Project Manager in Earth Observation and Biodiversity

About

The Department of Geography hosts several research groups working on a variety of topics developing remote sensing technologies and applications and assessing key drivers of global change and biodiversity. This position embedded in the Remote Sensing Laboratories, comprising five professorships and several research and service groups with expertise in various remote sensing techniques such as spectroscopy, radar and LiDAR techniques in application fields such as biodiversity, water systems, change monitoring, and Earth system sciences.

Responsibilities

• The post includes the project management of an European Space Agency (ESA)-funded project to further develop and operationalize an existing tool for calculating genetic diversity indicators to support, implement and establish the approach for biodiversity monitoring within the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) worldwide.
• The position furthermore includes coordination of the project team, exchange with the ESA technical officer, managing interactions with the users of the tool and use cases to demonstrate the tool's usefulness, outreach activities, and the exchange with the larger “Genes from Space (www.genesfromspace.org)” initiative.

Profile

The Remote Sensing Spectroscopy group at the University of Zurich (UZH) (Department of Geography) is looking for a scientist ideally holding a PhD or a master's degree in Earth Observation, Remote Sensing, or similar fields and with experience working in the domains of biodiversity, land cover, genetic diversity and/or satellite Earth observation

Requirements:

• Experience in satellite data processing, e.g., land cover data sets, time series, large datasets (“big data”)
• Advanced programming skills preferably in Python or R
• Experience with ESA-type projects and/or a strong background in project planning and realisation (project management)
• Analytical and systematic thinking, with a solid mathematical background
• Innovative and out-of-the-box thinking, curiosity, strong motivation to learn new things
• Strong communication skills for a (truly) interdisciplinary team and to handle user-oriented communication
• Additional experience in biodiversity, genetic diversity, conservation, or (spatial) ecology is preferred

What we offer

• Embedding in an extremely motivated, need-driven and innovative project team
• Technical development of tools, apps or software in socially relevant and applied research projects to make EO data available for a broad non-expert audience
• A flexible and agile work environment to allow creative ideas
• An interdisciplinary team and work environment and a supportive team culture
• Insights into the space and biodiversity networks (e.g., with ESA and GEO BON)
• Opportunities to contribute to outreach activities

Benefits

• Flexible working models (such as part-time positions, mobile working, job-sharing)
• Childcare at the kihz foundation of UZH and ETH
• Wide range of continuing education courses of UZH and the Canton of Zurich
• Language Center run jointly with ETH Zurich
• Food and drinks at reduced prices in the UZH cafeterias
• Lunch-Check-card with UZH contribution
• Special conditions on the Academic Sports Association ASVZ
• Free seasonal flu vaccinations
• Rest and relaxation at the quiet room in the university tower
• Private traffic: Carsharing, rent a vehicle, parking space
• Digitalization: Hardware, software, mobile phone subscriptions
• Special conditions on hotel reservations
• Policies of the UZH
• Most UZH staff are employed according to public law
• Support for people from outside Switzerland

Location

Department of Geography Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland

Application Information

Please submit a letter of motivation and a complete CV in one PDF file until May 11th, 2026 latest.

About UZH

The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer! More → https://www.uzh.ch/en/explore/work.html

Please apply via our job portal www.jobs.uzh.ch.