Postdoctoral Researcher – Transportation Digital Twins and - Simulation

Position: Postdoctoral Researcher – Transportation Digital Twins and High-Performance Simulation
Job Title

Postdoctoral Researcher – Transportation Digital Twins and High-Performance Simulation

Location & Working Info

Location CO - Golden . Position Type Postdoc (Fixed Term) . Hours Per Week 40 . Working at NLR

NLR is located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation's primary laboratory for energy systems research and development. Join the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), where world-class scientists, engineers, and experts are accelerating energy innovation through breakthrough research and systems integration. From our mission to our collaborative culture, NLR stands out in the research community for its commitment to an affordable and secure energy future.

Spanning foundational science to applied systems engineering and analysis, we focus on solving complex challenges to deliver advanced, secure, reliable, and cost-effective energy solutions. Our work helps strengthen U.S. industries, support job creation, and promote national economic growth. At NLR, you'll find a mission-driven environment supported by state-of-the-art facilities, multidisciplinary research teams, and strong collaborations with industry, academia, and other national laboratories.

We offer robust professional development opportunities, and a competitive benefits package designed to support your career and well-being.

Job Description

The Advanced Computing Solutions Group in the Computational Science Center at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) has an opening for a postdoctoral researcher in transportation digital twins, large-scale simulation, and high-performance computing (HPC). The researcher will develop and validate traffic and vehicle simulation models and build scalable computing workflows to study connected and automated vehicle (CAV) operations, traffic control, and their mobility, safety, and energy impacts.

The successful candidate will conduct independent research and collaborate with NLR scientists and external partners.

Responsibilities

• Develop, calibrate, and validate traffic digital twin and co-simulation models.
• Design and evaluate vehicle and traffic signal control strategies using optimization or machine learning.
• Build and optimize scalable HPC workflows for large-scale simulation and scenario studies.
• Integrate traffic, vehicle, communication, and energy models into reproducible research tools.
• Analyze results and communicate findings through publications, reports, and presentations.

Basic Qualifications

• Must be a recent PhD graduate within the last three years.
• * Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a relevant engineering, computing, or mathematical discipline (subject to NLR postdoctoral eligibility requirements).
• Research experience in transportation modeling, large-scale simulation, or scientific computing.
• Proficiency in Python, C/C++, or MATLAB for modeling and data analysis.
• Ability to conduct independent research and collaborate in interdisciplinary teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with traffic or vehicle simulation tools (e.g., SUMO, CARLA).
• Experience with parallel computing (e.g., MPI, CUDA) and HPC clusters.
• Background in CAV control, traffic signal operations, or traffic flow theory.
• Familiarity with V2X communication, transportation energy models, or co-simulation.
• Record of peer-reviewed publications and collaborative software practices.

Annual Salary Range

Job Profile:
Postdoctoral Researcher / Annual Salary Range: $76,600 - $126,400. NLR takes into consideration a candidate’s education, training, and experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value, including seniority and merit systems, and…