Senior Research Engineer Data Strategist, Science For Policy (Re3-T1) - Ai4S

Job Reference

532_24_DIR_CSS_RE3-T1

Position

Senior Research Engineer Data Strategist, Science for Policy (RE3-T1) - AI4S

Closing Date

Saturday, 31 August, 2024


About BSC


The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries. We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured. We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences. If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.


Context And Mission


The Computational Social Science and Humanities (CSSH) program envisions preparing the social sciences and humanities for the era of data, artificial intelligence (AI), and Exascale supercomputing. Our mission is to foster collaboration between social scientists and computer scientists, making high-performance computing (HPC) accessible to all researchers in the field. Through innovative approaches, we aim to apply social science research to contribute valuable insights for informed policymaking. In our pursuit, we focus on a wide range of key societal research areas such as Population and Household changes, Democratic Quality, Social Media, Public Opinion and Political Communication, Equity and Welfare in Education and Labor Market, legal systems and Legislation, Social-Ecology, Science of Science, and History, Archeology and Cultural Heritage. Employing a mix of advanced statistical models, AI/Machine Learning, Large Language Models (LLMs), Agent-Based Modeling (ABM), Social Network Analysis (SNA), high-performance computational methods are applied to a wide range of large datasets from official statistics, surveys, social media, news, laws, historical archives, current data archives, archaeology data, citizens' volunteered and web-scraping data, and public administration and industry data. We are seeking an outstanding candidate to lead the necessary data strategies and partnerships with public administration and industry to a) build a data space for research and b) increase the public impact and engagement of research projects across CSSH. The funding for these actions/fellowships and contracts comes from the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility - Next Generation, within the framework of the General Invitation by the public business entity Red.es to participate in the talent attraction and retention programs within Investment 4 of Component 19 of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan. For more information, please check: https://www.bsc.es/join-us/excellence-career-opportunities/ai4s


Key Duties


Provide support and collaborate with the data strategies and public impact across all research areas and projects in CSSH, including collaboration in the technical writing of competitive research projects strategic to the program
Contribute to the Science for Policy group, connecting research projects' data strategy needs and the technical team on Data & Methods for High-Performance CSSH
Coordinate the access and reuse of a wide variety of datasets, including surveys, national statistics, social media, historical archives, laws and national plans, interviews, citizens' volunteered data, and industry data
Design and implement the program's strategy for data partnerships with public administration and industry/businesses, towards building a data space for research
Conduct research on public and economic analysis of research projects
Build capacity and expertise in public involvement/engagement in research within CSSH
Work collaboratively with the administration to ensure strong public involvement in research across CSSH
Build data capacity and collaboration among social and economic agents working to increase impact for and with the groups they serve.


Requirements


Education

PhD in Economics or similar

Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience

10 years of experience in research, public administration and/or industry in social science and data analyst related work
Expertise applying econometric models and simulations of public policies to social sciences research questions
Working knowledge of using innovative data sources, including social media, citizens' volunteered data, administrative data, and industry data.
Proven experience designing interdisciplinary research projects
Research strategist skills: market analysis, strategic planning, performance monitoring, and reporting.
Familiarity with access and management of sensitive and private data

Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience

Familiarity with the application of LLMs (Large Language Models) for social sciences.
Previous involvement in promoting the collection and use of administrative data.
Fluency in English is essential. Proficiency in Spanish and other European languages would be advantageous.

Competences

Strong interpersonal skills: Communicative, enthusiastic, highly collaborative, proactive, self-driven, and organised.
Excellent communication skills for effective collaboration.
Analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Ability to work both independently, within a team and in a multi-cultural environment.
Ability to build and use networks.
Capacity to contribute to research projects planning and strategy



Conditions



The position will be located at BSC within the Computational Social Sciences Department
We offer a full-time contract (37.5h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance
Duration: 4 years
Holidays: 23 paid vacation days plus 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
Salary: 60.000,00 €
Additional Expenses Grant: Each fellowship will be associated with a grant for additional expenses, such as IT equipment, travel, training, stays, etc.
Starting date: asap - the incorporation for this vacancy must be before the 16th of December 2024



Applications procedure and process


All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain:

A full CV in English, including contact details.
A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.

Development of the recruitment process
The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases:

Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points


Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. -60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.

The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.
In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.
The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.
At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment (at) bsc (dot) es.
For more information, please follow this link.
Deadline
The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.
OTM-R principles for selection processes
BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc. BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.


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