GFZ is Germany's national centre for solid Earth research, part of the Helmholtz Association, with around 1,200 employees and ca. 500 guest researchers. It advances understanding of dynamic Earth processes to address global challenges, from mitigating natural hazards and sustaining habitat amid global change to responsibly managing georesources.
For Section 2.1 "Physics of Earthquakes and Volcanoes" (Department of Geophysics), GFZ seeks a Research Scientist in Seismology (Reference Number 11320). The section studies the physical relationship between magmatic/volcanic processes and earthquakes, and the transport of crustal fluids, to better understand seismicity, earthquake swarms and the degassing of mantle-derived CO2. The post sits within the Czech-German INTERREG cross-border project "Sustainable Trans-Border Geothermal Development and Geohazards Monitoring" (TransGeo), which conducts high-precision seismicity studies to identify active faults and potential zones for geothermal exploration, complemented by university partners' high-resolution reflection seismic experiment. Outreach and close contact with local stakeholders and the population are important components.
Responsibilities: contribute to the maintenance, installation and processing of a Large-N seismic network, including data and metadata quality control; participate in consortium and working group meetings; prepare, co-coordinate and take part in public science events informing locals about the geology and the project, including information materials; participate in active and passive seismic field experiments; develop and test a real-time local seismic catalogue for the Czech-German border region and integrate seismicity results with partners' geophysical imaging; publish results in peer-reviewed journals as a team effort; present at conferences and prepare draft interim and final reports.
Essential qualifications: MSc and PhD in Earth Science focused on seismology and geophysics; solid geophysical and seismological background; experience with local earthquake analysis; documented research experience and a strong publication record; experience working on and conducting third-party projects; seismological fieldwork and fieldwork coordination experience; good multi-language programming knowledge including Python; documented experience in continuous multichannel waveform data processing; familiarity with seismology toolboxes (e.g. Pyrocko, ObsPy) and visualisation tools (e.g. GMT, ParaView, QGIS); good written and oral English. Desirable: experience with Grond and Fomosto (Pyrocko), driver's licence, multi-lingual.
Conditions: start date 1 October 2026; fixed-term 24 months; salary group 13 TVöD Bund; full-time (currently 39 h/week), generally suitable for part-time; place of work Potsdam. Benefits include state-of-the-art equipment, public service benefits, extensive training, in-house career advice, flexible working hours, work-life balance support and an on-site day-care centre. GFZ promotes diversity, gender equality and preferential consideration of severely disabled applicants with equal qualification.
Closing date: 2026-08-16
HOW TO APPLY:
Apply via the GFZ online application form only (Reference Number 11320) by 16 August 2026: https://gfz.concludis.de/bewerber/landingpage.php?prj=580P11320&b=12&lang=en_GB&ie=1&oid= . Required documents: motivation letter, CV, copy of certificates/grades. For queries about the field of activity, contact Prof. Dr. Torsten Dahm (dahm@gfz.de) or +49 (0)331-6264-1200; for general application questions, the recruiting team at +49 (0)331-6264-28787.