Research Associate: Software development for atmospheric and climate science (Fixed Term)

Applications are invited for a 30 month position funded by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), a Research Centre of the Natural Environment Research Council. You will be a key part of the NCAS@Cambridge group based in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. The successful applicant will work closely with other scientists in NCAS, the UK Met Office, and the University of Cambridge on work focused on developing next generation software for use on current and future supercomputing hardware, as accelerators are increasingly used in large high performance computing systems.

We are looking for a highly motivated and technically proficient candidate with a good track record at problem solving using numerical models. The successful candidate will be engaged in software development, testing, and training, and will be involved in activities related to these areas with exact duties tailored to best match the candidates skills and expertise. You will be working as part of wide team of researchers and research software engineers, but you must have sufficient time management skills to work independently on a day-to-day basis.

Applicants must have (or be about to obtain) a PhD in a physical or computational science or at least three years of relevant research experience; desirable areas include atmospheric science, computational mathematics, computer science, and physics. Experience with the Unified Model or atmospheric modelling is highly desirable but not essential. Experience interpreting large model datasets or observational datasets using software such as Python, R, or Matlab is desirable. Expertise in stratospheric or tropospheric chemistry or aerosol modelling is desirable. Experience with porting code to graphics processing units (GPUs) is desirable. Proficiency in Fortran and experience running computer code on high performance computers is essential.

NCAS@Cambridge lead the development of the United Kingdom Chemistry and Aerosols (UKCA) model for NCAS and this position will see you further enhancing the code and its use in the UKESM and LFRic models. The UKCA model is currently used by groups around the world for atmospheric composition research and it will be the composition component of the Met Office's next generation modelling system, Momentum. As part of this role you will develop code for UKCA on both current and future supercomputing hardware. You will support others in their use of the model and develop and enhance the UKCA training provision. You will also work on ongoing projects, such as developing parameterisations with the Met Office.