Career Opportunities at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job:

CSIR has a vacancy for a professional Manager: Security who will maintain a safe and secure work environment at all CSIR sites by developing and implementing appropriate security policies and procedures. This position is based in Pretoria.

key responsibilities:

• Provide leadership in the development and implementation of CSIR security policies, strategies, procedures, and standards;
• Manage the security department, including budget;
• Ensure physical security at all CSIR sites including strict access and egress control, and CCTV monitoring;
• Develop CSIR security risks management and emergency plans;
• Manage the operationalisation of the CSIR Security Management plans;
• Contribute and participate in CSIR emergency planning and response activities;
• Conduct security investigations and analysis and ensure appropriate responses to findings in order to prevent crime;
• Ensure personnel and document security to prevent industrial espionage;
• Manage security related contracts and monitor supplier performance as stipulated in service level agreement / contracts;
• Conduct threat and risk assessments and investigate incidents and mitigate risks;
• Analyse security breaches and maintain database of security breaches;
• Ensure compliance and alignment with applicable government regulations related to security, including, but not limited to the National Key Point Act, Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS) set by State Security Agency (SSA) and applicable standards throughout the CSIR;
• Co-ordinate Joint Planning Committee (JPC) meetings on behalf of the CSIR;
• Co-ordinate and manage security clearance applications;
• Conduct security awareness training to CSIR staff, tenants and contractors;
• Establish and maintain robust relationships with customers by ensuring complete understanding of customer requirements and deliver viable security solutions;
• Conduct security site reviews, review findings, write review reports and make recommendations to relevant management teams;

Qualification ,skills and experience:

• A three-year degree or equivalent qualification in security related discipline with at  least five years’ experience in a security management position;
• Registration with PSIRA Grade A;
• Possession of a Secret Security Clearance;
• Valid driver’s license;
• Ability to liaise and interact with CSIR top management, SANDF, SAPS, SSA and other government security agencies;
• Contract management experience;
• Working knowledge of applicable security legislation, regulations, directives and standards, in particular, the National Key Point (NKP) Act;
• Expert knowledge of and experience in security investigations; vetting and intelligence and dealing with confidential/sensitive material;
• Knowledge of policy formulation and implementation, organising and communication;
• Competence in training and presentation programmes for security awareness sessions to management, employees and other stakeholders;
• Computer literacy and a valid driver’s license;
• Must have financial background and the understanding of budgeting.

Closing date: 26 March 2024

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About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Business Development Manager within the Mining Cluster in the Advanced Production & Security Division. The incumbent will undertake business development and marketing for the cluster and to secure sales and RDI funding as per cluster business plan targets. This will involve the Mining industry and sector analysis identification of key and strategic clients, building stakeholder relationships and pursuing business opportunities. The role will, furthermore, manage customer satisfaction and represent client interests in specific domains in project delivery. This position is based in Pretoria, but the incumbent will be expected to spend significant time at the CSIR, Mining and other DRI facilities, at client’s sites including undertaking marketing trips.

Key responsibilities:

Business Development Leadership

• In collaboration with the Divisional Business Development & Commercialisation Manager, Cluster Manager and Impact Area Managers, lead the business development strategy for the Mining Cluster illustrating strategic fit to Division and CSIR strategy;
• Support the Business Development and Commercialisation Manager with local and international business development opportunities;
• Demonstrate cross impact Area business development supported by contribution to revenue targets of the cluster;
• Lead technical teams in client interactions and integrate sector knowledge in multi-dimensional research and development;
• Integrate technical teams in client interactions (requirement analysis & solution development and delivery);
• Facilitate and drive regular client stakeholder engagement including post project evaluation with the impact area manager to understand the use of testing and research results for clients’ decision support and value add;
• Manage the scoping, costing of proposals, negotiate terms and conditions including securing orders.

Mining Industry specific market and sector analysis

• Guide the customer/partner definition and specification of capabilities/products/services required within a five to ten years’ horizon;
• Provide impact and value assessments of strategic direction decisions/recommendations/alternatives;
• Capacitate the advancement, packaging and securing of contracts for research, development and innovation opportunities that arise from cluster engagements with mining stakeholders;
• Synthesise industry challenges into the capabilities development areas necessary to formulate and develop solutions in the mining cluster;

Strategic research and development programs

• Support the cluster management team in identifying business-aligned research development and innovation programs
• In collaboration with Cluster Manager, Impact Area Managers as well as Business Development & Commercialisation perform detailed requirement analysis for client solutions;
• Define program, scope and objectives, deliverables, schedule, financial risk, resource, interdependency and integration management;
• Align technology/capability roadmaps to strategic plans;
• Manage key collaborators and align relevant sector/industry players, and other NSI players.

