HPC Software Engineer in Weather and Climate

ETH Zurich is one of the world’s leading universities specialising in science and technology. It is renowned for its excellent education, its cutting-edge fundamental research, and its efforts to put new knowledge and innovations into practice.

The Center for Climate Systems Modeling (C2SM) at ETH and the Federal Institute of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss jointly develop and run the weather and climate model ICON. We are seeking a High Performance Computing (HPC) software engineer to further develop and optimize the ICON model (80-100%).

In order to benefit from latest advances in hardware technologies the ICON model was ported to run on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and is one of the first model that can be used in production on such hardware. Several technologies are considered for running on GPUs, compiler directives which are inserted in the code, or for some parts a complete re-write using a Python domain specific language (DSL) named gt4py.

As a HPC software developer you will work and the modelling infrastructure and port some components of the model using compiler directives, in particular in the data assimilation. In addition you will further develop and optimize the components which have been re-written with the DSL such as the dynamical core of the model. To this end, you will work in a diverse and agile team consisting of HPC experts and atmospheric scientists. You will also interact and support users of downstream applications such as hydrology.

Your responsibilities will include porting components of the data assimilation system to GPUs using compiler directives. You will also contribute to the further development and optimization of model components that are being re-written using the gt4py DSL. Additionally, you will work on integrating the existing model with the new DSL-based components to ensure the system is production-ready.

• MSc in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related fields, with a strong software engineering background.
• Solid programming skills, e.g. Python.
• Solid experience in GPU programming and HPC development.
• Familiarity with numerical weather prediction or atmospheric sciences is a plus, but not necessary.
• Open-minded, enthusiastic, and collaborative, thriving in diverse teams.

At C2SM and MeteoSwiss, we are committed to promoting flexible and family-friendly working models, and a healthy work-life balance is important to us. The position offers interesting and challenging tasks. You will have the opportunity to work with a cutting-edge operational weather prediction system within a highly motivated team. Your work will directly impact the future operational weather forecasts for Switzerland and bring value to weather related decisions in all sectors.

We look forward to receiving your online application with the following documents:

• CV
• Motivation Letter
• Names and contact information of 1-2 references

The position is limited to 1 year. The position is available immediately and will remain open until filled. The place of work is at MeteoSwiss at Zurich-Airport, but working remotely a few days per week is common practise.

Further information on this position can be obtained from Xavier Lapillonne (he/him, Write an email; no applications). For further information on C2SM and the collaboration between ETH and MeteoSwiss, please visit our website or  contact the executive director of C2SM, Christina Schnadt Poberaj (she/her, Write an email; no applications).

Please note that we exclusively accept applications submitted through our online application portal. Applications via email or postal services will not be considered.

We would like to point out that the pre-selection is carried out by the responsible recruiters and not by artificial intelligence.

For recruitment services the  GTC of ETH Zurich   apply.