Scientific Programmer in Atmospheric High-Performance Computing

The Center for Climate Systems Modeling (C2SM) is one of ETH’s extradepartmental centres and a joint venture between ETH Zurich, MeteoSwiss, Empa, WSL, and Eawag. One central focus of C2SM consists in providing technical programming support and carrying out technical model development of the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) Weather and Climate Model for our groups, community projects, and the international ICON consortium. As part of this work, C2SM installs, deploys, and maintains software stacks for high-performance computing (HPC) applications and is responsible for continuous integration of the software. In particular, C2SM, in close collaboration with ETH Zurich, MeteoSwiss, and CSCS drives the further technical development of this model in the area of HPC towards the exascale. It also contributes to technical developments of ICON aligned with the requirements of the international ICON consortium.

C2SM is seeking to appoint a Scientific Programmer in Atmospheric High-Performance Computing (80-100 %) to carry out its activities around technical support and further development of the ICON model.

In this role, the candidate will take over technical projects related to model development assigned by individual C2SM member groups and contribute to the further technical development of the ICON model as required by the EXCLAIM project and the international ICON consortium. They will install, deploy, and maintain software stacks HPC and support short-term requests focusing on HPC from the C2SM ICON community. These requests typically involve addressing technical issues related to executing, compiling, and debugging code, as well as managing the testing infrastructure at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre CSCS. Additionally, the candidate will provide and maintain, in collaboration with other C2SM programmers, an infrastructure for the C2SM community to facilitate exchange, such as the support forum and GitHub organizations. Furthermore, they will prepare and conduct technical education courses for C2SM group members, work alongside other C2SM programmers to organise community events, and ensure appropriate preparation and follow-up for these activities.

• MSc or PhD in Atmospheric Science, Physics, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Very good programming skills in Fortran and Python, with possible experience in other languages, e.g. C/C++.
• Experience with weather and climate models in a Unix environment and expertise in high-performance computing, particularly GPU programming (CUDA, OpenACC) considered a plus.
• Goal-driven individual capable of working independently.
• Team- and service-oriented, enjoying collaboration in a diverse working environment.
• Interest in supporting a large scientific community and communicating effectively in large community projects.

We offer an exciting position which provides the opportunity to work on technically developing scientific software, to collaborate with national and international research groups and supercomputing centres, and to be part of a motivated team. The position is available from March 2025 (or as soon as possible thereafter). This is a long-term position with an initial appointment for two to three years.