Research Environmental Engineer

RTI International is an independent, scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Our vision is to address the world's most critical problems with technical and science-based solutions in pursuit of a better future. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach-one that integrates expertise across social, statistical, data, and laboratory sciences, engineering, and other technical disciplines to solve the world's most challenging problems.

We believe in the promise of science and technical solutions, and we push ourselves every day to deliver on that promise for the good of people, communities, and businesses in the US and around the world. If you are looking for the opportunity to make a real difference, RTI is the place for you.

RTI's Center for Water, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Solutions (WARES) connects expertise across science, engineering, economics, and technology to develop practical solutions to complex environmental and economic challenges. WARES water resources work spans river forecasting and decision-support systems, water supply planning, watershed management, critical infrastructure risk analysis, and data management solutions for domestic and international clients.

We are seeking a Research Environmental Engineer to join our Forecasting and River Operations team. This team develops operational river forecasting systems, hydrologic and reservoir models, data workflows, and decision-support tools for water management agencies, hydropower utilities, and other clients. We conduct client-sponsored research to advance forecasting methods and adapt emerging research for use in operational systems. The team has extensive experience implementing and supporting river forecast systems, integrating hydrologic, hydraulic, reservoir operations, and other models, and developing workflows for data ingestion, quality control, visualization, reporting, and forecast evaluation.

Why Join Us?

• Do meaningful work that helps forecasters and water managers make informed decisions for the communities they serve.
• Develop practical solutions to complex water management challenges.
• Collaborate with experts across water resources, data science, energy, economics, social science, and software development.
• Translate research into useful day-to-day forecasting and water management tools.
• Work directly with clients to understand their challenges and develop ideas for new projects.

In this role, you will combine project leadership, senior technical input, client engagement, establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships, and business development. You will lead project teams, coordinate technical contributions across the group, and manage scope, budgets, and schedules to deliver high-quality solutions. You will strengthen client relationships, guide technically rigorous research and implementation, provide senior input across a diverse project portfolio, and help expand RTI's footprint in water resources forecasting and operations.

Essential Duties:

Internal leadership, development, and project oversight

• Provide senior input across multiple projects, helping define the technical direction on projects, interpret results, manage project risks, and produce high-quality deliverables.
• Serve as a senior client-facing lead, building trusted relationships through strong technical judgment, dependable project execution, and clear communication to understand client needs.
• Manage complex implementation and research projects from scoping through delivery, including planning, staffing, budget and schedule oversight, risk management, quality review, and communication with clients and partners.
• Provide senior leadership across three or more key technical areas such as:
  • Hydrologic model development
  • Deterministic and ensemble forecasting
  • Data assimilation
  • Forecast verification and uncertainty characterization
  • Reservoir operations and river system management
  • Forecast-informed decision support
  • AI/ML and hybrid modeling for forecasting systems
• Coordinate effectively with our multidisciplinary team and with external research or operational partners.
• Mentor technical staff and project managers.

Business development and client relations

• Identify emerging research with potential for implementation in client systems. Communicate these opportunities to clients and lead internal efforts to build the expertise needed to put them into practice.
• Represent RTI in client meetings, technical workshops, conferences, working groups, and collaborative research activities.
• Establish and maintain client relationships, building trust and understanding their evolving needs and priorities.
• Identify and develop new opportunities with current and prospective clients, particularly where RTI can connect applied research, forecasting technology, and operational decision-making.
• Lead or make substantial contributions to capture planning, proposals, and business development.
• Help shape new service offerings, partnerships, and investment priorities that expand RTI's forecasting and operations portfolio.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree and 12 years of experience, master's degree and 10 years of experience, PhD and 8 years of experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Relevant fields includes civil engineering, environmental engineering, hydrology, water resources engineering, environmental science, computer science, geography, or a related discipline.

Required Qualifications

• Deep expertise in core aspects of operational water forecasting and decision support, with the ability to provide credible senior guidance across adjacent water resources disciplines. Experience with the data, models, workflows, verification methods, and operational constraints that affect operational forecasting and decision support systems.
• Proven experience leading technical projects, workstreams, or applied research efforts involving multiple contributors and stakeholders. Strong project leadership skills, including the ability to define scope, organize interdisciplinary work, anticipate risks, make sound decisions, and deliver high-quality work.
• Success working directly with clients, sponsors, operational agencies, utilities, or research partners.
• Experience contributing to business development through activities such as opportunity identification, client engagement, concept development, proposal preparation, or expansion of existing work.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical information to both technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Ability to develop and articulate new technical or research ideas and translate them into fundable, executable work.
• Ability to provide constructive senior review, mentorship, and technical guidance to project teams.
• Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States without current or future visa sponsorship.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with ensemble hydrologic prediction, probabilistic forecasting, uncertainty characterization, bias correction, post-processing, or forecast verification.
• Experience developing AI/ML or hybrid process-based and data-driven methods for hydrologic forecasting or water management.
• Experience applying data assimilation methods to hydrologic, snow, meteorological, hydraulic, or reservoir forecasting problems.
• Experience with reservoir system modeling, forecast-informed reservoir operations, or optimization.
• Experience with forecasting and modeling platforms or tools such as Delft-FEWS, National Weather Service forecasting models and workflows, RiverWare, HEC platforms, or comparable systems.
• Experience with coastal modeling, urban/stormwater modeling, or groundwater modeling
• Working knowledge of Python, geospatial tools, cloud computing, or data engineering.
• Experience working with federal water agencies, River Forecast Centers, reservoir operators, or hydropower utilities.
• Experience leading or contributing to collaborative research involving academic, government, nonprofit, and private-sector partners.
• A record of technical publications, conference presentations, workshops, or leadership in professional and research communities.

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For San Francisco, CA USA Job Postings Only: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Further information is availablehere.

RTI accepts applications to our job openings from candidates with criminal histories or conviction records in accordance with all applicable laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

For Applicants in Massachusetts Only:It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

The anticipated pay range for this role is listed below. Our pay ranges represent national averages and may vary by location as a geographic differential may be applied to some locations within the United States. RTI considers multiple factors when making an offer including, for example: established salary range, internal budget, business needs, and education and years of work experience possessed by the applicant. Further, salary is merely one element to our offer.

At RTI, we demonstrate our commitment to rewarding individual and team achievement through a total rewards package. This package includes (among other things) a competitive base salary, a generous paid time off policy, merit based annual increases, bonus opportunities and a robust recognition program. Other benefits include a competitive range of insurance plans (including health, dental, life, and short-term and long-term disability), access to a retirement savings program such as a 401(k) plan, paid parental leave for all parents, financial assistance with adoption expenses or infertility treatments, financial reimbursement for education and developmental opportunities, an employee assistance program, and numerous other offerings to support a healthy work-life balance.