Scientific Officer - High-impact weather forecast products (Space for Early Warning in Africa, SEWA)

ECMWF is seeking to fill an exciting new position as Scientific Officer - High-impact weather forecast products (A2). In this position, you will contribute to the Space for Early Warnings in Africa (SEWA) initiative, a new programme of the European Union aiming to strengthen Early Warning Systems of hazardous weather and climate-related events over Africa. You will act as a contact point in ECMWF for the enhancement, evaluation and dissemination of high-impact weather forecast products and workflows critical to Early Warning systems, across time scales.

You will ensure the integration of outcomes and knowledge gained through grants which, are focused on Regional Pilots on Impact-based Forecasts, with a focus on Africa. Under the coordination by ECMWF these are implemented by the partnership with peers from the European Meteorological Infrastructure, African Regional Climate Centres (RCCs) and linked partners such as the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres.

You will act as a Technical Officer for four grants, focusing on four regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Following a preparation phase in 2025, the grants are planned to start early 2026 and aim to demonstrate impact-based forecasts pilot services and tools for a variety of hazards. You will provide support and expert guidance to SEWA’s coordination team at ECMWF, including the Partnership Management and Training Specialist responsible for SEWA. You will provide expert guidance on the use, interpretation and evaluation of ECMWF NWP data and products, data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) and Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) and nowcasting data (EUMETSAT African Meteorological Satellite Application Facility, AMSAF).

As Technical Officer you will also be responsible for the management design and content-related aspects of the grants and work closely with the Grants Officer who will coordinate the administrative aspects.

You will contribute to training activities to be implemented through train-the-trainer activities, co-designed with the African RCCs and in close collaboration with partner organisations, EUMETSAT and the African Union Commission.

Coordination with priorities as defined within the WMO contribution to the United Nations Early Warning for All (EW4All) initiative will be important across all activities. You will join an existing team in the Forecast and Services Department of ECMWF, working on the design and enhancement of ECMWF’s operational forecast products across time scales, and collaborate with scientific and technical staff across ECMWF.