CPAESS Scientist V (Ocean and Biogeochemical Modeling)

Location: Princeton, New Jersey, United States. In-person or hybrid work is available, with approximately 3 days per week on site. All work must be performed within the United States, excluding U.S. territories; remote-only work is not available.

Hiring range: $111,790–$145,350 per year.

Company

hirify.global supports Earth system science through scientific staffing partnerships, research programs, and community-building initiatives for federal agencies, laboratories, and the broader scientific community.

What you will do

• Strengthen, modernize, and manage ocean and biogeochemical modeling codes, configurations, and workflows supporting NOAA's CEFI and NEAP prediction systems.
• Consolidate regional ocean and biogeochemical configurations for the Northwest Atlantic, Northeast Pacific, Arctic, Great Lakes, and Pacific Islands in a unified GitHub repository.
• Expand testing infrastructure and pull-request management, including Arctic, Great Lakes, and Pacific Islands test cases.
• Unify retrospective and seasonal forecasting workflows, execution scripts, data ingestion, and scientific diagnostics across regions.
• Lead project teams, manage scope, risks, resources, sponsors, and partner coordination, and engage with senior scientists at GFDL and NOAA Research.
• Author technical documentation, reports, manuscripts, proposals, briefings, and quarterly updates on development and testing progress.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science degree and 15 years of related experience, or a master's degree and 11 years of experience, or a PhD in a scientific discipline and 7 years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Expert knowledge of scientific or technical theories, methods, and modeling techniques within a specialized field, with broad understanding of related domains.
• Ability to lead scientific and innovation initiatives, develop novel hypotheses, methods, tools, models, or frameworks, and address complex scientific, operational, or applied challenges.
• Ability to direct project teams, manage scope, risks, resources, and coordination across contributors, sponsors, and partner organizations.
• Strong mentoring, team-building, collaboration, communication, analytical, and strategic planning skills.
• Ability to engage senior stakeholders, support program development, translate scientific insights into strategies or products, and define impactful research or technology directions.
• Proven ability to deliver publications, presentations, technical outputs, or other externally recognized contributions.
• Recognition as an emerging leader in scientific communities through service, collaborative influence, or participation in national initiatives.

Nice to have

• Expert knowledge of code management, ocean and biogeochemical modeling, and running ocean and biogeochemical models on modern HPC architectures.
• Expert knowledge and application of GitHub.
• Deep expertise in developing and testing MOM6 and COBALT operational modeling systems.
• Experience leading development teams and overseeing code management execution across a project team.
• Demonstrated skill with the MOM6 ocean and COBALT biogeochemical models.

Culture & Benefits

• Work may take place in office, laboratory, industrial, research, and field environments depending on project assignments.
• Field assignments may involve travel, variable or severe weather, uneven terrain, elevated platforms, vehicles, aircraft, specialized equipment, and hazardous processes.
• Mandatory safety training and personal protective equipment may be required.
• Benefits include medical, dental, vision, disability, retirement contributions of 10% of base salary, paid time off, 10 paid holidays, parental leave, FAMLI leave, tuition assistance, and employee assistance programs.
• The role is eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Hiring process

• Submit a cover letter, questionnaire, and resume or CV.
• Selected candidates must complete standard background checks and federal screening before the start date is confirmed.
• Employment requires compliance with U.S. export control regulations and applicable federal agency requirements.