Research Software Developer

The successful candidate will join a small team of software developers working with researchers in the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE) Program and collaborating institutions on further developing and continuously improving tools to support energy- and climate-related research in ECE and in the wider academic community.

An interest in the scientific content of the software tools – climate change and energy transition research –will help communication within the multi- disciplinary teams and developing a deeper understanding of the user needs.

background

The IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE) Program is one of the leading scientific research institutions in the realm of integrated assessment of climate change and the systems transition to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition to its own high-impact research, ECE provides a range of services to the broader research community.

The ECE program recently established the research theme Scenario Services & Scientific Software[1] supporting energy- and climate-related research in ECE and in the wider academic community. Researchers and research software professionals are developing several open-source tools to facilitate modeling, analysis and visualization of climate change mitigation scenarios. These tools and packages are implemented following best practices of collaborative scientific software development, seeking to foster open science and the implementation of the FAIR principles for data management.

As part of its mission, ECE hosts dozens of interactive scenario web databases (aka Scenario Explorer). These databases form an integral part of the research infrastructure at ECE and in the wider integrated-assessment research community and they are also a key tool for dissemination of scientific insights and results. For an example of our work, visit the AR6 Scenario Explorer[2]: it makes accessible the quantitative scenario data underpinning the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on “Mitigation of Climate Change” (2022), the contribution of Working Group 3 to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). Another state-of-the-art tool is the Hotspots Explorer[3], which presents downscaled scenario results using interactive maps. Other tools widely used in the research community are the MESSAGEix Integrated Assessment Modeling framework[4] and the Python package pyam for scenario data analysis and visualization[5].

The software stack consists primarily of open-source Python packages for scenario processing and database management as well as three-tier web applications (Web UI, Java servlets, ORACLE/Postgres RDBMS). We use GitHub Actions and Jenkins for CI/CD, and we strive to adopt Agile software development practices in our daily work. IIASA supports continuous learning of its staff, facilitating formal trainings and informal sharing of best practices among research software professionals.

[1] https://software.ece.iiasa.ac.at

[2] https://data.ece.iiasa.ac.at/ar6

[3] https://hotspots-explorer.org

[4] https://docs.messageix.org

[5] https://pyam-iamc.readthedocs.io

the position

The successful candidate will join a team of research software developers and closely collaborate with researchers across multiple disciplines at the IIASA ECE Program and their international partners in addressing one or more of the following tasks:

Beyond these tasks, the successful candidate will also work on general activities of the Scenario Services & Scientific Software research theme, including:

Applicants are encouraged to include with their applications evidence of successful contributions to development of open-source (scientific) software and/or of collaboration on multi-developer software projects; for instance, links to a GitHub profile and/or specific projects or pull requests; or references/testimony from collaborators.

qualifications

appointment terms

The successful candidate should be available to take up the position as soon as possible (start date negotiable). We offer an initial fixed-term, full-time employment contract for one year, with the possibility for extension thereafter. Eligible applicants wishing to work part-time hours may be considered.

Duties will be carried out at the IIASA premises in Laxenburg, near Vienna in Austria (up to 100 days per year home office working within Austria possible).

The successful candidate will be appointed in accordance with the IIASA profiles for research software professionals.

we offer

A gross annual, full-time salary of minimum:
EUR 45,328.00 exempt from income tax in Austria and negotiable, based on the qualifications, skills and experience of the selected individual.

In addition to being exempt from income tax in Austria, IIASA salaries are:

OTHER BENEFITS

About IIASA

IIASA is committed to a working environment that promotes equality, diversity, tolerance and inclusion within its workforce. This is reflected in our IIASA core values. We encourage qualified candidates from all religious, ethnic, and social backgrounds to apply. In the case that candidates are equally qualified, preference will be given to applicants from countries where IIASA has a Member Organization.

Further Information

For further information about this opportunity please contact:

Dr. Daniel Huppmann, Integrated Assessment and Climate Change (IACC) Research Group

For general information about working at IIASA, please contact: recruitment@iiasa.ac.at

Applications

To apply for this opportunity, you will need to provide the following documents in English:

Applicants are encouraged to include with their applications evidence of successful contributions to development of open-source (scientific) software and/or of collaboration on multi-developer software projects; for instance, links to a GitHub profile and/or specific projects or pull requests; or references/testimony from collaborators. Deadline for receipt of applications: Until filled