Reference Number: 3668 Location: Almería Start Date: 01.02.2026 Career Level: Student / Final Thesis Employment Type: Part-time, Full-time Duration of Employment: 6 months **Compensation:** Compensation is based on the currently applicable collective bargaining agreements for the German public service (federal level). Join the fascinating world of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), a registered association, and help shape the future through research and innovation! With the expertise and curiosity of our 11,000 employees from 100 nations—and our unique infrastructure—we offer an exciting and inspiring work environment. Together, we develop sustainable technologies and thereby contribute to solving global challenges. Would you like to tackle this major challenge of the future together with us? Then your place is with us! The Institute of Solar Research develops innovative technologies for harnessing solar energy. Its focus lies on electricity generation as well as the provision of heat and fuels. The primary goal is to contribute—using solar energy—to the thermal energy transition and to reducing fossil fuel consumption. **What Awaits You** You will work on AI-based, spatially resolved short-term forecasts of solar irradiance, designed to enable the integration of photovoltaic (PV) power plants into the balancing energy market. For this, you will utilize data from high-resolution all-sky imagers operated by DLR near Oldenburg and in Almería, which capture cloud dynamics—the main driver of PV power variability. Your main focus will be on developing machine learning (ML) methods to improve cloud base height (CBH) estimation, as existing models still exhibit substantial errors. You will collaborate within a diverse and motivated team to address questions related to the energy transition, thus actively contributing to climate protection. Simultaneously, you will closely cooperate with supervisors and colleagues to exchange ideas and solve challenges. Additionally, you will gain hands-on experience in machine learning, software development, automated testing, version control, and modern image processing. As a special feature, your workplace will be located in Almería—one of Europe’s sunniest locations. **Your Responsibilities** * Literature review covering fundamentals and application areas (particularly in the context of climate and weather data) of machine learning methods * Development of a deep-learning-based model for CBH estimation, including innovative preprocessing and extraction of relevant features from sky images * End-to-end training of the model using carefully designed, high-quality ground-truth labels * Comparison of the developed model against existing benchmarks * Summarizing methodology, experiments, and results in a well-structured master’s thesis **Your Qualifications** * You are pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field, and demonstrate strong academic performance. * Experience with Python and foundational knowledge of machine learning * Ability to work independently while also collaborating effectively within an international team * Prior experience in data analysis, computer vision, and Git version control * Very good command of English, both written and spoken **What We Offer** DLR stands for diversity, appreciation, and equal treatment of all people. We promote self-responsible work and individual professional and personal development of our employees. To support this, we provide numerous further education and training opportunities. Equal opportunity is especially important to us; therefore, we aim to increase the proportion of women in science and leadership positions. Applications from persons with severe disabilities will be given preferential consideration, provided they meet the professional requirements. We look forward to meeting you! Should you have any questions regarding this position (**Reference Number 3668**), please feel free to contact: **Stefan Wilbert** Tel.: +49 2203 601 4619