Physical Scientist

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • Full-time • Multiple Locations • $106.44k - $187.09k / year • 1d ago

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Open: March 23, 2026 — Closes: April 6, 2026

Summary

This position is located within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR), with three vacancies in Boulder, CO; Stennis Space Center, MS; Fort Collins, CO; Asheville, NC; Madison, WI; College Park, MD; Silver Spring, MD; or Suitland, MD.

Major Duties

As a Physical Scientist, you will serve in one of three specialized capacities: Cloud Science Lead, Enterprise Precipitation Science Lead, and Observing System Assessment Analyst. Collaborate with internal and external users in the evaluation of experimental and operational satellite products and the assimilation of products for weather prediction; promote the transition of new algorithms and products from research to operations. Represent the office to facilitate the sharing and use of satellite products and applications with other federal, state, local, and international entities. Depending on the specific position, you will perform the following duties: Cloud Science Lead or Enterprise Precipitation Science Lead: Lead cloud or precipitation retrieval research and algorithm development to improve the use of satellite observations for weather analysis, forecasting, and other operational applications. Develop new and maintain/sustain existing algorithms and products, analyze data from a variety of sources, improve and originate approaches, methods, and procedures for processing Earth observations from remote sensing satellites. Create new applications using next generations of geostationary and polar-orbiting satellite data. Observing System Assessment Lead: Lead or co-lead the design, execution, and analysis of quantitative assessments to measure the impacts of current and future satellite and remote sensing observations. This role focuses on evaluating how these observing systems influence environmental prediction and decision support applications, particularly through data assimilations in numerical models. Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.