Postdoctoral Researcher – Transportation Digital Twins and High-Performance Simulation

National Laboratory of the Rockies • Golden, CO

11d • Onsite

About The Position

The Advanced Computing Solutions Group in the Computational Science Center at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) is hiring a postdoctoral researcher to work on transportation digital twins, large-scale simulation, and high-performance computing. The researcher will develop and validate traffic and vehicle simulation models and build scalable computing workflows to study connected and automated vehicle operations, traffic control, and impacts on mobility, safety, and energy. The role involves independent research and collaboration with NLR scientists and external partners.

The position is based in Golden, Colorado, and is a fixed-term postdoctoral role scheduled for 40 hours per week. Candidates must be recent PhD graduates, having completed their PhD within the last three years, and meet NLR postdoctoral eligibility requirements. The anticipated application submission window is up to 30 days and may be extended. Employment requires eligibility for a federal PIV card and a favorable background investigation, as well as passing a pre-employment drug test.

Requirements

• Must be a recent PhD graduate, having graduated within the last three years.
• Ph.D. in a relevant engineering, computing, or mathematical discipline, subject to NLR postdoctoral eligibility requirements.
• Must meet educational requirements prior to the employment start date.
• Research experience in transportation modeling, large-scale simulation, or scientific computing.
• Proficiency in Python, C/C++, or MATLAB for modeling and data analysis.
• Ability to conduct independent research and collaborate in interdisciplinary teams.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card, including a favorable background investigation.
• Must pass a pre-employment drug test.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with traffic or vehicle simulation tools such as SUMO or CARLA.
• Experience with parallel computing such as MPI or CUDA and HPC clusters.
• Background in connected and automated vehicle control, traffic signal operations, or traffic flow theory.
• Familiarity with V2X communication, transportation energy models, or co-simulation.
• Record of peer-reviewed publications and collaborative software practices.

Responsibilities

• Develop, calibrate, and validate traffic digital twin and co-simulation models.
• Design and evaluate vehicle and traffic signal control strategies using optimization or machine learning.
• Build and optimize scalable high-performance computing workflows for large-scale simulation and scenario studies.
• Integrate traffic, vehicle, communication, and energy models into reproducible research tools.
• Analyze results and communicate findings through publications, reports, and presentations.
• Conduct independent research and collaborate with NLR scientists and external partners.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Short-term disability insurance
• Pension benefits
• 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match
• Life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• Personal time off and sick leave
• Paid holidays
• Potential performance-, merit-, and achievement-based awards with a monetary component, subject to eligibility
• Some positions may be eligible for relocation expense reimbursement

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree