CIRES / NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory: Earth System AI Scientist

CIRES is an internationally recognized leader in innovative environmental science and research and is located at the University of Colorado Boulder. At CIRES, more than 900 environmental science professionals work to understand the dynamic Earth system, including people’s relationship with the planet. CIRES has partnered with NOAA since 1967, and our areas of expertise include weather and climate, changes at Earth’s poles, air quality and atmospheric chemistry, water resources, solid Earth sciences, and more. Our vision is to be instrumental in ensuring a sustainable future environment by advancing scientific and societal understanding of the Earth system.

This position will be embedded in the NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (https://psl.noaa.gov), whose overarching research goal is to advance the prediction of water availability and extremes. Our team is located under the Modeling and Data Assimilation division (https://psl.noaa.gov/research/divisions/mda/) and is focused on improving modeling, data assimilation, and reanalysis using AI and ML tools including the work being done with Project EAGLE (https://www.epic.noaa.gov/ai/eagle-overview/).

• Develops and implements AI model development and training pipelines (50%)
• Optimizes, advances, and evaluates AI data and training pipelines (25%)
• Evaluates results for Earth system components (20%)
• Works with team members to advance AI/ML knowledge within the lab (5%)

• CIRES offers a generous compensation package.
• The annual hiring salary range for this position is $74,933 - $135,896. Salary is commensurate with education and experience and determined based on our CIRES internal career-track classification.
• This position can accommodate a hybrid work modality.
• Some relocation funds are available to help offset expenses, following CIRES and the University of Colorado’s relocation processes and procedures.
• The University of Colorado Boulder offers a robust training curriculum, opportunities for professional development and a Mentorship Program.
• Boulder is a vibrant community with access to mountain parks, dog parks, miles of trails, rivers, lakes, cafes, restaurants, boutiques, theaters, museums, and sports venues.
• As an employee at CU Boulder, you will have free access to the regional public transit system, an outstanding network of buses and light rail systems that service Boulder and connect to Denver, the Denver airport, and surrounding communities.

• PhD in Earth Sciences, Meteorology, Math, or Computer Science or related field. Candidates must have successfully defended and submitted their doctoral dissertation before starting work with CIRES.
• Experience with developing and/or running AI / ML pipelines and/or models.
• Experience with writing software using scripting language such as Python, MATLAB, R, NCL, or Shell.
• Knowledge of Earth System Science.

For all applicants:

• Ability to work and communicate effectively within a team environment and to facilitate communications across multiple teams and multiple organizational units.
• Ability to question experimental results to ensure they are consistent with intended design of the experiment.
• Ability to develop and implement solutions to problems within existing codebases.
• Basic knowledge of Earth system models or weather forecasting systems.

For advanced level scientists:

• Ability to guide team members in developing and implementing AI/ML pipelines.
• Ability to lead scientific experiments and implement resulting solutions.

Please note that while the position details both required and preferred skills and experience, we invite applicants to apply even if they do not have the preferred skills and experience outlined in this section. If you meet the requirements and have passion for the work, you are encouraged to apply. We encourage on the job training for any additional skills or knowledge that become relevant to the position.

For all applicants:

• Experience with producing or analyzing Earth system data of at least one Earth system component (atmosphere, ocean, land, or sea ice).
• Experience using large-scale HPC supercomputers or cloud platforms, including Linux, batch schedulers, and workflow managers.
• Experience with scientific visualization and analysis tools, including development of tools in a Python environment.
• Experience with numerical weather prediction and data assimilation.
• Familiarity with Analysis-Ready, Cloud-Optimized (ARCO) data formats such as Zarr.
• Familiarity with Xarray, NetCDF and/or Grib file formats, and parallelization frameworks such as Dask and MPI.
• Understanding of software engineering standard processes.
• Track record of peer-reviewed publications either as a first or contributing author.

For advanced level scientists:

• Ability to develop scientific proposals and take responsibility for project performance.
• Experience with proposal writing.

To apply, please submit the following materials:

• Resume or CV.
• Cover letter addressed to the Search Committee briefly describing your qualifications, professional goals, and how this position aligns with your research interests.
• Although not needed at the time of application, please be ready to submit contact information for 5 professional references, including at least 2 managers or professors. If you are identified as a finalist for this position, you will be asked to invite your references to complete a Crosschq questionnaire on your behalf. Crosschq is an online reference check solution. All information is kept confidential and shared only with the members of the search committee.

If you are selected as the finalist, your degree will be verified by the CU Boulder Campus Human Resources department using an approved online vendor. If your degree was obtained outside of the United States, please submit a translated version as an optional attachment.

This position will close March 24, 2025.

Note: Application materials will not be accepted via email. For consideration, applications must be submitted through CU Boulder Jobs.