The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an international organisation supported by 31 States*. Its prime objectives are the operational production of analyses, medium-range forecasts of weather and ocean waves and seasonal forecasts, as well as scientific and technical research directed to the improvement of these forecasts. ECMWF operates a large computing facility including supercomputers, data archiving systems and networks. For details see:

www.ecmwf.int

Main duties:

This post is located in the Administration Department of ECMWF and the incumbent will report directly to the Head of Administration. The person selected for this position will have two functions, Contract Officer and Legal Adviser.

The incumbent will work closely with the three Departments at ECMWF (Operations, Research, Administration).

The main responsibilities as Contract Officer include:

Contract negotiation and preparation

Serving as a Member of Tender Evaluation Boards, dealing with the administration of tenders and participating in the tender evaluation process

Managing the Centre’s intellectual property rights

The other function as Legal Adviser is a newly created role at ECMWF. The main responsibilities will be:

Supporting and advising ECMWF teams in all legal matters, this includes in particular, matters involving the host country, the European Commission and other international organisations as well as matters relating to intellectual property rights

In both functions, the incumbent will liaise with the Centre’s external lawyers

Qualifications:

Candidates should hold an advanced law degree, with at least eight years of current professional experience in a position of a similar nature. The successful candidate should also have an excellent working knowledge and understanding of English Contract Law.

The person selected for this role must be flexible, self motivated, have excellent organisational skills, show exceptional attention to detail and be able to work under pressure and to tight deadlines. Experience of working in an international environment would be an advantage.

Staff are normally recruited from among the nationals of the following Member and Co‑operating States: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom.

The working languages of ECMWF are English, French and German. The person recruited for this position should have an excellent command of spoken and written English. A good knowledge of at least one of the other two working languages would be an advantage.

Remuneration:

A4: £5,440.69 to £7,211.69 basic salary per month net of tax.

In principle, a staff member will be engaged at the lowest step of the grade of the post for which he or she is selected.

A deduction is made from the basic salary for the Pension Scheme and for Partial Invalidity (currently 8.8% for the Pension Scheme and 0.2% for Partial Invalidity). A further 1.46% of basic salary and related allowances is currently deducted for the ECMWF Supplementary Health Insurance Scheme.

Where applicable: household allowance of 6% of basic salary; children’s allowance of £214.41 per child per month; expatriation allowance of 14% or 18% of basic salary for expatriates; education allowance for children of expatriates is added.

Starting date: As soon as possible.

Length of contract: Maximum of four years for initial contract, with the possibility of renewal.

Applications: Application forms in word format can be downloaded from here (162kb) and completed on-line. If you download, you may (if near to the closing date) e-mail the completed form only back to ECMWF at jobs@ecmwf.int. Please note, however, that you must still send your full application form together with all the attachments to ECMWF by post. Under no circumstances should you e-mail your attachments.

Closing date: Completed applications for this post must reach the Personnel Section of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts not later than 3 March 2010.

[Version française] [Deutsche Fassung]

* The ECMWF Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

The ECMWF Co-operating States are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Date of Issue: 6 Janaury 2010
Posted: 6 January 2010

12.01.2010