Location: Brussels (or elsewhere in Europe, if preferred by the candidate, to be negotiated)

Duration: permanent employment (or fixed-term, if preferred by the candidate)

Start date: between 01/01/2026 and 30/04/2026

Working hours: full-time

Contact & application: sebastien.lepy@cresym.eu

In a nutshell

CRESYM is looking for a Scientific Advisor with expertise in applied mathematics (&/or optimisation, AI technologies, tbd), with four main missions:

• Identify pending research action needs, set up R&I Projects to address them, coordinate R&I Projects;
• Support the Project Committee in building & consolidating CRESYM’s R&I portfolio & monitoring every Project;
• Organise R&I Projects’ legacy, ensuring that R&I results are transformed into Association’s “Assets” at the appropriate time (coordinated by the IT Assets & Projects Manager);
• Coordinate thematic doctoral networks[1] (DoNets), including their training and networking events.

The Association’s Scientific Advisors will work collaboratively, sharing responsibility for the Projects and DoNets portfolios, with one acting as lead and the other as deputy.

Every Scientific advisor shall comply with CRESYM’s By-Laws, Internal Rules and every relevant internal procedure of the Association. They will report to the General Manager.

The Association is young and every Scientific Advisor shapes their position.

… and with more details

Project Committee support

• Perform a scientific watch on their attributed topics²;
• Identify pending research action needs, esp. surveying Members & organising expert discussions;
• Set up members’ consortia & self-funded research Project Agreements or organise responses to public calls for Projects (Horizon Europe, Clean Energy Transition Partnership, etc.) where appropriate (see below – Project coordination);
• Build & consolidate CRESYM’s R&I portfolio;
• Report to the Board & General Assembly about the Association’s work program & every Project;
• Act as secretary to the Project Committee.

Project Coordination

A Scientific Advisor may be assigned one or more projects. For each Project, the Scientific Advisor will:

In the initiation phase,

• support the interested Members to assess the opportunity of a new Project, gather industrial needs (use cases) and supporting literature, clarify goals and methods and draft the Project description; and
• once the Project description is approved by the Projects Committee, liaise with the would-be Participants, identify the required skills, devise and set up the Project Workplan (deliverables, tasks, schedule, budget), fostering consensus and engagement.

In the implementation phase (once the Project Agreement is signed):

• depending on its own workload and assignment in the Project, act as, or support, the Project Leader;
• prepare the Project Management Board and Project Supervisory Board meetings;
• implement their decisions as far as the Project management is concerned, and especially update the Workplan and phased budget;
• contribute, if Project Leader, to the successful implementation of the Project tasks, coordinating and animating the Project team, controlling the budget, validating the outputs and checking their adequacy with the Project expectations, reporting to the Projects Committee.
• assess the Project’s scientific outcomes on behalf of the industrial partners and anticipating their industrial application (or having them validated by the relevant experts).

At Project end (in coordination with the IT Assets & Projects Manager)

• propose the Project’s scientific outcomes dissemination strategy;
• check the smooth takeover of the deliverables (Assets) by industry, their easy accessibility and dissemination,
• if appropriate, organising the industrialisation phase of R&I results, esp. with the Linux Foundation for Energy

DoNets

Every Scientific Advisor will be in charge of one (or more) researcher network(s)  – “DoNet(s)” –, and especially for each:

• Bring the participating researchers together once or twice a year (esp. during cresROADS), for joint workshops, training sessions &/or industrial visits/interviews;
• Check the training needs & organise the relevant joint training sessions;
• Help industry & researchers network together to ease recruitment of PhD graduates by industry.

Support to corporate activities

Every Scientific advisor may contribute to:

• the organisation of one or more Asset management & exploitation activities (e.g. COLib), coordinated by the IT Asset & Projects Manager.
• the setup of a training offer available to Members, based on academic Members’ needs and industrial members expected standards.
• the organisation of Association’s events (esp. cresROADS, & cresCENDOs), coordinated by the General Manager;
• the Association’s advocacy, dissemination & communication activities, coordinated by the General Manager.

Every Scientific Advisor will participate, when appropriate, to external conferences, events, meetings with Members and other Association’s partners. They may represent the Association vis-a-vis stakeholders, contribute to the hiring of new members and new staff.

Your profile

Our Scientific Advisor should:

• be excited about new technologies and interested in contributing to fostering research for the energy sector;
• have a suitable technical or university degree (e.g. in the field of applied mathematics, power systems, energy…) or else a comparable qualification through professional training;
• be confident in using Linux & Windows and MS Office tools;
• like to work in a team as well as autonomously;
• be comfortable with structured work and procedures;
• have strong written and spoken English skills;

and possibly also:

• master software intellectual property & open source concepts and their implementation;
• have a past experience with a transmission system operator for electricity or gas;
• be comfortable with working with git and code review processes;
• be open to the use of different programming languages back & front.

About us

CRESYM is a three-year-old, less-than-10 employee non-profit organisation.

We are devoted to speeding up the energy transition and securing future energy system operation by

• bridging industry & academia together (our Members);
• catalysing the set up, and running R&D projects with open-source outcomes (our Projects);
• promoting R&D results and/or organising their industrialisation (our Assets);
• helping skilled engineers/scientists and energy operators to connect (our DoNets);

Our employees enjoy a motivating and innovative environment with varied work areas, that they can actively help to shape, and flexible HR procedures to promote a good work-life balance.

We are committed to protecting privacy and promoting diversity & gender equality.

[1] E.g. (existing) PSy about Power System Stability, MESTo – cross-sector coupling; or (upcoming) DiSST – DSO matters; CoRFu – Control Room of the Future; IAM – asset management; & advanced computing, gases…