After some 30 years of cooperation, the ALADIN, LACE and HIRLAM Numerical Weather Prediction Consortia have decided to reinforce their collaboration. At the end of 2020, twenty-six European National Meteorological Services will become Members of a new, unified Consortium, under this Memorandum of Understanding – MoU covering the period 2021-2025.
The Members have adopted an ambitious 2021-2025 Strategy outlining their objectives in meteorological and computer science for this time period.
The development of all codes will continue, in order to support world-leading operational NWP suites operated by the Members, with a priority on high resolution (from kilometric to hectometric grid size) and short-range (including nowcasting suites). Another priority of the Strategy is to further increase the interoperability and portability of the codes. The codes are currently grouped in three “Canonical System Configurations†(CSC AROME, ALARO and HARMONIE-AROME), and full interoperability is only achieved inside the CSCs. The Consortium will strive to increase interoperability across the CSCs. It will also work to make the codes portable on various computer architectures, in order to cope with the rapid evolution of HPC systems and encourage maximum competition in procurements of the Members.
The human resources provided by the Members for this work represent approximately 100 FTE. These staffs are employed by the Members and work at their premises, but meet regularly. All aspects of the work are coordinated internationally by a Management Group. For the first years of the Consortium, the list of officers is as follows:
- 1 Programme Manager (the “PM†)
- 3 CSC Leaders
- 1 Integration Leader (provided by Météo-France).
- 8 Area Leaders (“AL†)
- 1 Coordinator for the Data Assimilation starters KIT applications.
- 1 Scientific Secretary (provided by Météo-France)
- 1 Coordinator of Networking Activities (“CNA†)
The Consortium will appoint these officers via two calls for applications.
First call: Programme Manager and 3 CSC leaders
In a specific Call for Applications issued in the summer 2020, four management positions have been already appointed:
• Claude Fischer from Météo-France as PM,
• Jeanette Onvlee from KNMI (Netherlands) as Harmonie-Arome CSC Leader,
• Martina Tudor from DHMZ (Croatia) as Alaro CSC Leader,
• Eric Bazile from Météo-France as Arome CSC Leader.
Second call: Areal Leaders and CNA
Call for applications for the 8 positions of the Area Leaders of the new Consortium
The Area Leaders work under the leadership of the PM on the implementation of the Strategy. In accordance with items 106-108-109-112 of the MoU, the Area Leaders are responsible for the modernization of the code and working methods, which should lead to increased modularity and interoperability across CSCs. The list of the 8 Area Leader positions and the terms of reference of each position are presented below.
In their activity, the Area Leaders will respect the continuity of the CSCs especially in the initial phase of the MoU. However, Area Leaders are not responsible for the specific implementation of the scientific developments in each CSC, that remains the responsibility of the CSC leaders.
Each Area Leader function is corresponding to a minimum commitment of 0.5 FTE and is delivered by one Consortium Member. Applications are required to be sent as personal application by one staff (the Applicant), with backing from the Member institute employing the staff. The MoU foresees the possibility that the whole Area Leader commitment can be split among the Applicant and one supporting person from the same employer. In the case where the personal manpower commitment of the Applicant remains lower than 0.5 FTE, an explanation about how the function is proposed to be fully occupied must be provided (name of additional staff, total manpower commitment reaching 0.5 FTE, organization of the tasks within the function). However, a single personal application fulfilling the whole function will receive a higher priority in the ranking and selection process (see below).
Applications are invited according to the following calendar:
• Issue Call for Applications: 10 November 2020
• Deadline for Applications: 15 January 2021 (incl.)
Conditions to be eligible to these positions are the following:
• You must be already employed by your Institute or show a commitment that you will be employed if selected.
• Your application must be supported by your Institute.
• Good knowledge of English.
How to apply:
Send your application to Patricia Pottier from Météo-France: patricia.pottier@meteo.fr
Your application should consist of:
• a letter of motivation
• a CV
• a letter of support by your Institute
• if the function is proposed to be fulfilled with the support of additional staff, then the letter of support should contain information about how the responsibility and tasks are proposed to be shared. The names of the additional staff should be listed with CV
Selection process:
The applicants will be interviewed by a selection panel composed of the PM, the 3 CSC Leaders, the chairs of STAC and PAC, and an external adviser on human resources (the Head of Personnel of ECMWF). The selection panel will rank the applications per Area, taking into account the way the function is proposed to be fulfilled (eg. single versus multiple staff proposal), the level of expertise, the interpersonal skills of candidates, the coherence of the vision and motivation of the Applicant with respect to the strategical goals and ToRs of each Area Leader function.
The final definition and the attribution of the Area Leader functions will be done by the Assembly. The Assembly will attribute all Area Leader functions simultaneously, taking care of geographical balance.
The general and specific Terms of Reference for the 8 Area Leaders are provided here.