Computational Atmospheric Scientist

About the role

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.

Responsibilities

• 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.
• Execute research tasks independently but collaborate well in larger project teams and follow the guidance of senior staff.
• 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.
• Publish results in high-impact technical journals and present work at conferences, symposia, and review meetings.
• Support the development of new work proposals, preparations, and reviews.
• Develop and maintain code in the open-source domain with adherence to best practices in modern software engineering.
• Perform simulations on some of the world’s fastest GPU-accelerated supercomputers operated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Requirements

• 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.
• Excellent writing, interpersonal, and communication skills.

Qualifications

• A general knowledge of wind and solar energy related disciplines and applications is an advantage.
• Familiarity with high-performance computing environments to solve pressing science and engineering challenges is a plus.
• 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.
• Experience modern software engineering (e.g., version control, unit testing, continuous integration).
• 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.

Skills

• Strong background in atmospheric turbulence and high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics.
• Proficiency in lab-developed software including ERF (an energy-focused implementation of WRF with modern computing) and kynema (formerly ExaWind).
• Knowledge of AI/ML surrogates and forecasting models, WRF, and data assimilation of remote measurements.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Pension benefits.
• 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match.
• Sick leave (where required by law).
• Performance-, merit-, and achievement- based awards that include a monetary component.
• Relocation expense reimbursement (if eligible).

Pay

Annual Salary Range: $83,600 - $150,500

Schedule

Hours Per Week: 40