Analyst or Senior Analyst in Meteorological Data Section

GRADE: A2/A3, according to the scales of the Co-ordinated Organisations.

REFERENCE NO: AP11-09

LOCATION: ECMWF Headquarters at Shinfield Park, near Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom

ENVIRONMENT: The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an international organisation supported by 34 States*.

ECMWF’s principal objectives are the development of numerical methods for medium-range weather forecasting; the preparation, on a regular basis of medium-range and long-range weather forecasts for distribution to the meteorological services of the Member States; scientific and technical research directed to the improvement of these forecasts; collection and storage of appropriate meteorological data.

ECMWF’s computer facility includes supercomputers, archiving systems and networks. A detailed description is available at:

www.ecmwf.int/services/computing/overview

The post is located in the Meteorological Data Section of the Operations Department. This Section is responsible for managing the ECMWF Meteorological Archival and Retrieval System (MARS) and data catalogues, providing access to ECMWF’s products and developing tools to make use of these products.

MAIN DUTIES: The main duties for this post include:

• to develop and maintain the Fields Data Base (FDB), distributed data indexing software that manages the output of ECMWF models and runs on the ECMWF high- performance computer;
• to develop and maintain the ECMWF GRIB coding/decoding software (grib_api) and its associated tools;
• to provide support for ECMWF’s operations, including 24-hour on-call support.

QUALIFICATIONS: A university education or equivalent is required, as well as experience in object-oriented design, C/C++ and Unix/Linux programming. Experience in developing client/server applications and a good understanding of performance-related issues (memory, disk I/O, networking, etc.) would be a distinct advantage. Knowledge of the WMO GRIB format would also be advantageous.
The working languages of ECMWF are English, French and German. Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and have a good knowledge of one of the other working languages. Interviews will be conducted in English.

Staff are normally recruited from among the nationals of the Member States and Co operating States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and United Kingdom.

REMUNERATION: For Grade A2: within the range of £3,920.48 to £5,237.08 basic salary per month net of tax.
For Grade A3: within the range of £4,837.55 to £6,542.05 basic salary per month net of tax.

In principle, a staff member will be engaged at the lowest step of the lower grade of the post for which he or she is selected. Exceptionally, recruitment may be at a higher level when this is justified by qualifications and experience.

A deduction is made from the basic salary for the Pension Scheme and for Partial Invalidity (10.8% for the Pension Scheme and 0.2% for Partial Invalidity). A further 1.38% of basic salary and related allowances is currently deducted for the ECMWF Supplementary Health Insurance Scheme.

Where applicable the following allowances will be paid in addition to the basic salary: household allowance of 6% of basic salary; children’s allowance of £221.49 per child per month; expatriation allowance of 14% or 18% of basic salary for expatriates; education allowance for children of expatriates.

STARTING DATE: As soon as possible.

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: Maximum of four years for initial contract, with the possibility of renewal.

APPLICATIONS: Application forms can be downloaded from ECMWF’s website:
(www.ecmwf.int/newsevents/employment/en/)

CLOSING DATE: Completed applications for this post must reach the Personnel Section of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts at the above address not later than 3 June 2011.

* The ECMWF Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The ECMWF Co-operating States are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.