Regional Data Assimilation Scientist

DescriptionSAIC 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 the future regional applications of the Unified Forecast System (UFS). The candidate’s work will involve the development, execution, testing, and evaluation of data assimilation for the Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) and 3D Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA). 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 described below.

The candidate will work with EMC scientists and external collaborators to develop the data assimilation capabilities for the RRFS and/or RTMA.

The primary work area will focus on acceleration and integration of Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) into the RRFS and/or RTMA applications.

Advance the development of the regional DA capabilities based on JEDI

Assist in development and support of regional model interface to JEDI to support assimilation for RRFS and RTMA

Implement and evaluate quality control procedures, bias correction, and error assignment for observations assimilated in RRFS and RTMA

Contribute to development and maintenance of the JEDI-based end-to-end application for RRFS

Evaluating the scientific quality of the JEDI-based regional data assimilation application for use in future implementations of RRFS and/or RTMA.

QualificationsRequired Education:

Bachelors and two (2) years or more experience; Masters and 0 years related experience.

Desired Education:

Master’s Degree or higher in atmospheric sciences or meteorology, physical oceanography or related physical science with at least 2 years of experience in numerical predication and analysis systems.

Required Experience:

Expert knowledge of the physical and mathematical basis of geophysical modeling

Advance knowledge of data assimilation with focus on the DA development for high resolution, regional applications

Experience in model development in various infrastructures

Advanced knowledge and experience of modern programming languages such as object-oriented FORTRAN, python, and/or C Experience working in a UNIX environment with advanced scripting languages

Experience in working with HPC platforms (MPI, OpenMP, etc.)

Modern software engineering practices (requirements gathering, design, prototyping, version control, integration, testing, and documentation)

Experience in model testing and evaluation and/or knowledge of verification principles

Clearance:

Candidates must be a U.S. Citizen or Green Card Holder to qualify and must live in US for 3-5 years prior to application (please indicate in your cover letter) and must be able to obtain a Public Trust Clearance.

Covid Policy: SAIC does not require COVID-19 vaccinations or boosters. Customer site vaccination requirements must be followed when work is performed at a customer site.

REQNUMBER: 2313121SAIC is a premier technology integrator, solving our nation’s most complex modernization and systems engineering challenges across the defense, space, federal civilian, and intelligence markets. Our robust portfolio of offerings includes high-end solutions in systems engineering and integration; enterprise IT, including cloud services; cyber; software; advanced analytics and simulation; and training. We are a team of 23,000 strong driven by mission, united purpose, and inspired by opportunity. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $6.5 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For information on the benefits SAIC offers, see Working at SAIC. EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability