Researcher – Computational Science

Location

CO – Golden

Position Type

Limited Term (Fixed Term)

Hours Per Week

40

Working at NREL

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation’s primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

From day one at NREL, you’ll connect with coworkers driven by the same mission to save the planet. By joining an organization that values a supportive, inclusive, and flexible work environment, you’ll have the opportunity to engage through our ten employee resource groups, numerous employee-driven clubs, and learning and professional development classes.

NREL supports inclusive, diverse, and unbiased hiring practices that promote creativity and innovation. By collaborating with organizations that focus on diverse talent pools, reaching out to underrepresented demographics, and providing an inclusive application and interview process, our Talent Acquisition team aims to hear all voices equally. We strive to attract a highly diverse workforce and create a culture where every employee feels welcomed and respected and they can be their authentic selves.

Our planet needs us! Learn about NREL’s critical objectives, and see how NREL is focused on saving the planet.

We invite all interested candidates to apply for this opportunity. While we recognize that job seekers may hesitate if they don’t meet every requirement, we encourage dedicated individuals who meet all the basic and additional required qualifications of the role to submit an application. We value the opportunity to consider those who believe they have the necessary skills and ambition to succeed at NREL.

Job Description

The Complex Systems Simulation and Optimization Group in the NREL Computational Science Center has an opening for a full-time professional with competencies in advanced computing simulation, applied mathematics, optimization, and/or machine learning research who will help to enable the effective utilization of scalable accelerated algorithms, applications, software, hardware, and/or workflows on advanced computing systems in support of clean energy research. Supported research projects may come from a variety of scientific domains and backgrounds but frequently include topics from energy systems integration, wind energy, solar energy, batteries, vehicle efficiency and electrification, electrification, power systems, buildings, chemistry, material science, fluid dynamics, structural analysis, engineering analysis, optimization, machine learning, resource analysis, durability, and resilience. We are particularly interested in a researcher with a background in one of the following: enabling scientific discovery, engineering innovation and credible energy analysis relying on advanced, parallel, scalable workflows, frameworks, simulations, optimization, machine learning and artificial intelligence frameworks and workflow deployment in high performance computing (HPC) or cloud environments. We are looking for a dynamic, motivated researcher with a strong technical background and an interest in the mission of NREL.

The successful candidate will collaborate with partners including NREL staff and researchers, other national laboratory staff, university researchers, and corporate partners on efforts to effectively carry out research and development from the atomic to the national scale utilizing NREL’s advanced computing capabilities on- and off-premises. They will be part of small teams identifying, designing, deploying, and supporting solutions for research and development on advanced, scalable, accelerated computing hardware, which may require consideration of parallel application and workflow deployment and support, cloud architectures, hardware and library performance, utilization of machine learning, and/or advanced math and programming skills.

Job Duties And Responsibilities Of The Position Include

• Operations and Research Support: Identifying, configuring, debugging, deploying, and supporting applications and workflows on scalable, accelerated advanced computing hardware and cloud architectures centered on simulations, optimization, and machine learning.
• Application collaboration: Collaborate with NREL and research partners to identify, design, implement, and carry out execution of applications and workflows in clean energy research.
• Research: Carry out computational and domain research, developing and using advanced algorithms, mathematics, modeling, simulation, optimization, and machine learning for clean energy systems research.
• Community development: engage with and educate the clean energy research community through consultations, meetups, and groups to identify opportunities for ML and AI to accelerate research.
• Evaluate and track the state of simulation, optimization, machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms, frameworks, and workflows and their use of advanced, scalable, accelerated, and emerging computing architectures on premise and in the cloud.
• Publications and presentations: Author, present, and assist in the preparation of technical papers, reports, and conference proceedings.

Basic Qualifications

Relevant PhD . Or, relevant Master’s Degree and 3 or more years of experience . Or, relevant Bachelor’s Degree and 5 or more years of experience . Demonstrates complete understanding and wide application of scientific technical procedures, principles, theories and concepts in the field. General knowledge of other related disciplines. Demonstrates leadership in one or more areas of team, task or project lead responsibilities. Demonstrated experience in management of projects. Very good technical writing, interpersonal and communication skills.

• Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional Required Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

• An interest in renewable energy, energy efficiency and supporting technologies; wind, solar, vehicles, biomass, hydrogen, buildings, batteries, and electric grid technologies.
• Ability to quickly learn new programming languages and frameworks and adapt to changing research demands and simulation scales in a fast-paced scientific, engineering and analysis environment.
• Demonstrated experience developing, programming, and/or utilizing algorithms and software for advanced, scalable, accelerated Linux computing systems.
• Interest in simulation, optimization, machine learning and/or energy analysis on advanced computing systems and potentially quantum computers.
• Background and experience in one or more of the following would be a plus:

• Background in scalable accelerated applications.
• Software engineering expertise, coding and testing patterns, version control and CI/CD, engineering software platforms and large-scale simulation, learning and data workflows especially using open-source tools.
• Managing software dependencies in HPC and Cloud environments with common tools such as Modules, Conda, Spack, and containerization.
• Developing workflows, including job scheduler integration, data management of big datasets, data movement, and data availability/sharing with remote users and systems.
• Machine learning and artificial intelligence on scalable, accelerated computing systems.
• Enabling user communities through documentation of best practices and community outreach.

Job Application Submission Window

The anticipated closing window for application submission is up to 30 days and may be extended as needed.

Annual Salary Range (based on full-time 40 hours per week)

Job Profile: Researcher III / Annual Salary Range: $79,600 – $143,300

Job Profile: Researcher II / Annual Salary Range: $73,200 – $120,800

Job Profile: Researcher II / Annual Salary Range: $73,200 – $120,800

Job Profile: Researcher III / Annual Salary Range: $79,600 – $143,300

NREL takes into consideration a candidate’s education, training, and experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value, including seniority and merit systems, and internal pay alignment when determining the salary level for potential new employees. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee’s salary history will not be used in compensation decisions.

Benefits Summary

Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; short*- and long-term disability insurance; pension benefits*; 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match*; life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance; personal time off (PTO) and sick leave; paid holidays; and tuition reimbursement*. NREL employees may be eligible for, but are not guaranteed, performance-, merit-, and achievement- based awards that include a monetary component. Some positions may be eligible for relocation expense reimbursement. Limited-term positions are not eligible for long-term disability or tuition reimbursement.

• Based on eligibility rules

Badging Requirement

NREL is subject to Department of Energy (DOE) access restrictions. All employees must also be able to obtain and maintain a federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), which includes a favorable background investigation.

Drug Free Workplace

NREL is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace in accordance with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and complies with federal laws prohibiting the possession and use of illegal drugs. Under federal law, marijuana remains an illegal drug.

If you are offered employment at NREL, you must pass a pre-employment drug test prior to commencing employment. Unless prohibited by state or local law, the pre-employment drug test will include marijuana. If you test positive on the pre-employment drug test, your offer of employment may be withdrawn.

Submission Guidelines

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at NREL you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

EEO Policy

NREL is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic partner status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

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