Wildland Fire Risk Scientist

About the Role

The primary focus of this position is to provide research support to the USGS team tasked with understanding wildfire risk to buildings, the wildland-urban interface, and other valued assets. This role requires advanced-level science support with expertise in remote sensing, geographic information systems, geospatial processing, scripting, statistical analysis, and science communications.

Responsibilities

• Forward research in wildfire exposure and risk to buildings, the wildland-urban interface (WUI), and other valued assets to inform DOI and USWFS wildfire risk assessments and risk mitigation strategies.
• Advance methods to predict wildfire exposure and damage to buildings at national or larger scales using simulation models and deep and machine learning.
• Lead development and publication of journal articles related to this research.
• Develop, maintain, and expand datasets that quantify building losses caused by wildfires annually.
• Develop prototypes and identify data sources for non-building valued assets such as communication, energy, hydrological, or transportation infrastructure impacted by wildfires.
• Develop, update, and analyze global- and national-scale datasets mapping Wildland Urban Interface using building footprints, census bureau, land cover, and fire occurrence data.

Requirements

• Must have a 3-year residency in the United States.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a national agency check and background investigation after hire to obtain credentials for facility access and user accounts.
• Education: PhD or advanced degree in ecology, landscape ecology, forestry, fire science, conservation science, or another relevant field, especially with a focus on ecological systems and disturbance.
• Years of Experience: Minimum 3-5 years of recent and related work experience in fire ecology and knowledge of plant community dynamics across the landscape.
• Advanced understanding of ground, surface, and canopy fuel types/characteristics and their effects on wildland fire behavior in conjunction with environmental factors.
• Experience with image processing and GIS software (e.g., ERDAS, ArcGIS, ArcPro, QGIS).
• Familiarity with raster and vector data processing and ability to perform spatial analysis and validation.
• Strong interpersonal communication, technical writing, editing, and presentation skills, with advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office tools.
• Experience with Python and R, and potentially AI-supported development environments (e.g., Kiro) for model development, data analysis, and visualization.
• Experience with shared code repositories.
• Ability to serve in both lead author and co-author roles for high-impact scientific journal manuscripts.
• Ability to participate in virtual and occasional in-person team meetings.
• Ability to work in a team environment to shape, manage, and execute projects applying geospatial data and systems.

Qualifications

• PhD or advanced degree in a relevant field.
• 3-5 years of experience in fire ecology and landscape dynamics.
• Proficiency in GIS and remote sensing software.
• Strong programming skills in Python and R.
• Experience with scientific writing and publication.

Skills

• Geospatial analysis and data processing.
• Statistical analysis and modeling.
• Science communication and technical writing.
• Team collaboration and project management.
• Self-teaching and continuous learning.

Desired Skills

• Ability to contribute to the definition, direction, and implementation of the Wildland Fuels Program at EROS.
• Self-teaching in areas of weakness utilizing available on-the-job training resources.

KBR offers a selection of competitive lifestyle benefits, including a 401K plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D, flexible spending account, disability, paid time off, and flexible work schedule. We support career advancement through professional training and development.