Hurricane Model Developer

Job Description

Description

SAIC is seeking a candidate to support the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) in carrying out research and development work related to future operational hurricane forecast systems. The successful candidate will involve the development, testing, and evaluation of the Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS), which is the Unified Forecast System’s (UFS) hurricane application, providing reliable, robust, and skillful model forecasts for tropical cyclones (TCs). The work location is at the NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (NCWCP) in College Park, MD.

Job Description:

• The candidate will perform the job duties in a high-quality, independent, and collaborative way, assisting in managing projects and developing and applying innovative methods for the primary work areas.
• The candidate will work with EMC scientists and external collaborators to develop and evaluate the current and future operational hurricane forecast systems, as well as to design, develop and evaluate HAFS ensemble analysis and forecast for downstream applications.
• The candidate will work with advanced UFS infrastructure and multi-scale modeling framework, improving hurricane specific physics, data assimilation, dynamics, and high-resolution telescoping and moving nest techniques.
• Detailed responsibilities will include at least two aspects or more of the following areas.
• Implement and advance hurricane-specific physics schemes within the UFS framework.
• Develop and advance inner-core storm initialization and data assimilation techniques for hurricane forecasting.
• Develop and improve UFS-based dynamics and moving-nesting for high-resolution hurricane modeling.
• Develop and advance UFS-based earth system (atmosphere, land, ocean, wave, storm surge, etc.) coupled modeling system for hurricane forecasting.
• Develop advanced scripts for flexible end-to-end system integration and automation and allow for additional functionalities.
• Design, setup, and conduct pre-implementation tests for experimental and operational hurricane model upgrades.
• Explore, develop, test and evaluate the HAFS based ensemble forecast system.

Qualifications

Required Education:

• Bachelors and five (5) years or more experience; Masters and three (3) years or more experience; PhD and 0 years related experience.
• A Master’s Degree or higher in atmospheric sciences or meteorology, oceanic, mathematics, or related physical science with at least 2 years of experience in the area of hurricane and tropical cyclone (TC) modeling.

Required Experience:

• Advanced knowledge of tropical meteorology and experience in developing hurricane numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems for operational implementation.
• Excellent knowledge and skills of modern programming languages and object-oriented languages, such as FORTRAN90 and Python.
• Skills and knowledge of the High Performing Computing environment.
• Proficient with modern software development practices and version control software.
• Demonstrated skill in communicating effectively with scientists of diverse backgrounds on technical details of the work plan and present results accurately and clearly in both oral and written form.
• Ability to work independently on complex problems in a team and fast-paced environment and demonstrated skill in performing tasks requiring organization and attention to detail.
• Ability to support team initiatives, demonstrate respect for team members, and seek team consensus.
• Candidates must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident Card Holder to qualify (please indicate in your cover letter).

Desired Skills:

• Familiarity with operational NWP and/or an operational forecasting environment.
• Experience with UFS applications and knowledge of earth system modeling.
• Experience in high-resolution model development in various infrastructures (ESMF, FMS, CCPP, JEDI, etc.).
• Familiarity with advanced TC data assimilation systems/algorithms.
• Experience/knowledge of hurricane model evaluation and verification.
• Familiarity with agile software development practices.

Clearance:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a Public Trust Clearance.

Overview

SAIC® is a premier Fortune 500® technology integrator driving our nation's technology transformation. Our robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, civilian, and intelligence markets includes secure high-end solutions in engineering, digital, artificial intelligence, and mission solutions. Using our expertise and understanding of existing and emerging technologies, we integrate the best components from our own portfolio and our partner ecosystem to deliver innovative, effective, and efficient solutions that are critical to achieving our customers' missions.

We are approximately 26,000 strong; driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunities. SAIC is an Equal Opportunity Employer, fostering a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which is core to our values and important to attract and retain exceptional talent. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $7.4 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom.