualification in Earth System Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or a related discipline. 
• Experience in statistics, hydrology, geoscience, or a related subject is required 
• Proven track record in statistical analysis in hydro-meteorology and/ or forecasting would be desirable 
• Experience in handling large observational and/or modelling datasets and their statistical analysis would be an advantage 
• Experience in the acquisition and analysis of EO/ Satellite products and data would be an advantage  
• Some experience in working on HPC would be an advantage 

Knowledge and skills 

• Demonstrated experience developing with Python is required. 
• Experience in shell-scripting in a UNIX environment would be desirable 
• Experience in Machine Learning would be desirable 
• Experience in environmental geospatial data analysis with Python would be an advantage. 
• Some experience in developing and maintaining large scientific codes would be an advantage 

Candidates must be able to work effectively in English. A good knowledge of one of the Centre’s other working languages (French or German) is an advantage.

Other information 

Grade remuneration:  The successful candidate will be recruited at the A2 grade, according to the scales of the Co-ordinated Organisations. The annual basic salary will be GBP 68.374 NET of tax (Duty Station Reading, UK) or EUR 83.888 NET of tax (Duty Station Bonn, Germany). ECMWF salaries are exempt of national income tax. On top, ECMWF also offers a generous benefits package and a flexible teleworking policy. The position is assigned to the employment category STF-PL as defined in the ECMWF Staff Regulations. Full details of salary scales and allowances available on the ECMWF website at www.ecmwf.int/en/about/jobs, including the ECMWF Staff Regulations and the terms and conditions of employment. 

Starting date:              As soon as possible

Length of contract:   4 years up to June 2027, with the possibility of extension

Location:                      Reading, UK or Bonn, Germany

As a multi-site organisation, ECMWF has adopted a hybrid organisation model which allows flexibility to staff to mix office and tele-working. Successful applicants and members of their family forming part of their households will be exempt from immigration restrictions. 

Interviews (by videoconference using MS Teams) are expected to take place during the week of 3 July.

Who can apply 

Applicants are invited to complete the online application form. 

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 from all EU Member States. 

ECMWF Member 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. 

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.