Are you our new colleague?
Are you an ambitious post-doctoral scientist with strong numerical skills and experienced in atmospheric remote sensing and data processing? Then you are the person we are looking for.

You and SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
With your work at SRON, you will contribute to the development of tools for analyzing the performance of the innovative instrument payload of the European Copernicus CO2 Monitoring (CO2M) mission. CO2M is one of the most challenging European missions for atmospheric remote sensing, comprising the launch of three satellites in the years 2025-2026 by the European Space Agency (ESA). SRON has a leading role in advising ESA regarding the scientific targets of the mission and develops operational data processing algorithms of CO2M for the European operational satellite agency EUMETSAT.

Your position and team
You will be part of our team of 8 scientists working on trace gas retrieval in the Earth Science Group (ESG) of SRON. The ESG consists of approximately 25 scientists (permanent, postdocs, PhD students) that work on the data processing and interpretation of satellite instruments as well as the definition of new instrumentation and guiding the development. Our team develops algorithms for trace gas remote sensing, for operational data processing and validation and gives scientific guidance during the implementation phase of future missions.

Your project
You will contribute to the end-to-end performance analysis of the CO2M spectrometer and polarimeter instrument. For this purpose, we will simulate radiometric calibrated measurements of the CO2M spectrometer and polarimeter with global and regional data coverage. Performing CO2 accuracy and precision analysis on these data sets will give us inside in the expected mission performance. You will present your results to the project team, our colleges at the agencies and at conferences and in peer-reviewed journals.

Position requirements
We are looking for a person with a PhD in (atmospheric) physics or similar. Furthermore, a clear asset will be strong programming skills in Python, C++ and Fortran and experience in atmospheric trace gas and aerosol remote sensing. Good English language skills (both written and oral) and the ability to work independently as well as part of a team are required for this position.

Fixed-term contract: 2 years. Extension of this period depends on external funding.

What we offer
The position we offer at SRON is a full-time position in which you will be employed by NWO-I (The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research Institutes) for a period of 2 years. Extension of this period depends on external funding. The salary will be in accordance with NWO salary scale 10 with a maximum of € 4.514,– gross per month on a full-time basis (depending on your level of education and experience). Compensation for commuting expenses will be provided. NWO has good secondary employment conditions such as:

• An end of year bonus of 8,33% of the gross yearly salary;
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross yearly salary;
• 42 days of vacation leave a year on full-time basis;
• An excellent pension scheme;
• Options for (additional) personal development;
• Excellent facilities for parental leave;
• Ample training opportunities;
• Possibility of flexible working hours;

SRON

Why SRON
SRON's mission is to achieve breakthroughs in international scientific research from space. To this end, SRON develops groundbreaking technology and advanced space instruments. SRON promotes societal applications for space technology.

About SRON
We have a strong international reputation as 'excellent in space research'. The quality and societal relevance of our science is considered ‘world-leading’. Our mission is to bring about breakthroughs in international space science. Therefore, our Instrument Science Group, supported on project basis by the Engineering Group, technologically enables breakthroughs in our science programs: Technology, Astrophysics, Earth science (atmospheric science) and Exoplanetary science.