Reference: 590_25_ES_CES_R2
Job title: Postdoctoral Researcher in Multimodal Foundation Models for Earth System Modeling (R2)
About BSC
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.
Look at the BSC experience:
BSC-CNS YouTube Channel
Let’s stay connected with BSC Folks!
We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.
We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.
If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.
Context And Mission
We are seeking a talented and motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to join our team for the prestigious ELLIOT Horizon Europe project. ELLIOT is a landmark €25 million, four-year initiative with 30 partners across 12 countries, dedicated to advancing the next generation of multimodal generalist foundation models (MGFMs). This project will be instrumental in tackling complex challenges in Earth system modeling and environmental monitoring by leveraging Europe’s leading High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructures, including BSC’s MareNostrum, LUMI, JUPITER, and Leonardo.
The successful candidate will play a crucial role in developing and optimizing machine learning workflows for large-scale environmental data analysis, contributing to the creation of robust and generalizable AI models for climate science. This position offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of machine learning, high-performance computing, and climate research, within a vibrant and international research environment.
Key Duties
Collaborate on the training and fine-tuning of large-scale multimodal foundation models for Earth system data.
Create and implement adapters for foundation models to effectively process and understand diverse spatio-temporal environmental data streams.
Develop energy- and compute-efficient variants of foundation models suitable for deployment on HPC platforms.
Contribute to the creation of open-source datasets, pipelines, and reproducible research tools for the scientific community.
Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of researchers at BSC and across the ELLIOT consortium.
Publish research findings in top-tier scientific journals and conferences.
Lead the development of the project and reporting responsibilities
Requirements
Education
A Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Computational Environmental Sciences, or a related field.
Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
Familiarity with foundation models, adaptation techniques, and fine-tuning (model development in PyTorch, multimodal data ingestion, HPC knowledge, etc.)
Hands-on experience with deep learning models, particularly in the context of large-scale datasets.
Experience working with environmental or Earth system data (satellite imagery, reanalysis data, etc.
Ability to deliver and experience in reporting and management of EU projects.
Excellent communication and teamwork skills, with a high level of proficiency in English.
Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) environments and parallel programming (e.g., MPI, OpenMP).
Experience with the management and analysis of large-scale geospatial and/or climate datasets (e.g., NetCDF, GRIB, Zarr).
Knowledge of Earth system models and climate science.
A strong track record of publications in relevant scientific venues.
Competences
Problem-solving, pro-active, result-oriented work attitude
Capability to work in an international and fast-paced work
Good communication skills
Good written and verbal communication skills in English
Ability to work in a professional environment within a multidisciplinary and international team
Conditions
The position will be located at BSC within the Earth Sciences Department
We offer a full-time contract (37.5h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
Holidays: 23 paid vacation days plus 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
Starting date: As soon as possible
Applications procedure and process
All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain:
A full CV in English including contact details
A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.
Development of the recruitment process
The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system (“Concurso-Oposición”). The recruitment process consists of two phases:
Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. – 40 points
Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. – 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.
The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.
In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.
The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.
At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment@bsc.es.
For more information, please follow this link.
Deadline
The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.
OTM-R principles for selection processes
BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.
BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.
For more information follow this link