We are looking for a Research Software Engineer (A2) to join the Product Development Services Team within the Development Section of the Forecasts and Services Department.
Forecast verification is fundamental to numerical weather prediction, providing objective evidence of forecast quality, supporting scientific development, operational decision-making and user confidence. As ECMWF continues to evolve its forecasting capabilities, including physics-based numerical prediction systems and emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based forecasting systems, robust, scalable and accessible verification frameworks are essential to evaluate forecast performance, understand model behaviour and support continuous improvement.
You will contribute to the modernisation of ECMWF's Forecast Verification Software stack for medium-range, sub-seasonal and seasonal ensemble predictions using the physics-based Integrated Forecasting System (IFS), the Artificial Intelligence Forecasting System (AIFS) and future hybrid forecasting approaches.
A key objective of this role is to consolidate and evolve existing verification software capabilities across ECMWF into a coherent, reusable and sustainable platform, enabling scientists, product developers, operational teams and external partners to evaluate and compare the performance of a broad range of forecasting systems. A central aspect of this role is the development of verification software as part of ECMWF's Earthkit ecosystem. You will contribute reusable, well-designed and documented software components that can be used across ECMWF and by the wider scientific community. By building verification capabilities within Earthkit, the role will enable collaboration, knowledge sharing and software reuse between ECMWF teams, research groups, Member and Co-operating States, international partners and external users.
Working closely with scientists, software engineers and operational teams across ECMWF, you will design, develop and maintain robust, scalable and user-oriented verification software. You will integrate verification workflows into ECMWF's Pre/Post-Processing application (PPROC), leveraging its operational workflow framework to produce verification products consistently, reproducibly and efficiently at scale. Combining reusable Earthkit components with PPROC operational workflows will enable the transition of innovative verification methodologies into sustainable operational capabilities.
Beyond software development, you will develop, deploy and operate verification services that expose forecast evaluation products, statistics and metadata through modern APIs and service interfaces. These services will enable ECMWF applications, including ecCharts, OpenCharts and future product platforms, as well as external users and partners, to consume verification information in a consistent, scalable and reliable manner.
The Product Development Services Team is part of the Development Section within the Forecasts and Services Department. The team develops software and services supporting the production and verification of ECMWF forecast products.
The team develops highly efficient pre/post-processing workflows within ECMWF's Pre/Post-Processing software, providing a common operational framework for generating, managing and delivering forecast products. The team also plays an active role in the development of the Earthkit ecosystem, creating reusable software components and services that support scientific computing, product generation, forecast verification and operational applications.
This team sits at the intersection of developing capabilities and products for ECMWF forecasting systems and therefore works very closely with other sections and teams, such as Production, Innovation Platform and, in particular for this role, with Evaluation Section.
