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Director General of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory

Employer
CTAO ERIC
Location
Bologna (IT)
Salary
N/A
Posting live until
3 Dec 2021

We are seeking a leading international scientist (m/f/d) to serve as the

Director General of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory: a future European Research Infrastructure Consortium.

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory ERIC (hereafter CTAO ERIC) is an international research infrastructure in the process of being finalized, envisaged as a general-purpose observatory for VHE waveband with full sky coverage based on two sites, one in the Northern hemisphere and one in the Southern hemisphere. The CTAO ERIC combined telescope array performance will guarantee a rewarding harvest of scientific results about our vision of the high-energy universe and contribute to providing answers to unsolved fundamental questions of physics, which can be grouped in three broad themes:

  • Understanding the origin and role of Cosmic Rays;
  • Probing extreme cosmic environments via very high energy gamma rays;
  • Exploring frontiers of fundamental physics including the nature and distribution of Dark Matter.

The CTAO ERIC Headquarters will be located in Bologna (Italy) and its facilities will be located in: Canary Islands, Spain, (North Observation Site); Antofagasta Region, Chile (South Observation Site, hosted and operated by the European Southern Observatory – ESO), Zeuthen, Germany, (Science and Data Management Center).

The Governments of 9 Countries and one Intergovernmental Organisation, listed as follow, support the final submission to the European Commission for the establishment of the CTA Observatory ERIC as Founding Full Member: Republic of Italy, (leading the ERIC founding establishment process), Austria, Czech Republic, European Southern Observatory (IGO), Republic of France, Federal Republic of Germany, Republic of Poland, Republic of Slovenia and the Kingdom of Spain. Additionally, the Government of Japan have declared the willingness to join as Strategic Partner or Third Party; Astronomy Australia Ltd as Third Party; the Governments of Switzerland declared its intention to join as Observer and United Kingdom may also join the ERIC.

The Director General shall

  • deliver a fully operative Observatory according to the Construction Plan timeline;
  • keep pro-active relationships with Members to effectively achieve allocation and delivery of the Members’ contributions;
  • implement the CTAO Council policy;
  • elaborate the budget and update it on yearly basis;
  • keep relationships with stakeholders, user communities, industry, other ESFRI research infrastructures, regulatory and funding bodies;
  • attract new Members, Observers, Strategic Partners and/or Third Parties to join CTAO ERIC;
  • ensure that CTAO ERIC activities comply with relevant European and national regulations and ethical principles;
  • lead fundraising and advocating the programmatic goals of the CTAO-ERIC;
  • coordinate public relations and dissemination policy;
  • monitor, measure and report on CTAO ERIC progress to the Council as well as to the European Commission;
  • build an efficient and collaborative working environment.

The successful candidate is required to hold a PhD and/or other equivalent degree in a relevant field (astrophysics, astronomy and physics) and have a solid international scientific and management experience related to research infrastructures, preferably in s. c. “Big Science”. We place special emphasis on strategic capabilities and excellent operational leadership abilities and managerial skills. The successful candidate is required to have a good record of achievements in his/her career and to have experience in leading global teams, consortia or organisations, preferably within an international setting. Excellent communication and negotiation skills are required as well as knowledge of research funding programmes, including EU programmes, and a track record in funding acquisition will be an asset.

The appointment as Director is for a period of five years. Reappointment is possible. The DG is required not to reach the retirement age within the mandate, i.e. he/she must be younger than 62 at the moment of submitting the application. All partners have set themselves the goal of promoting women in executive positions. Applications from women will therefore be explicitly encouraged. Applications from candidates with disabilities or those requiring additional support are welcome.

For questions regarding the announcement, please contact Aldo Covello, Ministero dell’Università e Ricerca (MUR) – Italy, Tel. +39 375 510 2431, email aldo.covello@mur.gov.it

Please send your electronic application in English, including a statement of purpose and standard documents (curriculum vitae in tabular form, degree certificates, lists of academic publications and research grants acquired), at the latest by December 3, 2021 to the recruiting agency BELOW TIPPMANN & COMPAGNIE PERSONALBERATUNG GMBH Berlin to Simone Pfister and Georg Misgeld, code number 3000-680 to info@bt-personalberatung.de.

Please note that your application documents will be shared with the members of the search committee, the ERIC Board of Governmental Representatives and the future ERIC Council members.

Reference to data protection: Your data protection rights, the purpose for which your data will be processed, as well as further information about data protection is available to you on the website: https://www.bt-personalberatung.de/en/privacy-policy/.

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