TWDB - 26-71: Surface Water Modeler (Hydrologist IV/Engineer III)

Texas Water Development Board (TWDB)•Austin, TX

1d•$5,425 - $7,751•Onsite

About The Position

Performs highly complex to advanced (senior‑level) hydrologic, hydraulic, and hydrodynamic modeling, computational analysis, and programming in support of coastal water resources assessments, environmental flow evaluations, and water supply/flood planning initiatives. Work involves overseeing, maintaining, and applying a suite of numerical models across watershed, riverine, and estuarine domains. Develops, maintains, and improves models, data, methods, and automated workflows and supports model integration, visualization, and dissemination through agency data platforms. Emphasizes scientific computing, Python development, Linux/HPC modeling workflows, and interdisciplinary numerical analysis. May provide leadership in technical areas, serve as a liaison with stakeholders, and contributes to agency planning and emergency response modeling. Works under limited to minimal supervision with moderate to considerable latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. Reports to the Manager of the Coastal Science Department.

Requirements

Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a bachelor’s degree in Hydrology, Engineering, Physical Science, or a related field.
Hydrologist IV - Seven years of demonstrated experience developing and applying hydrologic, hydraulic, and hydrodynamic models for watersheds, rivers, estuaries, and coastal systems.
Engineer III - Five years of demonstrated experience developing and applying hydrologic, hydraulic, and hydrodynamic models for watersheds, rivers, estuaries, and coastal systems.
Engineer III - Licensed as a Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
Experience programming or scripting in Python.
Experience processing, analyzing, interpreting, and displaying large scientific datasets using numerical or visualization tools.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted for each other on a year‑for‑year basis.

Nice To Haves

Graduation from, or working toward completion of a graduate degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in Hydrology, Engineering, Physical Science, or a related field.
Experience developing, modifying, or running SCHISM (Semi-implicit Cross-scale Hydroscience Integrated System Model).
Experience developing, modifying, or running hydrologic & hydraulic models (e.g., HEC‑HMS, HEC‑RAS, GSSHA, or similar).
Experience conducting geospatial analysis of environmental and hydrologic data, using GIS software or programming tools (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS, Python, R).
Experience with remote sensing or geomorphology.
Experience with command line work flows and shell scripting (e.g., Unix/Linux, Windows PowerShell).
Experience running models on high-performance computing systems, including parallel computing (MPI or OpenMP).
Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Responsibilities

Oversees development, maintenance, and application of hydrologic, hydraulic, and hydrodynamic models of watersheds, rivers, estuaries, and coastal systems.
Writes, executes, and maintains Python, Fortran, and shell programs and scripts in a Linux/Unix environment.
Serves as Lead Oil Spill Coordinator for the Oil Spill Prevention and Response contract by modifying, testing, and implementing improved models and automated scripts to advance oil spill trajectory modeling; provides on-demand simulation of currents and spill trajectories for emergency response.
Automates numerical models by porting legacy codes and scripts to modern Python based workflows.
Revises model source codes to implement new algorithms and improve model performance and functionality.
Runs large scale modeling workflows on Linux and high performance computing (HPC) systems, including parallel computing environments.
Coordinates with data scientists and analysts within the division to integrate modeled data and visualizations, including oil spill forecast simulations and other hydrodynamic model output, into Water for Texas Data.
Acquires and processes input data for various models, including precipitation, flow, bathymetry, land use, soil characteristics, winds, tides, and other environmental datasets.
Conducts statistical and geospatial analyses to support environmental flow studies, water resource planning, and model validation.
Integrates modeled data and visualizations into agency data platforms, including TWDB agency and public web services.
May assist with approaches to determine sediment transport and geomorphic conditions in Texas waters.
Writes, reviews, and evaluates technical memos, reports, work processes, and policy documents.
Coordinates with TWDB agency and external partners to develop and implement modeling studies and analyses.
Plans and participates in field studies, including planning, on site work, equipment installation, data acquisition, and data management.
Serves as liaison and provides data, models, information, and technical support to stakeholder groups, scientific committees, and customers.
Serves as contract manager for modeling, research, and monitoring contracts.
Delivers presentations to technical and non technical audiences.
Maintains confidential and sensitive information.
Ensures individual and team files (electronic and hard versions) are appropriately maintained and disposed of in accordance with records retention requirements.
Maintains required certifications and licenses and meets continuing education needs, including attending mandatory training.
May be required to operate a state or personal vehicle for business purposes.
Performs other duties as assigned.