Senior Air Quality Modeller

Salary - £43,092 - £45,973, depending on experience
Hybrid working (50/50)
We reserve the right to close this advert early if we find the right candidate, so we encourage you to apply early. Working at UKCEH is rewarding. Our science makes a real difference, enabling people and the environment to prosper, and enriching society. We are the custodians of a wealth of environmental data, collected by UKCEH and its predecessors over the course of more than 60 years. As a valued member of our team, you’ll get:

• 27 days annual leave, rising to 29 days after five years

• 10% employer’s pension contribution
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• 24 hour, 365-day access to support with physical, mental, social, health or financial issues
• Flexible working opportunities
• And much more.

Are you an enthusiastic and innovative Air Quality Modeller combining a solid knowledge of atmospheric chemistry and meteorology, with excellent numerical modelling skills and experience in project and team management? We have an exciting opportunity to explore the changes in atmospheric composition in response to human activity and climate, and how these changes impact ecosystems, biodiversity and human health. You will take a leading role in exploring new methods to push the boundaries of modelling air pollution across a range of spatial scales (from global to urban) and contribute to the management of a wide project portfolio of atmospheric chemistry transport modelling projects, based principally on the EMEP-WRF atmospheric chemistry transport modelling system (https://eip.ceh.ac.uk/apps/atmospheric/). You’ll be joining a leading independent, not-for-profit research institute that is committed to recruiting talented people like you, progressing your career and giving you the support you need to thrive at UKCEH. Your main responsibilities will include:

• Undertake research in the UK, Europe and globally on atmospheric composition, using state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry transport models, in a high-performance computing environment
• Extend our existing design and undertake quality control on how we model sub-grid variability of air pollutant concentrations and deposition, e.g. in order to improve the investigation of the relationship between land, vegetation and air pollution
• Lead on the training, development, and supervision of existing and new team members
• Win research income as well as lead and manage research projects
• Investigate options for moving our expanding modelling activities to next generation high-performance computing platforms
• Critically analyse and interpret air quality model results, utilising advanced data science methods
• Present our research to customers and policy makers

As Senior Air Quality Modeller, you will be co-managing a small but established team of seven Scientists, responsible for supervising and developing more junior staff members, securing research income, managing crucial stakeholder relationships, and overseeing a portfolio of multiple projects. For the role of Senior Air Quality Modeller, we’re looking for somebody who:

• Has a PhD in a relevant subject such as Environmental science, Meteorology, Physics or Chemistry (essential)
• Demonstrates a track record of producing peer-reviewed scientific publications, conference presentations and presenting to non-specialist audiences (essential)
• Possesses a strong foundation in atmospheric chemistry, meteorology, parallel programming, and high-performance computing (essential)
• Demonstrates knowledge of modelling atmospheric chemistry and meteorology
• Has existing programming skills in Linux shell scripting, FORTRAN, R, Python
• Has demonstrated an ability to apply best practice in model development, application and data analysis
• Leads the development and enhancement of air quality research
• Exhibits excellent numerical and data science skills
• Has strong skills in data management, quality control and data analysis with attention to detail

• Ideally has experience of:
  • Running the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) and EMEP Atmospheric Chemistry Transport models
  • Knowledge of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) / Large Eddy Simulation (LES) or urban-scale modelling
  • Experience with advanced health impact analysis methods and/or ecosystem impacts assessment of air pollution

• Please note that this role involves occasional attendance at international events and conferences and so a willingness to travel abroad essential to enable collaboration with partners in countries and territories eligible to receive official development assistance.

If we’ve just described you, we’d love to meet. Apply now with your covering letter and publication list.