Grants Management Officer in Bonn bei ECMWF

Your role

We are seeking candidates to hire for a new, exciting role as Grants Management Officer (A2). In this role you will be responsible for supporting the implementation of the grants activities at ECMWF. This includes supporting the management of the launch and closure of Calls for Actions (CfA) and the overarching grant processes at ECMWF through their full life cycle.

You will be part of the Grants Team, which consists of staff involved in the end-to-end implementation of a particular CfA or Prizes Competition. The Grants Team takes care of the quality assurance of the processes and coordinates and formulates input to the Evaluation Board. It comprises the Call Coordinator and Senior Grants Specialist as leads of the team, complemented by the Grants Management Officer, Technical Officers and a Financial and a Legal Officer. The Call Coordinator and Technical Officers are technical or scientific staff based in other departments and are responsible for content-driven aspects.

As Grants Management Officer you will play an important role in the successful rollout of the new grants procedures at ECMWF and their future development.

During the ramp-up phase, you will support the Senior Grants Specialist in the deployment of the different aspects of our grants activities. As the roll-out of the funding scheme progresses, you will focus on the delivery aspects of the grants processes.

Besides ECMWF colleagues, the Grants Management Officer will interact with grant beneficiaries and the European Commission. This role will also involve exchanging experiences and best practices with other international organisations that are implementing grants. Occasional travel to the ECMWF office in Reading, UK, and to locations across Europe may be required.

About the Section

The Procurement Section in the Administration Department works with scientific and technical experts, budget holders and management across the organization to procure goods and services to support ECMWF’s core and externally funded activities. With the deployment of funding actions through grants at ECMWF, this new role as Grants Management Officer has been created.

About ECMWF

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is a world-leader in weather and environmental forecasting. As an international organisation we serve our members and the wider community with global weather predictions and data that is critical for understanding and solving the climate crisis. We function as a 24/7 research and operational centre with a focus on medium and long-range predictions, holding one of the largest meteorological data archives in the world. The success of our activities builds on the talent of our scientists and experts, strong partnerships with 35 Member and Co-operating States and the international community, some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, and the use of innovative technologies and machine learning across our operations.

ECMWF has developed a strong partnership with the European Union and has been entrusted with the implementation and operation of the Destination Earth Initiative and the Climate Change and Atmosphere Monitoring Services of the Copernicus Programme. Other areas of work include High Performance Computing and the development of digital tools that enable ECMWF to extend provision of data and products covering weather, climate, air quality, fire and flood prediction and monitoring.

For additional details, see www.ecmwf.int

About Grants as Funding Instruments at ECMWF

Upon its decision to explore grants as a mechanism to disburse funding and support specific initiatives, ECMWF has developed a structure to operate with grants. To be able to operate grants and prizes on behalf of the European Commission, ECMWF has gone through a Pillar Review, successfully completed.

ECMWF’s first ambition is to use grant mechanism as part of its budget implementation responsibilities under Copernicus 2.0, running until the end of 2027. The aim is to provide financing from EU funds through grants and prizes by launching Calls for Actions for aspects which focus on stimulating user uptake at national level, fostering the development of innovative applications and partnerships with other stakeholders to create user-oriented solutions. Besides Copernicus, the use of grants will also be explored for Core funded activities, DestinE and eventual other programmes in the upcoming years. ECMWF projects a potential of 32 grants of different sizes and funding sources to be implemented in the next three years.

We are currently establishing a new team to focus on the operation of grants. The Grants Management Officer will support the Senior