Principal Researcher: Transport Engineering/Planning at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Principal Researcher: Transport Engineering/Planning in the Transport Management, Design and Systems Research Group, within the Smart Mobility Cluster. The incumbent will provide technical leadership on projects and programmes in areas that include public transport service design; institutional capacity building support; multi-modal transport modelling; intelligent transport systems; and financing of transport systems. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide effective technical leadership in multi-disciplinary and multi-agency passenger transport research projects and programmes;
• Develop new avenues in passenger transport research and development;
• Lead the development of toolkits, simulation/forecast models and technology packages for effective deployment in the transport sector;
• Promote a culture of scientific excellence in terms of both quality and delivery;
• Assist the Research Group Leader (RGL) and Impact Area Manager (IAM) to construct and implement a business plan for the impact area (including strategy, goals, mission, HR, finances);
• Establish, build, manage and maintain mutually beneficial and credible stakeholder relationships locally and internationally;
• Support the financial sustainability of the research group, through active networking, developing and managing client relationships, understanding client needs and aligning them with internal needs and capability;
• Prepare reports, guidelines or other documents aimed at disseminating the results and outcomes of projects;
• Provide guidance to researchers and mentorship to interns and learners;
• Raise personal, team and institutional profiles through publishing original research and presenting at national and international conferences and workshops;
• Ensure the quality and delivery of projects and publications in the group by means of technical reviews and quality assurance.

Qualifications, Skills And Experience

• A Master’s degree in civil/industrial/transport engineering, transport planning or applied mathematics, with at least twelve years’ field experience in one of the following:
• Transport planning
• Travel surveys
• Transport modelling
• Transport policy review,
• Transport decision support systems
• Demonstrated track record of generating impactful and influential professional outputs;
• A Doctoral degree in a relevant field will be an added advantage;
• Must be registered with a relevant professional body;
• Good understanding of the transport sector in South Africa;
• Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills;
• Ability to continuously disseminate research outputs in the form of technical papers;
• Ability to innovate and generate new knowledge;
• Must have good communication, presentation and writing skills;
• Must have the ability to work accurately, efficiently and independently as well as in a team;
• Must be computer literate as well as have the ability to understand and use domain specialised software;
• Ability to work in a methodical manner is essential;
• Ability to carry out strategic stakeholder interactions at all levels;
• Ability to effectively present ideas, concepts, plan and procedures;
• Demonstrated track record of the ability to work accurately, independently and efficiently.