Group Leader – Climate, Hydrometeorological and Natural Hazards Modeling (R4)

Job Reference

260_26_CASE_WP_R4

Position

Group Leader – Climate, Hydrometeorological and Natural Hazards Modeling (R4)

Closing Date

Wednesday, 15 July, 2026

Reference: 260_26_CASE_WP_R4

Job title: Group Leader – Climate, Hydrometeorological and Natural Hazards Modeling (R4)

About BSC

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.

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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.

We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.

If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.

Context And Mission

The Natural Hazards Group at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center seeks an internationally recognized researcher to provide scientific leadership in climate, atmospheric, hydrological and environmental risk modeling.

The successful candidate will combine extensive experience in numerical weather prediction, climate modeling, hydrological forecasting, climate extremes, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing. The position requires a strong track record in leading multidisciplinary teams, supervising researchers and students, coordinating international projects, and translating scientific advances into operational services and decision-support systems.

The researcher will play a key role in strengthening the integration between Earth System Models, atmospheric models, hydrological models, AI methodologies, and climate services for risk management and adaptation to climate change.

Key Duties

Lead research activities on climate variability, climate change, teleconnections, extreme events, droughts, floods, heatwaves, wildfires and compound hazards, and coordinate scientific teams working on atmospheric, hydrological and climate risk modeling.

Provide scientific leadership to multidisciplinary teams working on atmospheric, hydrological and environmental risk modeling.

Develop strategic research lines aligned with European and international funding priorities.

Develop and coordinate advanced modeling frameworks integrating atmospheric, hydrological and Earth System Models, leveraging High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructures.

Optimize large-scale simulations in HPC environments and coordinate the development of coupled atmosphere-hydrology-impact modeling frameworks.

Design and supervise workflows integrating atmospheric, Earth System, hydrological and hydrodynamic models (e.g., MPAS, WRF, WRF-Fire, CESM2, EC-Earth, SMAP, SWAT, HEC-HMS, IBER and HEC-RAS).

Develop methodologies for heatwave assessment, drought monitoring, flood forecasting, wildfire danger prediction, landslide susceptibility, water resource management, energy-climate interactions, and advance impact-based forecasting and climate adaptation services.

Lead the application of Artificial Intelligence methodologies, including Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Explainable AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), for environmental prediction, climate services and decision-support systems.

Lead the preparation and coordination of European and international research projects, including funding proposals, project deliverables, milestones and stakeholder interactions.

Foster collaborations with international research institutions, governmental agencies, civil protection authorities, energy companies and other relevant stakeholders.

Supervise postdoctoral researchers, PhD candidates and early-career scientists, promoting scientific excellence, mentoring and knowledge transfer.

Requirements

Education

PhD in Atmospheric Sciences, Meteorology, Climate Science, Hydrology, Environmental Engineering, Physics or related disciplines.

Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience

Minimum 10 years of postdoctoral or equivalent research experience.

Demonstrated expertise in atmospheric, climate, and environmental modelling.

Extensive experience with numerical weather prediction and/or Earth System Models (e.g., WRF, MPAS, CESM, EC-Earth).

Strong background in hydrological modeling and atmosphere-hydrology coupling.

Experience working in HPC environments.

Proficiency in Python and scientific data processing.

Demonstrated record of international scientific publications.

Proven experience leading multidisciplinary teams and international projects.

Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience

Experience in operational forecasting centers.

Experience in climate services and decision-support systems.

Expertise in teleconnections and climate variability.

Experience with Earth System Models (CESM, EC-Earth, CMIP6/CMIP7).

Experience in AI applications for climate and environmental sciences.

Experience working with civil protection, water management agencies or energy sector stakeholders.

International research network and leadership in collaborative projects.

Proficiency level in English, both written and spoken. Spanish or other european languages will be highly valuable

Competences

Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.

Ability to define strategic research directions and inspire multidisciplinary teams.

Strong project management and organizational skills.

Ability to work effectively in highly collaborative and international environments.

Conditions

The position will be located at BSC within the CASE Department

We offer a full-time contract (35h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures

Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration

Holidays: 22 days of holidays + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement

Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona

Starting date: 01/11/2026

Applications procedure and process

All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain:

A full CV in English including contact details

A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.

Development of the recruitment process

The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases:

Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points

Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.

The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.

In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.

The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.

At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment [at] bsc [dot] es.

For more information, please follow this link.

Deadline

The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.

OTM-R principles for selection processes

BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.

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