Posting Title

Senior Geospatial Researcher III/IV

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Location

CO - Golden

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Position Type

Regular

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Hours Per Week

40

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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 Geospatial Data Science (GDS) Group in NLR’s Strategic Energy Analysis Center is seeking an experienced Geospatial Researcher to develop and advance a research portfolio in geospatial modeling and characterization of new electricity generation, impacts of large loads, and infrastructure requirements to meet the needs of the nation. The GDS Group conducts research at the intersection of energy deployment, big data science, and geospatial modeling and visualization. Our team of scientists develops and applies geospatial algorithms and methods to evaluate the resource, technical, and economic potential for energy technologies, including geothermal, hydropower, wind, solar, natural gas, storage, transmission, and large loads. Our scientists work with industry partners, academia, and the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop cutting-edge solutions to the nation’s greatest energy challenges. Together we put modeling results and actionable insights in the hands of policymakers, private sector stakeholders, and the broader public. Geospatial modeling at NLR enables detailed techno-economic assessment, capacity expansion and power systems modeling of electricity generation resources under a variety of regulatory, sociopolitical, and environmental factors from local to continental scales.

This position will support the growing research portfolio of the GDS Group, creating new capabilities to analyze scenarios and design solutions for complex challenges in energy siting and deployment. The position will support DOE projects and clients external to the laboratory. The successful candidate will develop novel analytical solutions to advance the state-of-the-science in broad geographic scale representation of the spatial drivers of energy deployment and associated infrastructure requirements. This position requires a strong applied and theoretical background in spatiotemporal methods addressing a myriad of considerations including community acceptance, ecological impacts, topographic factors, regulatory frameworks, and topological relationships. Experience with complex systems analysis and scenario modeling frameworks is preferred.

Duties will include:

• Developing innovative spatiotemporal methods in system performance and cost modeling, sensitivity analysis and site selection optimization to help clients, stakeholders, and other researchers understand and synthesize underlying opportunities and challenges for energy deployment.
• Ideating and evaluating novel research strategies and methods to uncover insights and inform sustainable energy solutions at various geographic and temporal scales.
• Integrating multiple data sources, models, and software tools with scientific and engineering workflows for data analysis and decision support. These workflows require distributed parallel computing, utilizing both cloud and on-premise high-performance computing (HPC) resources.
• Communicating research insights through journal publications and conference presentations; organizing and participating in stakeholder engagement workshops and seminars; and developing proposals for new research directions.
• Serving as principal investigator and technical lead on critical existing and emerging projects.
• Technical oversight and mentoring of junior staff to ensure the requisite depth and breadth of skillsets and capabilities needed to support a growing portfolio.

The ideal candidate will bring a deep background and experience in project management, spatial methods development, and quantitative analysis, as well as extensive programming skills to integrate various models and tools to solve complex design problems of foundational and applied nature. Experience with Linux-based, scalable, open-source analysis tools is required. Expert proficiency in geospatial modeling is required, though experience with ESRI products is not a preferred skill, due to incompatibility with Linux-based resources and the highly customized solutions developed by the group. The candidate should be eager to work in an interdisciplinary field, together with computer scientists, policy analysts, and system engineers, and will require excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

A Researcher IV candidate will demonstrate a high level and depth of project leadership experience, and/or serving as PI on multiple projects. A Researcher IV contributor will be capable of providing technical leadership, and managing the strategic vision and execution of research projects, beyond the Researcher III level or scope of performance.

The NLR Geospatial Data Science group (https://www.nlr.gov/gis) is the pre-eminent geospatial team working on energy systems integration. Our cutting-edge research and modeling support diverse programs across NLR and beyond and is advancing energy solutions from local to global scales. Join our team as we develop the science placing new energy resources on the map.

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Basic Qualifications

This Researcher can be hired at a level IV or level III:

Researcher IV:
Relevant PhD and 4 or more years of experience . Or, relevant Master's Degree and 7 or more years of experience . Or, relevant Bachelor's Degree and 9 or more years of experience . Applies extensive scientific technical expertise, and has full knowledge of other related disciplines. Considered a technical resource. Demonstrates leadership in several areas of team, task or project lead responsibilities. Demonstrated experience in management of projects. Excellent technical writing, interpersonal and communication skills.

Researcher III:
PhD in Engineering, Geography, Environmental Science, Computer Science or related. Or, Master's Degree in Engineering, Geography, Environmental Science, Computer Science or related and 3 or more years of experience. Or, relevant Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Geography, Environmental Science, Computer Science or related and 5 or more years of experience. Demonstrates complete understanding and wide application of scientific technical procedures, principles, theories and concepts in the field. General knowledge of other related disciplines. Demonstrates leadership in one or more areas of team, task or project lead responsibilities. Demonstrated experience in management of projects. Very good technical writing, interpersonal and communication skills.

* Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to form and lead dynamic project teams, manage budgets and timelines, and build strong relationships with stakeholders and sponsors;

• Strong quantitative background in spatial statistics, predictive modeling, data analytics, and/or complex systems modeling;

• Strong scientific programming and algorithm development skills and demonstrated use of Python and open-source geospatial tools for modeling and analysis of large, complex data sets;

• Demonstrated ability to communicate results effectively through scientific visualizations, publications and presentations.

• To be considered, all candidates must include in their resume and an online code repository such as GitHub with several publicly visible coding projects. Alternatively, please explain in your cover letter why your application does not include a code repository and/or several examples of previous projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in uncertainty quantification in relevant research domains.

• Extensive knowledge in energy domains with a particular focus on energy siting.
• Background in capacity expansion modeling, production cost modeling and energy resource assessment.

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Job Application Submission Window

The anticipated closing window for application submission is up to 30 days and may be extended as needed.

Annual Salary Range (based on full-time 40 hours per week)

Job Profile: Researcher IV / Annual Salary Range: $100,400 - $180,700

Job Profile: Researcher III / Annual Salary Range: $83,600 - $150,500

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 internal pay alignment when determining the salary level for potential new employees. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee’s salary history will not be used in compensation decisions.

Benefits Summary

Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; short*- and long-term disability insurance; pension benefits*; 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match*; life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance; personal time off (PTO) and sick leave; paid holidays; and tuition reimbursement*. NLR employees may be eligible for, but are not guaranteed, performance-, merit-, and achievement- based awards that include a monetary component. Some positions may be eligible for relocation expense reimbursement. Limited-term positions are not eligible for long-term disability or tuition reimbursement.

* Based on eligibility rules

Badging Requirement

NLR is subject to Department of Energy (DOE) access restrictions. All employees must also be able to obtain and maintain a federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), which includes a favorable background investigation.

Drug Free Workplace

NLR is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace in accordance with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and complies with federal laws prohibiting the possession and use of illegal drugs. Under federal law, marijuana remains an illegal drug.

If you are offered employment at NLR, you must pass a pre-employment drug test prior to commencing employment. Unless prohibited by state or local law, the pre-employment drug test will include marijuana. If you test positive on the pre-employment drug test, your offer of employment may be withdrawn.

Submission Guidelines

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at NLR you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

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Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic partner status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Reasonable Accommodations

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