• Undertake a literature review to explicitly develop investmentspecific KPIs crosscutting water and climate to assess investments in water, land, energy and food systems on climate bankability, its relevance to national sustainable strategies, and investor’s climate goal.
• Applying earth observationbased models to derive productivity (land and wateindicators at different spatial scales across multiple cropping systems for both preinvestment and postinvestment portfolio assessment.
• Conduct highquality research on the role of climate finance in enhancing sustainable water resource management.
• Analyze the effectiveness of various climate finance mechanisms in supporting water projects, including publicprivate partnerships, green bonds, carbon credits and blended finance.
• Develop case studies and policy briefs highlighting successful models and best practices.
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to develop, integrate, and implement innovative approaches for mainstreaming water in the climate finance portfolio in the regions where IWMI operates.
• Collaborate with team members to design and implement research projects on climate finance and water.
• Contribute to the scientific advancement and methodological developments of IWMI’s digital water innovation toolsets.
• Develop technical guidance and training materials for custom geospatial applications.
• Prepare highquality research reports and journal articles.
• Provide technical support to researchers for complex geospatial analysis in various research and management projects at IWMI headquarters.
• Assist in training and capacitybuilding activities related to the tools developed within the Water Productivity/Water Accounting group.
• Perform other related assignments as required.

Requirements

• PhD in Water Resources Management, Agricultural Science, Environmental Science, hydroinformatics or a related discipline.
• At least three years of demonstrated experience in conducting interdisciplinary research, preferably at the intersection of climate and water resources, using earth observation data and modeling tools.
• Evidence of scientific publishing, demonstrated by a very good publication record in peer review journals (minimum of 5 article.
• Experience in calculations of water footprint measures across the value chain preferably in the Global South.
• Experience in use of soil sensors data/validation/groundtruthing.
• Prior experience in using supervised and unsupervised algorithms, including machine learning methods on large spatial datasets in Python, R, or any other programming language.
• Experience in using Amazon Web Services, Google Earth Engine or other cloudbased earth observation data processing environments for geospatial tool developments.
• Experience designing and implementing approaches for datascarce environments.
• Strong understanding of deriving biophysical indicators on different types of crop systems from remote sensing and modelbased approaches.
• Strong data assimilation and image fusion skills to integrate existing and upcoming satellite datasets and their processing methods for crop water use mapping.
• Strong understanding of impact assessment frameworks using earth observation data especially when dealing with small land sizes (<1 h.
• Proficiency in Python, R, or other programming languages with experience in numeric and geospatial Python packages like Numpy, Scikitlearn, GDAL, or similar packages.
• Familiarity with climate finance mechanisms and their application in water resource projects.
• Strong analytical, numerical, and data visualization skills, with the ability to process large temporal and spatial datasets in Python.
• Ability to use advanced spatial analysis and geospatial tools for multiscale assessments of agricultural water use.
• Positive attitude, solid work ethic, and a demonstrated capacity and interest in learning new technologies.
• Selfmotivated, enthusiastic, and able to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Excellent oral and written language skills in English.
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people in a multicultural and multidisciplinary environment, with sensitivity and respect for diversity.

• Experience in soil moisture downscaling approaches.
• Experience in model ensembles geared toward ET estimation.
• Fluency in French or Arabic would be an asset.

Benefits

• Be Italian nationals holding a valid passport or identity card.
• Or be EU citizens holding a valid passport or identity card and confirmation of registration from the Registrar’s Office (Anagraf
• Or nonEU citizens holding a valid Italian work permit (permesso di soggiorno per lavoro subordinat