Climate Modelling Assistant

About the role

The Climate Modelling Assistant supports climate prediction modelling and meteorological data analysis for the Greater Horn of Africa, working under the CDPU Unit Head and collaborating with climate scientists, forecasters and data scientists.

Key responsibilities

• Provide technical support for preparation, processing, analysis and verification of climate prediction products, including sub‑seasonal and seasonal forecasts.
• Set up, configure and run regional climate and weather prediction models (e.g., WRF) on high‑performance Linux systems.
• Monitor climate variability and large‑scale drivers such as ENSO, IOD and MJO, and produce diagnostic analyses.
• Carry out routine forecast verification using deterministic and probabilistic scores and maintain verification archives.
• Support capacity‑building activities for national meteorological services and document methodologies and SOPs.

Required profile

• Master’s degree in meteorology, atmospheric sciences, climate science or a related field.
• At least two years of experience in climate forecasting, modelling or operational climate services.
• Hands‑on experience installing, configuring and running numerical weather prediction or regional climate models in Linux/HPC environments.
• Strong analytical, communication and stakeholder‑engagement skills.

Required skills

• Python, shell scripting, R or similar scientific programming languages.
• Climate‑data tools such as CDO, NCO, xarray, pandas and NumPy.
• Working with NetCDF, GRIB and other climate‑data formats.
• Version control (e.g., Git) and ability to write efficient, documented code.