AI Systems and MLOps Engineer for Earth Observation

AI Systems and MLOps Engineer for Earth Observation

In this position, you will be an active member of our Simulation and Data Lab for AI and Machine Learning in Remote Sensing, which aims to strengthen interdisciplinary research and operational services by bridging satellite remote sensing applications with large-scale AI, high-performance and innovative computing. You will focus on the deployment, operation, and scaling of AI inference services for Earth observation at the interface between supercomputing and operational AI. The core of the job is to make AI models reliable, maintainable, and accessible to users via the JUPITER AI Factory (JAIF) – the only AI Factory with an exascale supercomputer in Europe.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and operate scalable inference and fine‑tuning services for geospatial foundation models on JAIF, including performance optimisation and reliability at scale.
• Build and maintain container‑ and cluster‑based environments for AI model serving, with monitoring, logging, alerting and deployment pipelines (versioning, promotion, rollback, reproducibility).
• Implement data and model workflows for large EO datasets, covering pre‑processing, model serving, post‑processing, integration with data access layers, and delivery to users.
• Develop and document clean, stable APIs and interfaces that enable non‑technical users to access AI services and integrate them into operational workflows.
• Contribute to engineering best practices (CI/CD, automated testing, documentation, shared tooling) and open‑source projects, technical reports, publications, presentations, and educational activities (courses, hackathons, community events).

Qualifications

• Excellent Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a related field.
• Proven hands‑on experience in industry delivering services to external users and working on production machine learning systems and MLOps workflows.
• Strong programming skills in modern languages, solid experience with Linux environments, containerisation, version control, and deployment and operation of services on high performance computing systems or cloud infrastructure (including GPU‑accelerated workloads).
• Practical experience with modern deep learning frameworks, model serving in production, and building end‑to‑end data and model pipelines (including basic monitoring, experiment tracking, and model lifecycle management).
• Experience with Earth observation or other geospatial data is beneficial but not required.
• Evidence of impact through publications and/or open‑source contributions.
• Self‑motivated personality with interest in working in a multidisciplinary team on scientifically challenging problems.
• Very good command of written and spoken English is required.

Our Offer

• A HIGH‑IMPACT ROLE: An exciting and varied role at the forefront of research in an international and interdisciplinary working environment.
• A LEADING ENVIRONMENT: Work on frontiers of scientific and technological challenges with access to cutting‑edge and unique supercomputing systems including Quantum Computers and JUPITER, the first Exascale computer in Europe.
• PROFESSIONAL GROWTH: Comprehensive training courses and individual opportunities for personal and professional further development.
• HEALTH & WELL‑BEING: Comprehensive occupational health management programme with a wide range of offerings – e.g., beach volleyball court, running groups, yoga classes, and more, plus medical service and social counselling.
• WORK‑LIFE BALANCE: Optimal conditions for balancing work and private life, with flexible working (in terms of location) generally available after consultation.
• VACATION: 30 days of vacation plus additional days off.
• FAIR REMUNERATION: Classified in pay grade 13–14 of the TVöD‑Bund collective agreement – detailed salary information available on the BMI website.

In addition to exciting tasks and a collegial working environment, we offer you much more:

Diversity & Inclusion

We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, e.g. in terms of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation / identity, and social, ethnic and religious origin. A diverse and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities in which everyone can realise their potential is important to us. Further information on diversity and equal opportunities: and specific support options:

Location: Aachen, North Rhine‑Westphalia, Germany.

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