Financial sustainability

• Contribute to securing revenue for the cluster, in collaboration with Cluster Manager, Impact Area Managers as well as Business Development & Commercialisation;
• Oversee program implementation, ensuring programs deliver impact and value to all stakeholder;
• Program oversight in terms of schedule, deliverables, financial, risk and relationship management;
• Anticipate, identify and provide mitigating strategies for business/strategy/technology risks in collaboration with Operations;
• Negotiate terms and conditions of contracts in collaboration with Cluster Manager, Impact Area Managers as well as Business Development & Commercialisation;
• Responsible for the establishment of sufficient cluster capacity for contract R&D;
• Manage the sales register and assessment of the sales position for the cluster;
• Manage the recovery of outstanding Invoices to maintain a healthy cash-flow;
• Diversify income streams of the Impact Area as per agreed targets;
• Drive business development in the private and public sectors, with health pipeline of opportunities.

Performance Management

• Drive overall business development KPIs for the cluster, including overall revenue, sales pipeline, relationships, and contracts secured etc.;
• Implement performance management processes within the cluster executed according to policy planning time lines;
• Drive project management to ensure timely delivery of projects on schedule and budget;
• Responsible for internal and external client satisfaction as per agreed targets;
• Manage the drafting and negotiation of contracts and agreements (IP licensing, revue sharing and contract R&D, etc.) in collaboration with the Commercialisation Manager.
• Develop a robust pipeline of business leads to ensure financial sustainability and growth.

Relationship Management

• Develop and facilitate national and international stakeholder network to broaden and deepen contract R&D program impact opportunity;
• Ensure project delivery to client to client satisfaction;
• Engage stakeholders on a strategic level, understanding their internal and external environments and their strategic response;
• Maintain awareness of business development opportunities for CSIR wide customer base, where relevant refer opportunities to relevant Clusters and Divisions.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in science, engineering or technology (SET) with at least ten years’ experience in operational mining and/or research, development and/or engineering or technology organisation;
• Masters’ degree in relevant science or engineering domain, MBA or post-graduate business development qualification will be an added advantage;
• Experience in:
  • Contract management
  • Commercialisation
  • Systems engineering
  • Project management
  • Process management
  • Capability development
  • Marketing of capabilities
  • Market analysis
• Demonstrate success in business development and commercialisation of products or innovative solutions
• Evidence of solid domain expertise in:
  • Mining value chain
  • The interfaces of the components which includes (geological surveying)
  • Mining extraction processes (drill, blast & hauling)
  • Beneficiation processes
  • Logistics
  • Distribution including enablers & support services
• Evidence of high level stakeholder management, and industry domain related networks;
• Track record in the formulation and securing of contract R&D contracts to the value of at least R80 to R100 million in the short term and grow sales in line with the cluster’s strategy roadmap;
• Good interpersonal and stakeholder-liaison skills.

Competence in:

• Business acumen
• Financial management
• Enterprise risk management
• Domain technical knowledge and know-how
• Complexity management
• Strategy implementation
• Dealing with abstract concepts.

Closing date: 27 March 2024

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About the job:

The CSIR is looking for suitable qualified individuals willing to serve as members of the CSIR Research Ethics Committee (REC) for a three-year term. The CSIR REC reviews research projects executed within the CSIR that require research ethics approval.  The committee meets six times a year at the CSIR Pretoria Campus.

Key responsibilities:

• Ensure that the research conducted at the CSIR is in accordance with the national and international research ethics principles, standards, and the relevant legal framework.
• Review research activities that require ethics approval.
• Provide expert advice to CSIR researchers on research ethics-related issues.
• Contribute to the improvement of the CSIR REC standard operating procedures; and
• Attend the CSIR REC review meetings and training sessions as arranged by the CSIR.

Qualifications, skills and experience: Applicants or those nominated should have experience and knowledge in the following areas:

• A Post graduate qualifications in one of the following: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Statistics, Law, Veterinary Sciences, Health Sciences and Built Environment.
• A Community representative.
• A minimum of three years’ experience in research ethics committee is recommended.
• Good working knowledge of the current and relevant South African regulatory environment; and
• Flexibility in terms of managing workloads in a dynamic environment.

Nomination or application requirements: All applications or nominations must be accompanied by the following documents:

• A CV and a motivational letter
• Three (3) contactable references, with telephone number and email address
• If it is a nomination, an acceptance of nomination letter from the person being nominated.

NB: Nominees and applicants to note the following:

• This is not a full-time employment, CSIR REC members will meet six times per year.
• CSIR REC Members shall be remunerated in accordance with the approved National Treasury pay rates for committee members.
• As per the National Treasury renumerations policies, persons in the full-time employment of the State- or State-Owned Entities will not be remunerated for their services as members of the CSIR REC. The CSIR will be responsible for the travel and subsistence costs of Members when attending meetings.

