• Richmond, California

• Category: Clean Water

• Type: Full-time

• Min. Experience: Some Experience

• Salary: $86,000-$108,000 (Environmental Scientist I to Environmental Scientist II) 

Position Description

Reports to: Jay Davis and Melissa Foley

Requisition Number: CW 2023_02

Posted: July 28, 2023

First review of applications: August 18, 2023

SFEI is seeking a full-time senior hydrologist to join the Institute and lead an active cross-programmatic focus area related to watershed hydrology and modeling. The hydrologist will play a leadership role in coordinating and integrating hydrologic science and modeling across SFEI programs and implementing projects to inform Bay Area and statewide decisions regarding stormwater management, Bay water quality, watershed and urban hydrology, urban greening, habitat restoration, and climate change. The successful candidate will develop hydrologic and hydraulic models using existing modeling software and will develop new integrated modeling tools and quantitative approaches to inform important regional and state-wide water quality and ecological restoration management decisions. While collaborating with and leading interdisciplinary teams of SFEI chemists, geomorphologists, ecologists, and other scientists and regional thought leaders, the successful candidate will develop conceptual models and apply modeling tools to inform the sound environmental policy at watershed and regional scales.

The ideal candidate should be a strong integrative and creative thinker. The candidate must demonstrate a firm technical grasp of hydrology and numerical modeling, including application to stormwater management, transport and loading of sediment and stormwater contaminants, green infrastructure modeling/planning, and related ecological processes as it relates to habitat restoration in fluvial environments. The candidate should also have demonstrated strength in communicating modeling outcomes and implications to diverse audiences, leading meetings involving diverse stakeholders of varying technical capability, and working in interdisciplinary settings to identify synergies between projects and implications of technical work.

Typical Duties

• Leading SFEI’s watershed hydrologic and hydraulic modeling focus area

• Leading development and application of watershed models of hydrology, sediment transport, and water quality 

• Contributing to leadership of the Regional Monitoring Program’s Sources, Pathways, and Loadings Workgroup

• Fundraising to support the watershed hydrology modeling focus area

• Supervising and mentoring other staff conducting watershed and modeling projects

• Having a leadership role among scientists and managers involved in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in the Bay Area

Required Qualifications and Skills

• Education and Experience: PhD with at least four years of relevant work experience or a Masters with ten or more years of relevant work experience

• Educational and professional background in hydrology, environmental science, environmental engineering, water resources management, hydroecology, or other related scientific fields with a focus in hydrologic modeling Strong leadership skills; ability to work independently to develop, lead, manage, and deliver scientific studies and projects

• Big picture thinker with an ability to identify information gaps, anticipate future scientific needs, and develop innovative tools and approaches to meet these needs 

• Experience and success with grant writing for local, state, federal government and private funding or other forms of fundraising

• Proficiency with hydrologic, hydraulic, and water quality modeling tools such as LSPC, SWAT, SWMM, HEC software suite, HSPF, BASINS, MIKE, or related models

• Experience conducting water quality, hydrologic, and sediment transport modeling, and computational fluid dynamics studies using public and proprietary domain tools

• Strong programming skills and experience with programming languages such as Python, R, C++

• Strong analytical and data analysis skills

• Excellent written and oral communication skills and demonstrated record of report writing or scientific publication 

• Demonstrated ability to work closely and collaboratively with a multi-disciplinary team and interest in emerging topics in water quality, ecological restoration, and climate change

• A team player attitude, a commitment to excellence, and interest and abilities in mentoring entry or mid-level scientists

Preferred Qualifications and Skills

• Proficiency with geospatial analyses and tools (e.g., ArcGIS)

• Familiarity with water quality and stormwater monitoring and sampling techniques

If you’re excited about this role, but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may still be a viable candidate for this position, or one of our other roles.

About Clean Water

SFEI’s Clean Water Program is one of the nation’s premier water quality science programs. It anticipates and meets the water quality data needs of policy-makers, resource managers, and the public. It helps the public, regulators, and those who discharge into our waters create more effective policies to ensure the health of our waters. 

About SFEI

The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which has a 30-year track record of providing robust and innovative science to decision-makers, policy-makers, practitioners, and community members to measurably improve the health and resiliency of the Bay-Delta Estuary and other ecosystems. As a boundary organization, SFEI operates at the interface between science and policy, recognized nationally for our ability to build consensus to support effective environmental decision-making and policy. Our mission is to deliver visionary science that empowers people to revitalize nature in our communities. 

SFEI employs an interdisciplinary staff of more than 70. SFEI has three major programs: Clean Water, Environmental Informatics, and Resilient Landscapes. Our program staff represent numerous scientific and technological fields, including environmental chemistry, fluvial and estuarine modeling, ecology, wildlife biology, landscape planning, historical ecology, geomorphology, geospatial analysis, and web development. Our operations and IT staff are the backbone of our organization and keep everything running smoothly. 

For more information on our mission, values, programs, and staff, visit the San Francisco Estuary Institute website.  

Benefit highlights

• Matching contributions (5% of salary) to retirement plan (403B)

• Medical Insurance: health, vision, dental

• 12 paid holidays, plus vacation days starting at 3 weeks

• SFEI has a hybrid work model; for this position, regular presence in the office is preferred

Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action Employer

At SFEI, we celebrate the diversity of our staff and the places we serve, and recognize the value and strength of diversity. We are committed to growing together and creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace. In 2022, SFEI developed and adopted mission and vision statements for DEIJ within and beyond our organization. We also created an action plan which is currently underway. We strongly encourage applications from women-identified people, people of color, and people with other identities commonly under-represented in environmental science. We invite you to share what you like about your professional experience as well as about yourself personally. 

The San Francisco Estuary Institute is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We are committed to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, physical or mental disability, family or parental status, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Accommodations Statement 

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you have the right to request an accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our website or application portal as a result of your disability. To request an accommodation, contact us at 510-746-7355 or admin@sfei.org.

Please note that SFEI cannot sponsor an employment visa (e.g., H-1B) to fill this position.

In the spirit of a fair hiring process, no phone calls please.