Vacancy No. 178/2025

Scientific programmer (m/f/d)

Job description

The Global Land-Ecosystem Modelling Group (LEMG) of KIT’s Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMKIFU) is located at the ‘Campus Alpin’ in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

We seek an ecosystem modeler to support code development and applications that address interactions of climate change, biodiversity loss and land-use change. This position focuses on the LPJ-GUESS ecosystem model in particular context of LandSyMM (www.landsymm.earth) to enhance its capacity to model important processes relevant within these interactions.

Your tasks include:

  • Contribute to the development of a full, online coupling of LandSyMM
  • Development of ideas for model applications, simulation set-up and analysis and publications
  • Updates and further development of LPJ-GUESS to investigate the impact of land management on ecosystem properties
  • Conduct literature searches to obtain data for model testing and evaluation
  • Documentation of code development and performance
  • Support other team members in questions of code development and application
  • Contribute to the group’ overall activities such as project reporting, supervision and teaching
  • Collaborate with LEMG team members and partners at other institutions (especially University of Edinburgh and Lund University).
Personal qualification

You have:

  • A Ph.D. degree in environmental science, ecology, meteorology, or related areas.
  • Demonstrated knowledge in coding languages, ideally C++.
  • Demonstrated proficiency in Python or R.
  • Fluency in English and strong communication skills.
  • Practical experience with version control systems like git, and familiarity with software testing and documentation practices.
  • Familiarity with high-performance computing (HPC) systems, parallel data processing, and data formats such as netCDF.
  • Willingness to travel.
  • Previous experience in running or developing an ecosystem model is an advantage.
Organizational unit

Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMKIFU)

Starting date

01.10.2025

Salary

Salary category 13 TV-L, depending on the fulfillment of professional and personal requirements.

Contract duration

3 years.

Application up to

June 6, 2025

Contact person in line-management

For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Almut Arneth, almut.arneth@kit.edu. 

Application

Please apply online using the button below for this vacancy number 178/2025 .
Personnel Support is provided by 

Ms Rink
phone: +49 721 608-25004,

Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

We prefer to balance the number of employees (f/m/d). Therefore we kindly ask female applicants to apply for this job.
Recognized severely disabled persons will be preferred if they are equally qualified.