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Senior Research Software Engineer within Geoscience

Deadline: 04.12.2022

Universitetet i Oslo

The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest rated institution of research and education with 28 000 students and 7000 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.


The geosciences are the studies of the planet Earth and its comparative planetology; the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and cryosphere, the Earth's surface and its interior. The Department of Geosciences conducts research and teaching in most of the domains of geoscience; geology, geophysics, physical geography, geomatics, hydrology, meteorology and oceanography. The Department is the broadest geoscience research and education environment in Norway.

The Department encompasses five sections; Meteorology and Oceanography, Geography and Hydrology, Geology and Geophysics, Physics of Geological Processes (Njord centre) and one Centre of Excellence CEED - Centre of Earth Evolution and Dynamics. The Department aims to contribute to the new and important UN Sustainability Development Goals. The staff consists of 40 professors and associate professors, in addition to postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, researchers, technical- and administrative staff. Approximately number of employees are 240 at the Department.

About the position

A permanent position as a Senior Research Software Engineer within Geoscience is available at the University of Oslo (UiO), Department of Geosciences. The position is organized under the Section of Meteorology and Oceanography (MetOs), but work will be carried out in close collaboration with the IT-support group. Preferred starting date is as soon as possible.

Research and teaching activities at MetOs cover a range of topics in meteorology and oceanography. These include large-scale atmospheric and oceanic dynamics, ocean-atmosphere and land-atmosphere interactions, cloud physics and radiative transfer, and atmospheric chemistry with an emphasis on global and regional climate. The MetOs section uses a variety of modeling tools, including small-scale process models, weather prediction models, ocean dynamics models, land surface and vegetation models and Earth System Models (ESM). A key tool in climate research in the section is the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM) and the section is contributing actively to its further development.

The main computing and storage resources are accessed through the national Norwegian Infrastructure provided by Uninett-Sigma2. The section has six faculty positions and five adjunct professors (20%). The section additionally employs 20-30 researchers, post-doctoral fellows and PhD students. External project financing comes from the Norwegian and European Research Councils, and the EU Framework Programs. The position will primarily serve the MetOs research community, but will also be a resource for the department more generally, and contribute to the broader research software engineering community at University of Oslo and beyond.

Job description

We seek a highly motivated Senior Software Engineer, with an interest in Earth’s Climate System, to work with scientific software development and advanced research support.

The Senior Research Software Engineer will:

  • Contribute to the design, planning, documentation, implementation, and execution of computational research work.
  • Assist in the planning and preparation of RSE support for research proposals.
  • Keep close contact with and offer advanced support for researchers and students at the section working with atmospheric, ocean, land surface and climate models.
  • Contribute to competence development within the group with respect to best practices for software engineering, and train others in the team with this regard

Qualification requirements

  • At least a master degree in computer science, geophysics/meteorology, physics, or a related field
  • An active and strong profile with documented knowledge and experience in scientific programming within the Linux environment for languages such as Fortran, Python, C++, and Julia
  • Experience with version-control systems (like git) and workflows
  • Strong communication skills - a person to bridge the gap between scientific computing and research
  • A team player with strong mentorship capabilities - the candidate will contribute to competence development within the section in terms of coding and software development, for example by organizing regular hackathons

Desirable qualifications:

  • Experience from computational support staff work for students and/or researchers
  • Experience with high performance computing (HPC) and parallel programming
  • Experience with packaging and publishing software
  • Expertise in containers for scientific computing (poetry/conda/docker/singularity)
  • Experience related to the scientific work at the MetOs section (e.g. oceanography, meteorology, climate)

We offer

  • Salary NOK 544 400 to 701 300 per annum depending on qualifications in position as Senior Engineer (position code 1181).
  • A professionally stimulating working environment.
  • Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities.

How to apply

The application must include:

  • Cover letter
  • CV (complete overview of education and work experience)
  • Copies of educational certificates, transcript of records and letters for recommendation
  • Names and contact details of 2-3 references (names, relation to candidate and telephone number)

Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University's grading system. Please note that all documents should be in English (or a Scandinavian language).

The application with attachments must be delivered in our recruiting system. Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged.

Formal regulations

According to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition.

Furthermore, we want employees with diverse professional expertise, life experience and perspectives.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, employment gaps or immigrant background, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these categories to an interview.

Contact information

For technical questions regarding the recruitment system, please contact HR Adviser Ole Rustad, ole.rustad@mn.uio.no.

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