Senior / Principal Scientist, Future-proof Societies

Are you interested in designing actionable strategies towards sustainable society and looking for a new job opportunity in the field? Do you want to have a key role in our team by developing and coordinating our project portfolio to make a significant impact in future-proof society while it’s transition?

VTT is one of the leading research organizations in Europe. What unites us at VTT are curiosity, a passion of learning and a devotion to finding solutions to global challenges and answers to our customers’ needs. You can familiarize with us further by exploring VTT’s research infra through VTT World .

We are looking for a motivated Principal or Senior Scientist to join our Future-proof Societies team, which focuses on supporting decision-makers to have concrete means to understand the future needs, design proactive policies and to analyse their impacts in the field of innovation and sustainable society. Together with our highly experienced research team and national and global networks, you will take an active role in developing our high-ambitious research activities. The position is located in Espoo, Tampere or Oulu, Finland.

With us, your responsibilities will be:

As a key expert in innovation for sustainable society, you would contribute in the following areas:

• Planning and coordination of research activities in the field of innovation policy, decision-making and strategic foresight and management for transformative innovation system and sustainable society
• Contribution in applied research and designing policy relevant studies (both national and EU)
• Active role in creating and developing our research agenda and offering
• Managing, preparing and implementing high ambitious research projects (both national and EU Horizon)
• Coordination of and active participation in customer work and relations
• Supporting younger researchers and participation in scientific publications in the area.

Who we are looking for:

We expect you to have experience and a proven record in relevant areas of innovation and sustainable society and to understand data and information needs in policy and decision-making. A vital thing is your interest in taking a leading role in our research operations, development of offering and strengthening our customer relations. A continuous and trust-based interaction with decision-makers in municipalities and public administration is your natural way of working.

The ideal candidate for this position would have several of the following qualifications:

• A motivated and experienced researcher with PhD and equivalent to adjunct professor in a relevant field.
• Strong experience in innovation and sustainable society, foresight and/or impact evaluation or other relevant field.
• Vision and interest in developing our research agenda and customer offering.
• Ability to use different type of research methods and data sources (both quantitative and qualitative) as well as ability to contextualize them from different industrial sectors to high-level strategic and policy-making contexts.
• Proven experience from systematic project management and customer work.
• You have excellent skills in English language. Knowledge of Finnish and additional languages is an asset.

As a person, we hope that you are:

For this position, we are looking for a person with a keen interest in real-world customer-serving solutions. You are able to combine theory with practise and work in a solution-oriented manner. We are also looking for a team player with excellent interaction and communication skills to coordinate and develop our research activities on innovation and decision-making for sustainable society. You are motivated to plan, coordinate and lead highly ambitious research activities. In addition, you take initiative and think proactively. Ability to apply foresight and impact evaluation methods to support policy- and decision-makers to navigate in uncertainty is an additional asset.

What we offer you

• Visionary work in technology. We offer positions at the cutting-edge of technology and engineering from next generation microelectronics and quantum technology to automation and robotics, energy systems and more. Our research agenda is dedicated to creating sustainable growth by solving systemic and technological challenges, so your work will go towards creating real, positive impact. Read more about our strategy – the path of exponential hope.  
• Fascinating projects, excellent research environment. Our researchers get to work on a combination of cutting-edge academic research and applied customer projects, both locally and internationally. At VTT, you’ll have state-of-the-art research facilities at your disposal, such as Micronova, the Finnish research infrastructure for micro-, nano- and quantum technologies.  
• Great career opportunities, superb colleagues. At VTT, excellence in research is a strategic priority. We offer long-term positions and stable career paths in top-level research. People tend to stay with us over 10 years since there are always new roles and responsibilities to grow into. Collaborating in a cross-disciplinary community with superb colleagues is a source of learning, inspiration, and fun.  
• Support for your well-being. Our people are our main asset, so we take good care of them. We aim to nurture great team spirit and leadership and offer versatile well-being services to enable a good work–life balance. On top of 6 weeks of paid holidays we offer exercise and culture benefits, hobby clubs, and voluntary well-being services such as meditation programmes and trainings on cognitive ergonomics.

Interested and want to hear more?

For more information about the position, you can contact Kirsi Hyytinen, Research Team Leader, Future-proof Societies, e-mail. [email protected] or tel. +358405818495 on Friday 13.8. at 13-15, Thursday 19.8. at 13-14 or Wednesday 25.8. at 13-14.

We hope you are interested in joining us! Please send your CV and application as soon as possible and 29th  August 2021 at the latest. Please send your application through VTT’s online recruitment system.

We will start processing the applications already during the application period and we will fill in the position as soon as we find the right candidate.

Apply between 10 August 2021 and 29 August 2021 23:59 (Europe/Helsinki)

Employment type: Full-time, permanent

VTT is a visionary research, development and innovation partner. We drive sustainable growth and tackle the biggest global challenges of our time and turn them into growth opportunities. We go beyond the obvious to help the society and companies to grow through technological innovations. We have over 75 years of experience of top-level research and science-based results. VTT´s turnover and other operating income is 258 M€. VTT is at the sweet spot where innovation and business come together.

VTT – beyond the obvious.