Senior Researcher

About the role

Join Slipstream as a Senior Researcher to make a real impact in the fight against climate change and the inequities of its impacts. We are a national, mission-driven nonprofit that accelerates climate solutions for everyone.

Responsibilities

• Conduct primary and secondary research of building decarbonization strategies in residential, multifamily, and commercial buildings.
• Assist with evaluating energy efficiency, decarbonization, and (to a lesser extent) renewable energy strategies in buildings, communities, campuses, or regional settings.
• Communicate and deliver innovative solutions that improve communities and buildings based on data and analysis.
• Manage research and development projects and tasks, including coordinating with cross-functional teams, and reporting results internally, to clients, and to the broader industry.
• Responsible for all aspects of projects/tasks from inception to delivery.
• Cook up with stakeholders to define task objectives.
• Coordinate with stakeholders to define task objectives.
• Conduct or coordinate field research to gather information and data, which may include hands-on measurement of energy, user satisfaction, comfort, and other outcomes.
• Support efforts to seek and secure new research funding, including developing proposals and collaborating with partners.

Qualifications

• Ability to manage projects both independently and collaboratively; maintain organization amid complexity.
• Analytical thinking with the ability to solve complex technical or data problems and conduct energy and/or power systems analysis.
• Understanding of applied research methods, including research design, data collection, basic statistical concepts, and interpretation of results to produce rigorous, actionable findings.
• Experience cleaning and analyzing data sets using a statistical or general programming language (e.g. R, Python, Stata, MATLAB).
• Building science experience – this may include building audits, diagnostic testing, field measurement, or related experience providing guidance for measuring, monitoring, or recommending changes to improve a building’s performance.
• Understanding of building design, construction, or retrofit processes and partnerships.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to engage diverse energy stakeholders including researchers, utilities, building owners/decision makers, community members, and supply chain personnel.
• Curiosity to investigate new approaches to address climate change and equity challenges.
• Able to work collaboratively with a diverse set of researchers.
• Able to clearly convey complex concepts, ideas, and solutions through meeting facilitation, strong report writing, and engaging information sharing.

Nice to have

• Experience building shared or production-ready analytical code (e.g. packages, microservices, real-time dashboards).
• Measurement and verification, and observation of energy systems through commissioning or verification.
• Experience with energy modeling and energy auditing.
• Knowledge of relevant building energy codes and standards (e.g., ASHRAE, IECC).

What You’ll Need

• Bachelor’s degree, or advanced degree preferred, in mechanical, electrical, or architectural engineering, science, environmental studies, economics, policy or professional equivalent.
• 5-10 years of work-related experience.