Research Environmental Scientist - Hydrometeorology

RTI International•Durham, NC

About The Position

RTI International’s Water, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Solutions (WARES) Group is hiring a Research Environmental Scientist for its hydrometeorology and flood risk team. The team develops tools and analytical methods for hydropower owners, dam safety programs, and the water resources community, including precipitation frequency analysis and probable flood hazard assessments. This position supports meteorological frequency and extreme storm analyses, hydrologic hazards, flood forecasting, and related projects. The role may be based at RTI’s U.S. office in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, or performed fully remotely from within the United States. The scientist will prepare and analyze meteorological data using scripts, tools, and techniques, including addressing climate change impacts with global climate model (GCM) data. The role also supports project management, proposal development, and growth of project portfolios. The anticipated national salary range is $94,000–$116,000, with geographic differentials potentially applying.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and 8 years of relevant experience, master’s degree and 6 years of relevant experience, PhD and 1 year of relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Relevant disciplines include meteorology, atmospheric science, hydrology, climate studies, or a related field.
Experience with statistical analysis of hydrometeorological time series, precipitation frequency, and probable maximum precipitation.
Experience collecting, quality-controlling, and interpreting hydrometeorological data.
Experience with technical documentation and report writing.
Experience working with meteorological GIS datasets.
Proficiency in open-source programming languages such as Python, R, C#, or VB.NET for data management, transformation, quality control, and statistical analysis.
Basic geospatial processing and mapping skills using ArcGIS or QGIS.
Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and familiarity with relational databases such as SQL.
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States and must not require current or future employment visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Experience with GCM datasets.
Experience with extreme storm analyses.
Familiarity with probabilistic or stochastic modeling concepts.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with the Hydromet team to implement and enhance RTI’s hydrometeorological analysis tools.
Process, quality-control, and automate data using scripts and tools.
Collect, process, quality-control, and statistically analyze large meteorological datasets.
Develop code to improve existing hydrometeorological analysis tools and link them to hydrologic modeling or forecasting tools.
Contribute to precipitation frequency and probable maximum precipitation analyses for dam safety projects.
Lead small projects or task orders of moderate complexity.
Contribute to proposal development.
Present work internally and externally, including through conference papers.
Make informed decisions based on data, best practices, and team input.
Support business development by identifying opportunities to expand or enhance projects and developing research ideas or white papers.
Support project teams requiring meteorological expertise for hydrologic hazards, flood forecasting, and other analyses.
Prepare and analyze meteorological data, including assessing climate change impacts using GCM data.