Climate Scientist (Experienced)

Who we are: First Street is the industry standard for physical climate risk data. We use transparent and peer-reviewed methodologies to calculate the past, present, and future climate risk for every property in the world. We started eight years ago by working with the world’s leading climate scientists to create groundbreaking, climate-adjusted, property specific models and haven’t stopped. 

Our mission: We exist to connect climate change to financial risk

Our data: We create physics-based, deterministic models of flooding, wildfire and hurricanes, and advanced statistical models of extreme heat, air quality, drought, hail, severe convective storms, winter storms, and more. All of this data is used to create property-level financial risk metrics and macroeconomic variables to quantify the impacts of climate change. 

Our customers: We empower governments at the highest levels to make smart regulations, businesses to avoid bad investments, and everyday Americans to understand their personal risk from climate change. We are relied on every day by:

• Agencies ranging from the U.S. Department of Treasury to Fannie Mae

• The world's biggest banks such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo 

• Institutional investors like Nuveen and Blackstone 

• Millions of users on Redfin, Realtor.com, Homes.com, and more 

We believe:  Our work needs to match the pace and scope of the climate problem. This is why we have invested tens of millions of dollars into our science, data, people, and products and have raised tens of millions more to move even faster. 

Come join us and use your talents to create solutions to address humanity's biggest problem.

Team & Role Overview: 

We are seeking a Climate Scientist. The Climate Scientist will work within the Research and Development Group within First Street’s Data Team to develop new information products and enhancements to our existing models related to our rapidly-changing climate. First Street’s Flood, Wildfire, and Wind Models are nationwide, climate-corrected, physically-based models that, along with our statistically-based Heat Model, are used to quantify climate risks at the property and building levels across the United States. This role will be responsible for incorporating new methods, novel sources of data, and technical improvements into those models and providing scientific insights and guidance to the rest of the Data Team for the creation of First Street’s property level hazard and loss statistics. This scientist will stay up to date with the latest research in climate-influenced natural disasters and creatively find ways to incorporate new scientific advances into First Street’s climate risk information and data offerings.

What you’ll do: 

• Identify new scientific advances, data sources and methodological improvements for inclusion into First Street’s climate risk models.

• Create proof-of-concept analyses to inform feasibility and production decisions for new and enhanced information products.

• Introduce innovative methods to create probabilistic estimates of physical climate risks and any associated socioeconomic impacts.

• Inform risk model production, quality control and ongoing validation efforts.

• Conduct scientific analyses, data modeling and data processing both on the commercial cloud and on local compute clusters.

• Create descriptions of new information products and models for both peer-reviewed journals and public-facing publications.

What you’ll need: 

• Ph.D., or M.S. with equivalent experience, in a relevant field, including but not limited to climate science, geography, hydrology, meteorology, and oceanography.

• 3+ years of experience either in a postdoc or in industry/consulting

• Strong foundation in understanding and/or modeling geophysical processes (e.g., flood, heat, drought, wildfire, wind).

• Expertise with Earth observations, geospatial data, big data analysis, model outputs, large-capacity processing workflows, and cloud computing.

• Expertise in probability and statistics, especially related to hydrometeorological and/or geospatial processes.

• Expertise in compiled and scripting languages (e.g. Python, UNIX shell, Matlab, R, C++, Fortran, and/or SQL) and GIS software (e.g., QGIS) to efficiently analyze model inputs and outputs.

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, team environment.

What will make you stand out: 

• Experience in economic and socio-economic analyses.

• Experience in machine learning or artificial intelligence applications.

• Skill/Experience developing data quality assessments for model validation and calibration.

• Experience authoring peer-reviewed scientific publications in areas related to climate science and/or natural disaster risk.

• Experience manipulating and analyzing climate projections from WCRP’s CMIP6 climate models and downscaled outputs based on those models.

How we work: 

• Passion: We are driven by our shared goal to fight climate change 

• Impact: We only focus on things that move the needle 

• Urgency: We move quickly because the world depends on it 

• Positivity: We are optimistic and enthusiastic in all that we do

What we offer: 

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience 

• Ownership interest in the company via Employee Stock Option Plan 

• Hybrid Schedule with in-office work days on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 

• 15 vacation days along with 13 company holidays and 10 sick days 

• Health benefits covered at 100% for employee or a significant contribution for family plans 

• Vision and dental benefits with partial employee contribution

• 12 weeks of paid parental leave 

• Access to One Medical, Teledoc, HealthAdvocate, Kindbody, and Talkspace

• Company 401k program 

• Commuter benefits 

• Life Insurance

• Tech startup environment 

• Weekly team meals and an office stocked with coffee and snacks 

• Working on the world’s biggest issue with other passionate professionals 

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.