Program Scientist

About the Role

Schmidt Sciences is a nonprofit founded in 2024 to accelerate scientific knowledge and breakthroughs with advanced tools. The Climate Institute seeks to understand how our planet works, connect climate research to action, and empower interdisciplinary networks to drive climate solutions. Reporting to the Climate Director, the Program Scientist will execute all aspects of strategic grantmaking for the Earth system modeling portfolio, including leading the Virtual Earth System Research Institute (VESRI) program and advancing the AI for Climate, Energy, and the Environment (AI4

ECE) initiative.

• Set the scientific vision and ensure the success of the Earth system modeling portfolio.
• Lead all aspects of annual grantmaking for multi‑million dollar awards, assessing opportunities, evaluating impact, and managing diverse recipient organizations.
• Manage a complex, international portfolio: milestones, risk, inter‑team dependencies, and synthesis of technical progress into model‑facing outputs ready for integration into global modeling centers.
• Build cross‑disciplinary collaborations across Earth and energy science communities, integrating models and data from currently siloed communities and tailoring model outputs to climate‑action needs.
• Serve as an expert advisor on scientific topics for the climate team, including coupled model development, climate emulators, AI and machine learning, Earth system model scenarios, carbon emissions and attribution, and climate mitigation.
• Review and vet research proposals for scientific promise and viability, in conjunction with the broader Climate team.
• Work with other parts of Schmidt Sciences while bringing an objective scientific approach to a variety of societal and organizational challenges.
• Architect, launch, and lead the next phase of VESRI beginning with the Climate Modeling Challenge, including leading the RFP process.
• Drive the internal project assessment process for new and ongoing projects and ensure that the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning framework captures key insights for assessing progress and alignment within the program’s core priorities.
• Broker collaborations with modeling centers to incorporate advances into legacy and next‑gen models without compromising stability or generalizability.
• Serve as a credible scientific counterpart to PIs, modeling centers, computing partners, and funders; represent the program in talks, briefings, and synthesis reports, and enable awardees to achieve impact through expertise and technical assistance.
• Organize Schmidt Sciences‑sponsored meetings of awardees, advisors, and field experts, and identify organizations—universities, labs, philanthropic, and government entities—that could collaborate on climate initiatives.
• Participate in meetings, presentations, and conferences, engaging with awardees, sector leaders, officials, academics, and journalists to represent Schmidt Sciences effectively.
• Manage the award proposal process to ensure overall scientific priorities, conduct oversight and evaluation of grants/gifts, refine portfolio strategies, and pursue new grantmaking opportunities.
• Integrate strategic communications and evaluation into grantmaking, foster learning among grantees and staff, and synthesize and share insights to inform strategy.
• Help design programs and strategies that draw upon multiple scientific disciplines related to the program and monitor complex legal, financial, and technical issues in partnership with grantmaking teams.
• Create strategy documents and presentations for Schmidt Sciences leadership and founders, and provide support for all existing Climate Institute programs through networking assistance, scientific expertise, and mentorship.
• Work with other Schmidt Sciences team members to drive organizational priorities and model core values.

• Scientific doctorate from an accredited institution.
• Demonstrated track record of scientific accomplishments, evidenced by peer‑reviewed publications, patents, successful grant applications, or contributions to innovative research projects.
• At least 7 years of work experience, preferably with some time in…