Higher Scientist - Climate & Earth Observation (CEO)

About the Role

The Climate and Earth Observation (CEO) group at NPL are seeking an experienced Higher Scientist to drive the operational delivery of the Evaluation and Quality Control (EQC) function for datasets provided through the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

The Copernicus Climate Change Service, operated by ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) on behalf of the European Commission, delivers quality assured climate data and authoritative information about past, present, and future states of the climate across Europe and worldwide. C3S has become a trusted resource for the international press and media as data confirm a string of record-breaking climate events and related impacts. It provides free and open access to climate data and tools for use by policy makers and businesses around the world, through a dedicated Climate Data Store (CDS).

The Evaluation and Quality Control (EQC) function is a fundamental component of C3S that ensures the integrity of the information maintained in the CDS. Currently, EQC content production is structured around three complementary components:

1. Quality Assurance – criteria that are independently assessed to verify provision and completeness of dataset metadata, management and documentation.
2. Quality Assessments – user relevant scientific evaluation of attributes such as model performance, validation status, dataset consistency (inter- and intra-dataset), reproducibility, uncertainty, representativeness, as well as impacts of dataset transformations, e.g. ARCO and Zarr-based representations.
3. Fitness for Purpose (FFP)– statements providing concise, use-oriented factsheets that synthesise the quality assurance and quality assessment information and highlight key strengths, limitations and uncertainties of the datasets. The FFP component is expected to become the primary user-facing entry point for EQC content via the CDS LLM-based search and discovery service which is being established within a complementary C3S contract.

This position will provide an ideal opportunity to gain wide experience on the production, use, and quality assessment methodologies of a range of climate data datasets. The prospective candidate will be part of a world leading team in the fields of earth observation, climate data, and metrology and will be directly supporting the Europe-wide initiative in climate change.

As a Higher Scientist, you'll be expected to acquire new knowledge to find solutions to advance our research. Also, if commercial opportunities arise from your work, you'll need to flag these – as this is how new products and services are born. At NPL, we learn from each other, respect each other, and work together to do better for ourselves and our customers.

Primary responsibilities:

• You will focus on operational production and delivery of EQC of climate observations derived from satellite and in situ datasets spanning land, ocean, and atmosphere domains.
• Develop user relevant Quality Assessment Jupyter notebooks and tutorials (as appropriate) defined in consultation with C3S dataset users and close interaction with ECMWF technical officers as well as the contracted product developers (where applicable).
• Internally, you will work directly with colleagues within the CEO group and wider Energy & Environment department, as well as the contract consortium, to produce Quality Assessments as well as cross-dataset assessments of C3S climate datasets.
• Using your analytical skills, identify and implement improvements to the EQC assessments and processes and inform future research requirements on data quality and uncertainty characterisation.
• Externally you will liaise with a range of stakeholders / users with varying data literacy/proficiency to prepare FFP statements about the data quality that can be directly mapped to user requirements.
• Proactively input to the EQC production roadmaps, prioritisation exercises and progress reports, to ensure consistent, high-integrity, operational delivery of EQC information.
• You will liaise directly with the customer (ECMWF) to coordinate EQC content integration into the CDS through the CIM (content integration manager) workflows, whilst ensuring integrity in delivery, implementation to agreed schedules, as well as flagging issues and delays in a timely manner.
• Mentor junior staff in the development of EQC materials.
• Act as an ambassador for NPL’s work externally and promote our capabilities.
• Provide technical support for any related bids we may be undertaking.
• Uphold NPL’s values and work within established Health and Safety and Quality systems to safely produce accurate and repeatable results.

About You

To be successful in this role, you will have the following skills, experience, and qualifications:

• You have a degree (PhD or MSc) in Physics, Maths, Data Science or Earth Science.
• Good working knowledge of remote sensing data and ECV datasets derived from observations.
• Knowledge of global and regional reanalyses, climate predictions for different timescales, scenario-based climate projections is desirable.
• Use logical thought processes to design and follow a scientific work plan.
• Excellent organisational skills, adaptive, agile, able to work in an operational setting, keeping pace with EQC requirements and ensuring integrity and quality of work.
• Ability to synthesise and evaluate large, diverse datasets and user requirements to identify improvements in data analysis methods and processes.
• Competency in developing and publishing interactive Python tutorials using Jupyter Notebooks, managing version control and collaboration via GitHub.
• Write technical documentation and scientific publications, both collaboratively and independently.
• Experience of working in a team to achieve a common goal.
• Demonstrable effective communication skills with strong customer focus, ability to interact with a broad range of stakeholders from scientific/academic product developers to novice data users.
• Enthusiasm and willingness to collaborate with the project partners and the international earth observation and climate data communities.
• You are committed to personal development and taking on learning opportunities to get the most from the role.
• You will be expected to travel to locations across Europe for conferences and to meet customers and stakeholders.

We actively recruit citizens of all backgrounds, but the nature of our work in specific departments means that nationality, residency and security requirements can be more tightly defined than others. You will be asked about this throughout the recruitment process. To work at NPL, you will need to obtain BPSS security clearance.

Please note: Applications will be reviewed, and interviews conducted throughout the duration of this advert therefore we may at any time bring the closing date forward. We encourage all interested applicants to apply as soon as practical.

About Us

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a world-leading centre of excellence that provides cutting-edge measurement science, engineering and technology to underpin prosperity and quality of life in the UK.

NPL and DSIT have strong commitments to diversity and equality of opportunity, and welcome applications from candidates irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or age, providing they meet the required criteria. Applications from women, disabled and black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates in particular are encouraged. All disabled candidates (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) who satisfy the minimum criteria for the role will be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

At NPL, we believe our success is a result of the diversity and talent of our people. We strive to nurture and respect individuals to ensure everyone feels valued by treating everyone on the basis of their own individual merits and abilities regardless of their own or perceived identity, as part of our commitment to diversity & inclusion, we hold memberships and accreditations to ensure we’re creating an environment where all our colleagues feel supported and welcome, please see our Diversity & Inclusion page.

We are committed to the health and well-being of our employees. Flexible working and social activities are embedded in our culture to create a positive work-life balance, along with a broad range of benefits . Our values are at the heart of what we do, and they shape the way we interact, develop our people and celebrate success.

To ensure everyone has an equal chance, we’re always willing to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss, please contact us.