Research Environmental Engineer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in North Carolina.

📋 Description

• Deliver senior technical insights across various projects, establish technical direction, analyze results, manage risks, and create high-quality outputs.

• Act as a senior client-facing leader, fostering trusted relationships with clients.

• Oversee intricate implementation and research projects from initial scoping to final delivery.

• Manage planning, staffing, budgets, schedules, risk management, quality reviews, and communications with clients and partners.

• Provide senior leadership in at least three critical technical areas related to water forecasting and decision support.

• Coordinate multidisciplinary teams alongside external research or operational partners.

• Mentor technical staff and project managers to enhance their skills.

• Identify and assess emerging research that can be integrated into client systems.

• Communicate potential opportunities to clients and spearhead efforts to cultivate implementation expertise.

• Represent RTI in client meetings, workshops, conferences, working groups, and collaborative research initiatives.

• Build and maintain client relationships while understanding their evolving needs and priorities.

• Identify and develop new opportunities with both existing and prospective clients.

• Lead or significantly contribute to capture planning, proposal development, and business growth.

• Shape new service offerings, partnerships, and investment strategies within RTI’s forecasting and operations portfolio.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with 12 years of relevant experience, master’s degree with 10 years, PhD with 8 years, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Expertise in a relevant field such as civil engineering, environmental engineering, hydrology, water resources engineering, environmental science, computer science, geography, or a related discipline.

• In-depth knowledge of operational water forecasting and decision support.

• Familiarity with data, models, workflows, verification methods, and operational constraints impacting forecasting and decision-support systems.

• Demonstrated experience leading technical projects, workstreams, or applied research involving multiple contributors and stakeholders.

• Strong project leadership capabilities, including scope definition, interdisciplinary work organization, risk anticipation, decision-making, and delivering high-quality outputs.

• Experience collaborating directly with clients, sponsors, operational agencies, utilities, or research partners.

• Background in business development, opportunity identification, client engagement, concept development, proposal preparation, or expanding existing work.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to convey complex technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Proficient in developing and articulating technical or research concepts and translating them into actionable, fundable projects.

• Capacity to provide senior review, mentorship, and technical guidance.

• Legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future visa sponsorship.

• Preferred: experience with ensemble hydrologic prediction, probabilistic forecasting, uncertainty characterization, bias correction, post-processing, or forecast verification.

• Preferred: experience in developing AI/ML or hybrid process-based and data-driven methodologies.

• Preferred: experience in applying data assimilation techniques.

• Preferred: experience in reservoir system modeling, forecast-informed reservoir operations, or optimization strategies.

• Preferred: familiarity with Delft-FEWS, National Weather Service forecasting models and workflows, RiverWare, HEC platforms, or similar systems.

• Preferred: experience with coastal, urban/stormwater, or groundwater modeling.

• Preferred: working knowledge of Python, geospatial tools, cloud computing, or data engineering.

• Preferred: experience collaborating with federal water agencies, River Forecast Centers, reservoir operators, or hydropower utilities.

• Preferred: experience leading or contributing to collaborative research with academic, government, nonprofit, and private-sector partners.

• Preferred: a record of technical publications, conference presentations, workshops, or leadership in professional and research communities.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive base salary.

• Generous paid time off policy.

• Merit-based annual increases.

• Bonus opportunities.

• Robust recognition program.

• Comprehensive health, dental, life, and short-term and long-term disability insurance plans.

• Retirement savings program such as a 401(k) plan.

• Paid parental leave for all parents.

• Financial assistance for adoption expenses or infertility treatments.

• Financial reimbursement for education and professional development opportunities.

• Employee assistance program.

• Additional offerings that support work-life balance.