Closing date: 28 March 2024

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About the job:

The CSIR has an opportunity for a Principal Researcher: Logistics and Supply Chain Engineering within the Smart Mobility Cluster. The incumbent will provide strategic and technical leadership in the newly established area of Smart Logistics Management and position the CSIR locally and internationally to be responsive to the needs of key industries. The incumbent will also be expected to lead the development and localisation of information and technology platforms in the transport sector, within the logistics and supply chain management domain, to support industrial development. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Provide strategic leadership in the development of the logistics and supply chain engineering research competence;
• Provide technical leadership in the development and harnessing of knowledge and technology to create industry responsive solutions in logistics and supply chain engineering;
• Develop effective partnerships and industry collaborations;
• Lead business development and be responsible for the generation of proposals to attract sustainable funding;
• Lead projects and large scale programmes;
• Coordinate and productively work within a team that addresses current and future challenges related to national and regional logistics and supply chain performance; and
• Coach and mentor junior staff members.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• Masters’ degree in industrial engineering, operations research, economics or logistics management, with at least eight years’ experience in leading technical research in the field of logistics and supply chain engineering;
• A track record in attracting and securing funding to support a team and formulating strategies;
• A track record spanning over five years leading the generation of industry reference reports or policy in the area of logistics and supply chain engineering;
• Registration with a relevant professional body;
• Good understanding of the logistics and supply chain sector in South Africa;
• A good understanding of national logistics challenges, across different sectors of the economy and differently resourced environments;
• An understanding of the application of modelling approaches and methods, including simulation modelling, optimisation, macroeconomic modelling, and others;
• 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; and
• Demonstrated track record of the ability to work accurately, independently and efficiently.

Closing date: 28 March 2024

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About the Job:

The CSIR annually offers a Studentship opportunities through the Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory (SOCCO), an inter-disciplinary programme hosted by Smart Places. These opportunities are in a range of disciplines that address the research needs of earth systems science with a focus on the oceans, which includes research in oceanography, physics, marine biology, chemistry, mathematics, statistics, computer science, and engineering. Interns need to perform and qualify for the Masters studentship programme, apply for an NRF bursary and gain admission to a university.  These opportunities will be based in Cape Town.

Focus area:

Ocean Physics-Carbon: Surface Ocean physical dynamics of the Southern Ocean that influence CO2 and the biological carbon, links between fine scale dynamics and large-scale carbon-climate sensitivities. Ocean Biogeochemistry: Phytoplankton primary production in relation to Fe and light availability. Computational Oceanography/Numerical Modelling: Evaluating Southern Ocean model simulations using high performance computing, computer skills in model performance, dataset analysis and visualisation.

Key responsibilities:

• Preparing a research proposal to be approved by both the CSIR and the university;
• Preparing a written literature overview of the current state-of-the-art relevant to the research topic;
• Performing original research to solve the open research problem that the student identified in his/her proposal;
• Producing sufficient quantity and quality of peer-reviewed publications based on this research topic;
• Compiling the masters thesis and defending the work (if applicable) successfully;
• Contribute to extra activities that may be outside the scope of the master’s research as per the needs of the research group. The amount of such work shall be limited to 20% of the total time.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• An Honours degree in biological sciences, computer science, statistics, oceanography, mathematics, physics, chemistry, or engineering;
• Basic computer science and coding experience (e.g. Matlab / Python) will be advantageous;
• An understanding of basic statistics for the processing of large datasets will be advantageous;
• Knowledge/familiarity with performing data processing, analysis and visualisation on Matlab or Python beneficial;
• Effective communication skills (oral, written and presentation);
• Be independent and able to work under pressure.

Applicants must attach the following documents:

• Copies of academic results (including the latest academic results or transcript);
• Copies of tertiary qualifications and ID;
• CV (highlighting relevant skills and experience) and cover letter

