Ensemble Prediction Researcher

Job Description The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University (CSU) seeks to fill a full-time Research Scientist position designed to conduct collaborative research with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) located at the Global Systems Laboratory (GSL) in Boulder, CO. The individual in this position will work in the NOAA/OAR/GSL Earth Prediction Advancement Division (EPAD) Physics Branch.

CIRA at Colorado State University is a multi-million-dollar research organization located on CSU's Foothills Campus in Fort Collins, Colorado. CIRA is a cooperative institute that is also a research department within CSU's College of Engineering, in partnership with the Department of Atmospheric Science. Its vision is to conduct interdisciplinary research in the atmospheric sciences by entraining skills beyond the meteorological disciplines, exploiting advances in engineering and computer science, facilitating transitional activity between pure and applied research, leveraging both national and international resources and partnerships, and assisting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, CSU, the State of Colorado, and the Nation through the application of our research to areas of societal benefit.

NOAA's Global Systems Laboratory is a federal science and research laboratory under NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. GSL provides the National Weather Service (NWS) and the nation with environmental observation, prediction, computer, visualization, and information systems. These systems deliver data, forecasts, and predictions of weather, including severe weather events, within the next few minutes to weeks away. GSL is a leader in the applied research, directed development, and technology transfer of environmental data, models, products, and services that enhance environmental understanding with the outcome of supporting commerce, protecting life and property, and promoting a scientifically literate public.

The individual in this position will contribute to the development of next-generation ensemble (or probabilistic) numerical weather prediction systems. They will contribute scientific understanding to inform how these systems are designed and how they can be leveraged to provide effective decision-support guidance to end users. Major duties will include contributing to the refinement of existing ensemble generation and evaluation methods; applying scientific understanding to help identify and implement innovations for improving probabilistic forecast skill and spread;

and contributing to designing, conducting, and evaluating the outputs of hypothesis-driven ensemble numerical weather prediction experiments. The person in this role is expected to help contribute to the goal of developing high-resolution, regional and global, ensemble weather prediction systems that are skillful, reliable, physically realistic, and useful to a wide range of stakeholders. This position will report to the CIRA Associate Director.

Full Consideration Date:
Monday, October 26, 2026, 11:59pm (MT).

This position allows for a hybrid working modality that, with satisfactory performance, allows for up to 2 days per week of telework. This position is open to foreign nationals working on visas. At this time, CIRA is unable to cover the costs of permanent residency applications. Foreign nationals on visas from countries defined by the US government from “Country Group E” (Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba) are ineligible to work in federal facilities and therefore are ineligible to be hired for this position.

Apply scientific understanding to inform the design of skillful…