Climate Applications Scientist

Climate Applications Scientist

Job Requisition

Date Posted: 31 July 2026

Closing Date: 31 August 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication:
Internal & External

Type of Appointment: 4 years, extendable to indefinite

Directorate:
Earth Observation Programmes

Workplace:
Harwell, GB

Grade Band: A2 - A4

ECSAT, Harwell, United Kingdom

Climate Application Scientist specialising in satellite remote sensing of the atmosphere, leading a dedicated portfolio of projects in ESA’s Actionable Climate Information Section, Climate and Long-Term Action Division, Climate Action, Sustainability and Science Department, Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes.

ESA’s Actionable Climate Information Section is the focal point for the Agency’s climate-related activities and is based at the European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT), situated on the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.

This ESA Section aims to increase the availability and use of global, satellite-based Earth observation data for climate-related science and decision-making. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) drives international efforts to combat climate change by limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as set out in the Paris Agreement. In response to UNFCCC requirements for systematic monitoring of the climate system, ESA launched the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) research programme in 2008.

Through CCI, ESA develops a suite of global climate data records of key components of the Earth system, known as Essential Climate Variables (ECVs). The climate quality datasets produced by CCI are a major contribution to the evidence base used to understand climate change and drive international action. Climate modellers use ECVs to study drivers, interactions and feedback due to climate change, as well as reservoirs, teleconnections, tipping points and fluxes of energy, water and carbon, and predict future change.

The CCI also addresses the R&D required to support the UNFCCC Paris Agreement reporting requirements for signatories. Another major focus of the CCI is to connect climate observation and modelling communities through initiatives such as WCRP’s CMIP and CORDEX.

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Reporting to the Head of the Actionable Climate Information Section, you will work to expand the availability, awareness, use and scientific impact of long‑term satellite Earth observation (EO) data records for climate science and applications, with a main focus on the atmosphere, but also on other Earth system domains, as required by ESA.

You will investigate and advise on the detailed scientific goals of the various international scientific and operational user communities concerned with international climate research, modelling, adaptation and mitigation activities.

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• deriving technical specifications for EO‑based information, mainly relating to the atmosphere’s physical and chemical state and its interactions with the Earth’s surface, with particular regard to the requirements of climate users, such as long‑term stability, accuracy, consistency, availability, uncertainty characterisation and compatibility with climate observations from other space and non‑space sources;
• establishing dialogue with specialised climate user communities, analysing their needs in terms of satellite‑based observation of the climate system and assessing their feedback on available EO‑based information;
• initiating and monitoring ESA R&D projects to respond to climate users’ needs, such as enhancing capabilities to generate satellite‑based climate data records for climate monitoring, reanalysis, modelling, attribution, projection, trend assessment and data assimilation;
• validating the results of such developments with the relevant climate users;
• promoting the use of EO data for supporting climate science, services and policies, such as the UNFCCC Global Stocktake commitments decided upon at COP 21, Paris, in 2015;
• cooperating with internal and external partners to maximise the benefits of…