Closing date: 29 March 2024

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About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for an Event Coordinator in the CSIR Conferencing and Accommodation (C&A) portfolio and will be placed at the CSIR International Convention Centre (ICC). The incumbent will be responsible for strategic planning and the management of sales, customer relations and quality functions of the CSIR ICC. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Identify opportunities and improve the sales of CSIR ICC;
• Optimize the booking of the CSIR ICC venues to ensure maximum client satisfaction balanced with maximum occupancy;
• Maintain the Reservations Office standards, systems and procedures and ensure that all event and billing information is correct to minimize risk and maximize sales;
• Plan and organize events and customer service; 
• Ensure all of the Reservations Office actions and responsibilities comply with legislation and CSIR policies and procedures (PPPFA, liquor laws, Safety Laws, Consumer Protection Act, OHSAS 45001, ISO14001, ISO 9001:2015);
• Ensure the information in the Centre’s management information system (Rendezvous) is correct and updated at all times; and
• Ensure all activities and interactions carried out by the Reservations Office support a positive and professional market image of the CSIR ICC.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A National diploma in marketing, public relations, hospitality, communication or event management with at least two years’ experience in sales, convention centre, organising conference and/or hospitality industry;
• Possession of Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) will be an added advantage;
• Interpersonal skills;
• Computer literacy (MS Office and Rendezvous);
• Language proficiency (English spoken and written);
• Ability to pay attention to detail;
• Ability to work under pressure;
• Problem solving skills;
• Customer focussed and service orientation skills.
• All international qualifications require an evaluation report / certificate issued by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

  Closing date:  01 April 2024

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About the Job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Senior Researcher in Climate Services research group of Holistic Climate Change Impact Area, within the Smart Places cluster. The incumbent will be responsible for modelling the economic effects of climate change or climate change policies using economy-wide models (such as computable general equilibrium models or large-scale energy models) or modelling in specific sectors that are large energy consumers or significant contributors to climate change. The research contributes to a wide spectrum of engineering fields and a broad range of environmental and ecosystems services.

The position is meant to strategically position the CSIR in supporting national and regional climate actions. These include supporting the Presidential Climate Change Commission, the implementation of the Climate Change Bill and other relevant climate policies, the operationalisation of the Just Transition Framework and the national commitment to a net zero GHG emissions target by 2050. This position is based in Pretoria.

About the Group:

The research group undertakes directed climate change research that supports sectoral and integrated climate change responses, that seek to make a tangible impact on low carbon, climate resilient industries and society in southern Africa.  Specifically, the RG provides analysis of climate change risks, climate change impacts and responses to climate change impacts across a wide range of sectors.  Services and products provided by the RG include crop modelling, species distribution modelling, agro-hydrological modelling, greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, low emission strategies, resource constraints trade-offs, climate policy, national reporting obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), decision support tools and information and communication technologies (i.e., spatial information systems, GIS, web mapping and remote sensing).

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the Research Group on projects and initiatives that require assessments of resource economics.
• Lead the business case development, preparation and completion of proposals/deliverables for the public and corporate sector on climate finance, and modelling of costs of climate change solutions;
• Contribute to CSIR’s thought leadership on climate finance, and resource economics modelling;
• Lead the Research Group in collaborative efforts, including proposal writing, in pursuance of contract R&D in the field of climate finance.
• Collaborate with CSIR’s Business Development and Commercialisation (BD&C) to position the Research Group, the Impact Area and the CSIR to be an effective role player on linkages between climate finance, and climate change solutions.
• Mentor and formally supervise the post-graduate research of candidate-researchers and researchers within the research group.

Qualifications, skills, and experience

• A master’s degree in economics, or a closely related field with at least five years’ experience with a track record of deploying macroeconomic computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to shape policies or strategies in government, consultancy, academia, industry or a financial institution.
• A Doctoral degree would be an added advantage.
•  Excellent knowledge of systems modelling, coding and modelling in GAMS; knowledge of MPSGE is a plus.
• Experience with the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database
• Sound understanding of microeconomic theory.
• Familiarity with a wide range of climate-related modelling including but not limited to macroeconomic, energy-system models as well as
• Strong knowledge of in climate policies particularly carbon pricing
• Strong knowledge in high- and low-carbon technologies
• Ability to present technical details to a non-technical audience.
• Understanding of the energy issues / trends in SA will be a plus.  
• Effective organizational as well as written and verbal communication skills;
• A recent publication record in the fields of climate finance.
• Demonstrable experience and success in attracting R&D funding and the successful management of research projects.
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to work closely with others in research group;
• Must have a valid driver’s licence.
• Knowledge of environmental sustainability opportunities and challenges in national and multinational companies;
• Sound knowledge of macroeconomic computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to shape policies or strategies in government, consultancy, academia, industry or a financial institution.
• Ability to conduct research tasks, collect, analyse, and summarise data; combined with ability to manage projects in a multi-stakeholder and multi-geographies context.
• Ability to undertake economic costs and benefits of nature-based solutions.
• Good writing skills, with the ability to create high-quality written documents (e.g., proposals and deliverables) combined with excellent oral communication skills in English.
• Ability to collaborate with key international, national, and sub-national actors in the implementation of climate actions;
• Ability to lead the preparation and completion of proposals and deliverables for corporate and public sector clients;
• Ability to liaise with other teams within and outside the CSIR to gather information and insights related to climate policy and climate change mitigation.

Closing date: 02 April 2024