GFZ is Germany’s national centre for solid Earth research. We advance the understanding of dynamic processes to address global challenges, from mitigating the impacts of natural hazards and sustaining our habitat amid global change to responsibly managing georesources. We are part of the Helmholtz Association, the largest German scientific organisation. With around 1,200 employees as well as ca. 500 guest researchers, we contribute to the Helmholtz Research Field Earth and Environment, aligning cutting-edge research with societal relevance and international collaboration. Our work integrates multidisciplinary studies across Earth’s system components, leveraging advanced technologies and infrastructure to research solutions and to transfer our knowledge to society. We are doing this according to our vision: “Taking the pulse of our Earth to safeguard a habitable planet”.
For section 1.3 Earth System Modelling (department “Geodesy”), we are looking for a:
Postdoctoral researcher (fmx) in Earth System Modelling

REFERENCE NUMBER 10215

Section 1.3 “Earth System-Modelling” at GFZ is looking for a domain researcher with experience in Earth System Modelling or Earth Observations to work on a Chat-Based Geoscientific Research Transformer (chatGRT). Together with our partner institution the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ, cf. vacancies there) funded by the Volkswagen Foundation “Impetus”, we are building an AI-powered, chat-based tool that frees scientists from tedious data handling and coding tasks, allowing them to focus on groundbreaking discoveries. By seamlessly connecting top research tools with diverse climate data, chatGRT translates research questions into actionable scripts - delivering answers, plots, and insights at the click of a button. Collaborating closely with domain scientists and AI experts, you will ensure that chatGRT is not only scientifically accurate and efficient but also secure, reproducible, and user-friendly.

YOUR QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master (or equivalent) and PhD degree in physics, geodesy, geosciences or related fields
• Programming skills in high-level statistical software or geospatial software
• Experience with Earth system observations and climate model data
• Good knowledge of English
  Start date: As soon as possible
  Fixed-term: 36 Monate
  Salary: Die Stelle ist nach TVöD Bund (Tarifgebiet Ost) mit der Entgeltgruppe 13 bewertet. Die Eingruppierung erfolgt nach den tariflichen Bestimmungen und den entsprechenden persönlichen Voraussetzungen.
  Working hours: Vollzeit (derzeit 39 h/Woche); Die Stelle ist grundsätzlich teilzeitgeeignet.
  Place of work: Potsdam

• Preparation of large-scale Earth system data, e.g., ocean, cryosphere, or hydrology
• Processing of in-situ and remotely sensed observations, e.g., from satellites or floats
• Compare traditional and LLM based analyses of modelled and observed data
• Monitoring, benchmarking and testing of the approaches
• Fine-tuning of open source GPT/LLM
• Close cooperation with the AI developers at DKRZ