Head of Earth System Science and 1.5°C Overshoot Team (m/f/d)

Job Description

Job description About the Team The Earth System Science and 1.5°C Overshoot Team is Climate Analytics’ scientific home for climate science on 1.5°C overshoot, specifically in relation to physical climate science to support quantitative climate risk assessment, climate assessment of emissions pathways and scenarios, and climate impacts emulation. The team connects global emissions pathways and policy choices in the mitigation space to climate system change and regional and sectoral risks, to produce decision-relevant scientific information to support policy, climate risk assessments, adaptation, and loss and damage strategies. It provides the scientific foundation for Climate Analytics’ work on the climate system and impact implications of 1.5°C overshoot and options to limit this and get back below 1.5°C before 2100, and the interpretation of emerging science for policy and implementation. The Earth System Science and 1.5°C Overshoot Team and the Impacts, Adaptation and Loss and Damage Team are expected to work in very close collaboration as one integrated science function. The Heads of these teams are jointly responsible for developing a coherent science agenda, research pipeline and a set of methods that connect earth-system modeling, climate scenarios and climate indices with sectoral and systemic risk, adaptation potential and limits, and loss and damage science and strategies. The team is expected to work in partnership with the Climate Policy Team, Diplomacy team, Implementation Strategies team and regional offices, to ensure that Climate Analytics’ work is grounded in the best available physical climate science. As the world enters a period of likely overshoot, the team’s mandate is to deliver agile but rigorous science that informs ambitious global climate action, supports vulnerable countries and counters scientific misinformation. About the Position The Head of the Earth System Science and 1.5°C Overshoot Team provides scientific leadership for Climate Analytics at the moment when the likely overshoot of 1.5°C is reshaping the global climate science and policy agenda. They will lead the organisation’s work on physical climate science risks, quantitative assessment of the overshoot and climate system implications of emissions pathways and mitigation options, and scientific synthesis of overshoot risks. The role is responsible for building a scientifically strong, agile and externally visible team that can provide cutting-edge science, rapid interpretation of emerging developments for overshoot and risks, robust quality assurance, and practical scientific support to Climate Analytics’ policy, diplomacy, implementation and regional work - particularly in support of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and other vulnerable countries. Climate Analytics sits at the science–policy interface: our science is rigorous and publishable, and equally policy-relevant, decision-useful and grounded in the realities faced by vulnerable countries. The Head is expected to set a high scientific bar, drive innovation, support publication and external visibility, build partnerships and funding, and play a leading role in positioning Climate Analytics as an influential voice on the scientific implications of 1.5°C overshoot and the evolving climate system. This role requires a senior scientist with deep understanding of climate system, a strong publication record, experience leading scientific teams, and the ability to bridge physical science, policy relevance, communications and organisational strategy. Responsibilities Scientific Leadership and Strategy Provide scientific leadership across the team’s areas of expertise, ensuring the team’s work reflects state-of-the-art science on climate system response, emissions pathway assessment, climate projections, emulators, observations, regional climate information and science synthesis. Build and maintain the team’s contribution to Climate Analytics’ work on minimizing the magnitude and duration of 1.5°C overshoot, including the quantitative climate assessment of the implications of different scenarios, policies and mitigation choices for peak warming, duration of overshoot, return below 1.5°C, impacts and residual risks. Set and drive the team’s direction identifying priorities for scientific growth and ensuring the team’s structure remains agile as new scientific opportunities and policy demands arise. Champion a culture of scientific excellence, intellectual honesty and ambitious thinking, and uphold scientific integrity across the team’s work. Oversee scientific quality assurance for major outputs, ensuring methodological robustness, transparency, consistency and appropriate treatment of uncertainty, and ensure rapid-response analysis meets the same scientific standards as longer-form research. Promote innovation in methods, tools, datasets, modelling workflows, climate services and communication products - pushing the team to apply sha