Sr. Data Scientist - AI Weather and Climate Science

Sunairio uses AI, probabilistic modeling, and high-resolution climate data to forecast energy supply and demand with granular, site-specific accuracy. Our core product,
Sunairio ONE
, generates thousands of realistic scenarios (ensembles) to surface uncertainty and extreme-event risk so that traders, operators, and developers can manage volatility, optimize decisions, and plan for extreme events. This is not weather for weather’s sake. We translate weather and climate risk into high-impact grid and market outcomes.

You are a technical leader in quantitative meteorology, climate science, and AI-driven forecasting who is a builder, not just a user. You have built forecasting systems, improved them, shipped them into production, and signed your name to the outputs. You look at “good enough” forecasts and are curious and driven to see what is missing, why it fails, and how to make it actionable for commercial users.

You’re not looking for an incremental role. You have a founder mindset, driven by impact and ownership. You may not be a founder but you feel at home operating like one:

• You operate with high autonomy and accountability.
• You think in terms of product, commercialization, and scale, not just research.
• You build systems that create durable value. You leave something behind that others become users of.
• You are driven to improve the tool itself, not only apply it.
• You thrive in ambiguity, move fast, and raise the bar for quality.

Most weather products are not built for the grid. They are not tailored to the way downstream power analytics work. The grid needs hourly, actionable signals for load, wind, solar (including radiance/irradiance), ramps, and uncertainty, because near‑term errors drive real operational and financial risk. Sunairio is building an industry‑leading weather and energy analytics stack to keep the grid in balance all day, and to make forecasts that power massively consequential energy decisions.

• Build and improve probabilistic weather and power forecasting models (AI/ML, statistical, hybrid), with a relentless focus on accuracy, calibration, and decision‑grade uncertainty quantification.
• Develop, test, and iterate ensemble‑based methods that generate thousands of scenarios to quantify risk and extreme events.
• Own rigorous validation and benchmarking against public and commercial models and continuously raise the standard for performance.
• Translate atmospheric signals into grid outcomes: load, wind/solar generation, ramps, and volatility risk in market operations.
• Partner closely with Engineering to product ionize models and maintain high‑quality, reliable pipelines.
• Bring strong judgment on what matters commercially: build what customers will pay for and help shape the roadmap accordingly.
• Represent Sunairio at key industry moments (including industry conferences such as AMS) and contribute to thought leadership when useful.

• Clear evidence you have built or improved a forecast model, not just used one.
• Deep quantitative meteorology or NWP background, plus modern AI/ML fluency.
• Strong foundation in probabilistic modeling, uncertainty, downscaling, and evaluation.
• Practical understanding of power sector needs, especially what enables hourly operational decisions (load, wind, solar, radiance).
• Specific experience with atmospheric dynamics that affect variable energy resources (electricity demand, wind generation, solar generation, hydro)
• Understanding of probability theory and statistical inference as it relates to evaluating model performance
• Strong Python scientific computing experience (Num Py, Pandas, Sci Py), and comfort working with large, high‑resolution weather datasets using technologies and formats such as Xarray, Dask, and Zarr.
• Builder mindset: you love shipping production systems, iterating, and making the product better every cycle.
• High ownership, high standards, and the ability to lead through influence across a tight team.

• Sunairio is based in Baltimore, MD, and requires employees to travel to regularly‑scheduled onsites at Sunairio HQ. Sunairio provides a travel stipend to cover…