Computational Atmospheric Scientist

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Posting Title

Location

CO - Boulder

Position Type

Limited Term (Fixed Term)

Hours Per Week

Working at NLR

NLR’s 305-acre Flatirons Campus is the nation’s premier wind energy, water power, and grid integration research facility. Nestled south of Boulder, Colorado, and north of NLR’s main South Table Mountain campus, Flatirons Campus sits adjacent to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and countless acres of open space and parks with stunning views of the Flatirons rock formations.

Join the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), where world-class scientists, engineers, and experts are accelerating energy innovation through breakthrough research and systems integration. From our mission to our collaborative culture, NLR stands out in the research community for its commitment to an affordable and secure energy future. Spanning foundational science to applied systems engineering and analysis, we focus on solving complex challenges to deliver advanced, secure, reliable, and cost-effective energy solutions. Our work helps strengthen U.S. industries, support job creation, and promote national economic growth.

At NLR, you'll find a mission-driven environment supported by state-of-the-art facilities, multidisciplinary research teams, and strong collaborations with industry, academia, and other national laboratories. We offer robust professional development opportunities, and a competitive benefits package designed to support your career and well-being.

Job Description

NLR’s 305-acre Flatirons Campus is the nation’s premier wind energy, water power, hybrid systems, and grid integration research facility. The National Wind Technology Center at the NLR Flatiron’s Campus is seeking a qualified candidate with a strong background in atmospheric turbulence and high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics skills that can be deftly applied to wind energy, ocean energy, solar energy, and hybrid systems. We offer a unique collaborative environment with world-renowned scientists in the area of renewable energy and atmospheric science.

The successful candidate is expected to conduct research on energy resources in the atmosphere, extreme weather events and their impact on infrastructure, and other related topics related to wind, water, solar, and hybrid energy systems. Candidates should demonstrate a broad understanding and wide application of atmospheric, fluid dynamic, and scientific computing principles, theories, and concepts. A general knowledge of wind and solar energy related disciplines and applications is an advantage. The Researcher will primarily use lab-developed software including ERF (an energy-focused implementation of WRF with modern computing) and kynema (formerly ExaWind). Simulations are likely to span regional-scale weather (mesoscale), the project-scale atmospheric-boundary-layer flow (microscale), infrastructure asset scale, and the coupling between all of them. Additional tools may include AI/ML surrogates and forecasting models, WRF, and data assimilation of remote measurements.

The successful candidate will be able to execute research tasks independently but is also expected to collaborate well in larger project teams and follow the guidance of senior staff. The researcher will work collaboratively with the US Department of Energy’s Office of Critical Materials and Energy Innovation, other national laboratories, academia, industry partners, and the international community to solve challenging science and engineering problems in energy. The position requires excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the desire and ability to lead peer-reviewed journal publications from start to finish.

Any code development in research projects will be done in the open-source domain with adherence to best practices in modern software engineering. Simulations will be performed on some of the world’s fastest GPU-accelerated supercomputers operated by the U.S. Department of Energy. Familiarity with high-performance computing environments to solve pressing science and engineering challenges is a plus.

Basic Qualifications

Relevant PhD . Or, relevant Master's Degree and 3 or more years of experience . Or, relevant Bachelor's Degree and 5 or more years of experience . Demonstrates broad understanding and wide application of engineering technical procedures, principles, theories and concepts in the field. General knowledge of other related disciplines. Demonstrates leadership in one or more areas of team, task or project lead responsibilities. Demonstrated experience in management of projects. Very good writing, interpersonal and communication skills.

* Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional Required Qualifications

Additional

The candidate will have excellent writing, interpersonal, and communication skills and will be expected to publish results in high-impact technical journals and present work at conferences, symposia, and review meetings. They will also be expected to support the development of new work proposals, preparations, and reviews. They have a record of publications in high-impact factor journals, and comfort in a Linux-based high-performance computing environment.

Preferred

Prior experience with NLR software listed above, or equivalent tools
Familiarity with Linux, bash, and high-performance computing systems
Familiarity with C++, Python, and build configuration tools like cmake and spack
Demonstrated experience modern software engineering (e.g., version control, unit testing, continuous integration)
Comfort with the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) to boost workflow and software development productivity
Expertise in the theory and application of large-eddy simulation applied to the atmospheric boundary layer
Expertise in atmospheric turbulence, and validation of numerical models against observations
Established publication record in peer-reviewed journals.

Preferred Qualifications

Job Application Submission Window

The anticipated closing window for application submission is up to 30 days and may be extended as needed.

Annual Salary Range (based on full-time 40 hours per week)

Job Profile: Researcher III / Annual Salary Range: $83,600 - $150,500

NLR takes into consideration a candidate’s education, training, and experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value, including seniority and merit systems, and internal pay alignment when determining the salary level for potential new employees. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee’s salary history will not be used in compensation decisions.

Benefits Summary

Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; pension benefits*; 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match*; and sick leave (where required by law). NLR employees may be eligible for, but are not guaranteed, performance-, merit-, and achievement- based awards that include a monetary component. Some positions may be eligible for relocation expense reimbursement.

* Based on eligibility rules

Badging Requirement

NLR is subject to Department of Energy (DOE) access restrictions. All employees must also be able to obtain and maintain a federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), which includes a favorable background investigation.

Drug Free Workplace

NLR is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace in accordance with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and complies with federal laws prohibiting the possession and use of illegal drugs. Under federal law, marijuana remains an illegal drug.

If you are offered employment at NLR, you must pass a pre-employment drug test prior to commencing employment. Unless prohibited by state or local law, the pre-employment drug test will include marijuana. If you test positive on the pre-employment drug test, your offer of employment may be withdrawn.

Submission Guidelines

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at NLR you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic partner status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Reasonable Accommodations

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