Position Title: Climate – Energy Modelling Specialist
Number of positions: one
Reference: ICPAC-S2S
Organizational Unit: IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC)
Duty station: Nairobi with frequent travel in the IGAD region
Duration: One-year contract, including a three-month probation period, with the possibility of extension subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds
Deadline for Applications: 25th September 2025
BACKGROUND
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) is IGAD’s specialized institution, mandated to generate, translate, and disseminate climate information and early warnings for resilience building, sustainable development, and disaster risk reduction. As the WMO-designated Regional Climate Centre for the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA), it delivers essential services to vulnerable communities in Eastern Africa. ICPAC serves the eight Member States of IGAD (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda), as well as Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
Operating at the nexus of science, policy, and development, ICPAC delivers actionable climate services to enhance resilience across Eastern Africa. Its core focus areas include climate forecasting, food security, water and energy resource management, disaster risk reduction, and multi-hazard early warning systems, with a strong emphasis on gender mainstreaming. The Centre offers climate-sensitive sector advisories, including agriculture, energy, health, DRM, hydrological modelling, transboundary water cooperation, and forecast-based financing for anticipatory action. ICPAC also strengthens national capacities by offering technical training, promoting open-access climate data platforms, and fostering innovation through partnerships that leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and impact-based prediction. With experience serving National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), disaster risk management authorities, and other stakeholders across the GHA region, to enable informed decision-making and climate-resilient development.
Since 2015, the Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) programme has been transforming how weather and climate information is produced, accessed, and used to support sustainable development. Funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), WISER builds strong partnerships with NHMSs and Regional Climate Centres (RCCs) to strengthen the forecasts, warnings, and outlooks they provide. By supporting co-production between these expert centres and their users, WISER facilitates the creation of tailored services for critical sectors such as humanitarian response, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), agriculture, water, energy, and health. Beginning in March 2022, the programme expanded its reach to include WISER Africa, WISER Middle East, and North Africa (MENA), and, most recently, WISER Asia Pacific. At its core, WISER aims to build climate resilience by co-producing actionable weather and climate services that empower decision-making at local, national, and regional levels.
The Pan-African Seasonal Strengthening (PASS) project is a WISER Africa initiative that supports communities across the continent most vulnerable to extreme weather, seasonal variations, and climate change. To achieve this, PASS strengthens the production, communication, and uptake of co-produced sub-seasonal to seasonal climate information. The project focuses on East, West, and Southern Africa, fostering collaboration and cross-learning among the continent’s RCCs to empower informed decision-making at all levels.
A key component of this initiative, the PASS-East Africa (PASS-EA), will be implemented through a partnership between the Met Office and ICPAC. Building on lessons from previous CONFER and WISER projects, PASS-EA works to improve the quality, accessibility, and application of climate services across the GHA. Guided by principles of co-production, equity, innovation, and actionable science, the project ensures these services are useful, usable, and actively applied. This focus on tailoring solutions to local contexts empowers decision-making that protects lives, enhances livelihoods, and supports sustainable development.
The PASS-EA project will enhance the capacity of the ICPAC to develop improved climate services for the energy, health, and media sectors. This is based on co-production methods and advances in numerical modelling, statistics, and AI and ML tools, using the GHACOFs as a key platform. By extending prior CONFER, ClimSA, and WISER-supported activities, PASS-EA also bolsters the capacity of 11 NMHSs through foundational climate prediction training workshops, pre-COFs, and targeted training on sub-seasonal and seasonal prediction science, dynamical ensemble prediction systems, AI/ML-based prediction, performance evaluation, and GCM post-processing tools available via ICPAC’s HPC resources. These efforts equip NMHS forecasters to improve the quality, accessibility, and application of climate services across the GHA.
To cascade this capacity from the regional to the national level, PASS-EA organizes synergy-building workshops that bring together media professionals, climate forecasters, policymakers, private sector actors, and end-users, while also training journalists in effective climate communication. These sessions introduce tools like the East Africa Hazards Watch System (EAHWS), assess user needs, and culminate in the Seasonal Media Action Plan (SMAP), a collaborative framework that positions media as vital to bridges between scientists and communities, promotes co-production of advisories, and incorporates feedback from vulnerable groups. By further cascading its efforts, the project reaches last-mile climate information users through sub-regional climate outlook forums (sub-COFs) and climate risk schools, stimulating discussion about how climate risk is understood and managed in different contexts. By connecting regional, national, and local networks in an annual cycle, PASS-EA ensures an efficient flow of climate information from its generation to its application and contributes to reducing disasters and building resilience in the GHA region.
OBJECTIVES OF THE POSITION: To implement PASS-EA at ICPAC, we are seeking a dynamic and innovative Climate Modelling expert to lead key technical activities and support coordination aspects of PASS-EA project. This is a unique opportunity to drive significant advancements in climate science and its application across GHA, delivering tangible impacts on livelihoods and sustainable development. In this role, the incumbent will be at the forefront of enhancing ICPAC sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) forecasting capabilities. A major emphasis will be on supporting the region’s emerging climate service for renewable energy sector, where your work improving solar and wind forecasts will directly inform energy production, investment, operations, and risk management. You will tailor S2S forecasts, refine numerical prediction models, develop cutting-edge statistical, ML/AI tools, and integrate dynamical model outputs, with high-resolution data to feed renewable energy models. You will tailor S2S forecasts, enhance numerical prediction models, and develop advanced statistical and ML/AI tools, integrating dynamical model outputs with high-resolution data to support renewable energy modelling. While cantered on energy, your innovations will generate critical benefits for agriculture, water resource management, and disaster risk reduction, delivering precise and actionable information across multiple sectors.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Climate–Energy Modelling expert will spearhead technical and support coordination aspects of the PASS-EA project at ICPAC. The expert shall be responsible for the following tasks:
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Academic Qualification
Professional Work Experience
Skills and Competencies
Language requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of the French language is an added advantage.
DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT: The Climate – Energy Modelling Specialist shall be contracted for an initial 12-month period, including a three-month probation period, with the possibility for extension based on performance and availability of funds.
LOCATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT: The duty station is at ICPAC Office in Kenya, Nairobi.
HOW TO APPLY
Qualified applicants from IGAD Member States are eligible to apply.
Interested candidates should send their applications in PDF accompanied by cover letter, Curriculum Vitae, academic credentials, copy of passports/ ID cards biometric page and three reference persons including the last employer.
Applications should be sent by E-mail to the following addresses: recruitment@igad.int with subject line “ICPAC-S2S”.
Closing date for application will be on 25th September 2025. Due to the large number of applications, we expect to receive; only successful candidates who meet the required experience & qualifications for this position will be contacted. Contact: + 25321354050
IGAD is an equal opportunity employer. Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.
Deadline for Applications: September 25, 2025
“While we try our best to keep our information updated, the closing date of the actual job source may be changed by the recruiter without prior notice. With this, please make sure to check the official job link when submitting your application. Thank you.”
