(Senior) Climate & Energy Data Scientist (f/m/d)

Job description

We are seeking a (Senior) Climate & Energy Data Scientist to strengthen our scenario and data capabilities at the interface of global mitigation pathways, climate policy analysis, and decision-relevant insights for countries.
In this role, you will contribute to core projects including the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) assessments, the National Pathway Explorer (NPE 1.5), and global mitigation scenario analysis looking at Highest Possible Ambition (HPA) (e.g. using Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) such as REMIND/GCAM). You will produce policy-relevant indicators such as 1.5°C compatibility, overshoot, CDR, methane, and fossil fuel phase-out timelines.
You will build and maintain robust, reproducible analytical workflows in Python to curate, evaluate, and interpret emissions and energy-system scenarios and support assessments of national pathways (e.g., nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and other country plans). You will work closely with the Climate Scientist to interpret the temperature implications of key scenario indicators — including carbon dioxide removal, land use, fossil fuel phase-out, and short-lived climate pollutants — drawing on climate emulator outputs. You will work as part of a multidisciplinary team that includes climate scientists, data scientists, economists, and policy and diplomacy experts.
Your Responsibilities

• Develop and assess global / national / sectoral mitigation pathways for their general use in project work.
• Support evaluation of country pathways and policy packages (e.g., NDCs and related plans), including comparisons against Paris-aligned benchmarks and pathway features such as overshoot, CDR, methane and other super-pollutants.
• Maintain and help evolve the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) scenario and assessment workflows, including routine running, documentation, and ongoing maintenance of global aggregation, equity, and country-level modelled pathway assessments, with links to temperature/climate-emulator pipelines where relevant.
• Support data harmonisation and downscaling workflows as backup capacity — ensuring that emissions and energy data from different sources are consistently processed, spatially and sectorally disaggregated, and ready for use across the broader assessment pipeline.
• Work with IAM scenario databases/ensembles (IPCC/IAMC-style formats, variable conventions, metadata, units) to produce policy-relevant indicators across emissions, energy, and key sectoral metrics.
• Support equity/fair-share and just-transition assessments of national pathways (e.g., effort sharing / fair-share ranges) and fossil fuel phaseout plans.
• Design and implement scenario diagnostics and quality checks (variable/region mappings, unit consistency, outlier detection, completeness checks) and document assumptions transparently.
• Develop and maintain reproducible, collaborative Python pipelines for scenario ingestion, cleaning, harmonisation, and analysis (version control, testing, documentation).
• Contribute to shared team infrastructure (e.g., data warehouse, standardised datasets, mappings, metadata practices) and improve internal standards for scenario handling.
• Participate in the development of methods and approaches to define and evaluate global, national and sectoral climate action.

Your profile

Essential Criteria

Education and Experience:

• PhD in a relevant field (e.g., climate or energy economics, engineering, physics, climate science, data science, or related) plus at least 5 years of relevant working experience; or equivalent professional background with demonstrated ability to conduct quantitative climate and energy analysis and applied scientific software or data work.

Specific expertise required:

• Strong understanding of climate policy concepts (1.5°C pathways, Net-Zero, overshoot, CDR, methane) and motivation to support Paris-aligned outcomes.

Core technical skills:

• Strong, demonstrable Python skills and commitment to reproducible research (environments, documentation, testing).
• Proven experience in collaborative software development: git workflows (branching/PRs), code review, and unit testing.

Desirable Criteria

Preferred/asset experience:

• Familiarity with global mitigation pathway modelling such as IAM scenario ensembles and databases (IPCC/IAMC-style formats, variables, metadata/units).
• Highly valued: hands-on IAM modelling experience (e.g., running, modifying, or diagnosing an IAM; understanding key assumptions and how they shape results).

Other desirable skills:

• Familiarity with emissions data harmonisation and downscaling methods for aligning data from different models or sources and translating global or regional results to national or sectoral levels.
• Familiarity with emulator-driven temperature assessment pipelines used in scenario evaluation (e.g., FAIR or MAGICC).
• Some familiarity with equity, just transition, and fair-share approaches to assessing and comparing national pathways.

Our offer

A job with purpose. With us you will work in a team of highly engaged people and with your skills you can make a positive contribution to our work in the field of climate change. We are a diverse and inclusive team and welcome your application regardless of your gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, disability status, citizenship, or any other aspect that makes you unique. We are working in a positive and inspiring working atmosphere with an international team. Our Berlin office is located near Moritz Platz in the heart of the lively Kreuzberg, surrounded by a dynamic startup scene. For the time being, we can offer a two-year contract. There is a prospect of extension, and we are interested in long-term cooperation. We will pay for your public transport ticket to Berlin and offer a company pension plan.

Conditions

Application Deadline: The position remains open until filled
Starting date: As soon as possible
Location: Berlin, Germany
Terms: We are looking for a long-term collaboration. We can offer a fixed-term contract for 2 years, with the perspective of extension based on performance and funding.

Please apply with your CV, cover letter and a list of three references in PDF format exclusively using the application form at the earliest. Please indicate in your cover letter your earliest start date and your salary expectations.

Applications by email or by post can unfortunately not be processed. We encourage you to apply using the application form.