Company Description
HE Space is a successful international space company. For over than 40 years, we have been supporting our customers with qualified experts in the field of engineering, science and administration. HE Space has joined forces with CS Group to lead the engineering and digital space market in Europe and to provide highly skilled consulting.
The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) invite applications for the position of Director of the International Project Office for Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX-IPOC), to be hosted jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA) and University of Cape Town (UCT). The WCRP is sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the International Science Council (ISC), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The WCRP goals are to determine the extent to which climate can be predicted and the extent of human influence on climate.
Regional downscaling and CORDEX
The WCRP views regional downscaling as both an important research topic and an opportunity to engage a broader community of climate scientists in its activities. CORDEX has served as a catalyst to achieve this goal since its inception in 2009 (WMO bulletin Addressing climate information needs at the regional level: the CORDEX framework).
The CORDEX vision is to advance and coordinate the science and application of regional climate downscaling through global partnerships. Its goals are:
- To better understand relevant regional/local climate phenomena, their variability and changes, through downscaling.
- To evaluate and improve regional climate downscaling models and techniques
- To produce coordinated sets of regional downscaled projections worldwide
- To foster communication and knowledge exchange with users of regional climate information
Regional Climate Models (RCM) and Empirical Statistical Downscaling (ESD), applied over a limited area and driven by GCMs can provide information on much smaller scales supporting more detailed impact and adaptation assessment and planning, which is vital in many vulnerable regions of the world. Close engagement with the impact and adaptation communities and capacity building across the 14 CORDEX domains across the globe are important pillars of the CORDEX initiative.
The International Project Office for CORDEX (IPO) has been hosted by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) until 2025. The new IPO will be hosted by ESA and UCT who are now seeking an experienced Director to lead the IPO going forwards and who will be based at ESA’s UK site in Harwell, UK, together with the Programme Manager. However, the team is contracted and managed for ESA by HE Space Operations Ltd. HE Space has been supporting ESA with qualified experts for more than 40 years.
Job Description
As part of the CORDEX International Project Office, you will have the following responsibilities:
- Establishing CORDEX-IPO onsite in ECSAT;
- Connecting CORDEX-IPO to the WCRP secretariat, in particular JSC and RIFS-IPO and CORDEX panel and take their requirements into consideration;
- Connecting CORDEX-IPO to the ESA Division on Climate and Long-Term Action and climate related activities at Harwell Campus;
- Provide overall support to planning and implementation of CORDEX priorities, infrastructure and overall governance, to ensure appropriate international coordination and communication between CORDEX and the other WCRP Core Projects and Lighthouse Activities (LHAs), as well as other international programmes;
- Management of the CORDEX-IPO activities and office staff;
- Attends the sessions of CORDEX governing bodies and other meetings and represents CORDEX at relevant national and international meetings;
- Ensures that the budget is used at the discretion of CORDEX leadership in compliance with ESA legal framework, in particular its financial rules and regulations and WMO regulations and auditing as appropriate;
- Mobilize financial and in-kind resources from various sources to cover CORDEX activities and additional CORDEX-IPO staff;
- Responsible for administering and managing such resources;
- Define interaction with WCRP relevant boards and deliverables in cooperation with the CORDEX panel and expand on the international collaboration.
Qualifications
You will have the following qualifications and relevant experience:
Required:
- PhD in physics or Earth science, or any other appropriate scientific field;
- Track record in climate research and modelling or climate science management;
- Expertise in setting up and developing an international project office or equivalent to support and advance the governance, infrastructure and outcome of climate science projects relevant to CORDEX;
- Experience in working with international organisations within the climate network.
- Experience in leading large international projects and teams;
- Experience in attracting additional funding from various sources;
- Experience in effective user engagement and partner organisation management;
- At least 10 years of relevant work experience;
- Excellent negotiation, communication and interpersonal skills.
- Proficiency in English;
- Capacity to travel internationally;
Desirable:
- Regional climate modelling experience (dynamical or statistical);
- Formal project/programme management training/qualifications;
- Experience of capacity building;
- Experience of working within in the WCRP landscape;
- Experience of line management of remote teams.
Additional Information
This job is located in Harwell, UK.
If you think you have what it takes for this job, please send your CV (in English and in Word or PDF) to Leandros Foteinias, by clicking on the button “Apply for this job” quoting job UK-HP-25154.
Last apply date: 30/10/2025!
Our benefits: We offer competitive compensation, and our benefits packages are customised per location to better match local needs. Here in the spotlight are three example benefits of them for our employees located in the UK:
- Relocation support: Financial Support for your relocation expenses to Harwell and one month's paid accommodation if needed.
- Pension Scheme: All our employees in the UK fall under a pension scheme. HE Space contributes to this pension scheme.
- Training & Professional Development: Your individual training needs are important to us, and we support your attendance at conferences, e-learning, conventional group and individual classes.
Inclusive and committed employer, our company works every day to combat all forms of discrimination and promote a respectful working environment. That's why, committed to gender diversity and overall inclusivity, we encourage all applications and profiles.
An exciting and dynamic international working environment awaits you!
