Climate Scientist

Description
Location: Hybrid, flexible location with offices in Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne

Permanent, full-time position

About us

The Climate Risk Group is a company committed to quantifying and communicating the costs of climate change. Our mission is to influence decision-makers – large and small – towards action that directs global capital away from climate change-related activities and towards a zero-carbon, high-resilience economy.

With 40 team members across Australia and Europe, The Climate Risk Group brings together XDI, with its finance and business focus, and Climate Valuation, which provides household-level insights into the costs of climate change. Together, our work leverages physical climate risk data, influence with global financial players, and grassroots momentum to create a compelling case for change.

The Role

As a Climate Scientist with expertise in climate science, programming skills, and proficiency in statistics, you’ll work within our Core Infrastructure team, which ensures our climate risk engine is robust, rigorous, and meets our mission.

The team is cross-functional, including data analysts, scientists, and software engineers, who work together to address the business’s scientific needs. They primarily serve the needs of our internal product teams and provide the tools and training to enable the implementation of science innovation.

Your work will focus on utilising mathematical and computational techniques to estimate climate-related risks, financial models to quantify productivity loss from climate change. It will contribute to the global push for a low-carbon economy and climate-resilient communities. Our ultimate purpose is to enable humanity to avoid dangerous climate change, and we need your help to make that happen.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Researching, developing, and replicating hazard models and algorithms while managing uncertainty of data, and implementing these models with our software engineers’ support
• Identifying fit-for-purpose model scope within commercial constraints
• Working within and contributing to a regulatory-ready model governance standard
• Managing ongoing documentation of models for internal and external stakeholders
• Validating natural hazard models to ensure accurate and reliable prediction of climate-related risks
• Using multi-model approaches to improve the robustness of climate predictions
• Applying expertise in extreme weather and climate phenomena to inform model development and risk assessment
• Undertaking special research projects, either independently or as part of a team, related to climate hazards and impact computation
• Managing multiple projects in collaboration with a team of scientists and other organisational teams
• Contributing to the ongoing development of programming and statistical practices within the organisation
• Establishing relationships with peer researchers and organizations, and collaborating on methods development and impact research with university and other institutional research partners

Capabilities sought-after:

• A PhD in climate science with a focus on climate statistics
• Essential proficiency in statistics and programming, particularly in Python, is desired. Familiarity with QGIS is also desirable
• Prior experience in extreme analysis, managing scientific uncertainty, and conducting economic or financial modeling would be advantageous
• An interest in hydrology (including flooding and coastal impact), fire dynamics, and the human impacts of climate change will be highly regarded
• Exceptional collaboration skills, working with others and with other functions (tech, science, sales, analytics) to increase productivity, share ideas, and develop solutions to achieve a common goal
• Outstanding (written and oral) communication skills, including the ability to convey complex scientific narratives with accuracy, and nuance, and to lead productive, positive, and outcome-driven discussions
• Natural aptitude for thinking laterally and forward, solving problems through a creative and indirect approach, and providing options while looking beyond immediate tasks to consider the long-term impact
• Emotional intelligence allowing you to understand the situations of people on the client side and internal teams
• Some experience in science leadership, including helping to understand and share perspectives, influencing decisions, strategic thinking, and translating research outcomes into impact would be advantageous
• Able to spot opportunities to “shift the dial on climate change” across collaborations, products, messaging, research, or any other vehicle supporting the organisation’s vision and values

Why work with us?

Want to know more about us and our work? Visit our Newsroom and check our latest 2023 XDI Global Hospital Infrastructure Physical Climate Risk Report https://xdi.systems/news

We are a mission-led organisation, a team of passionate, like-minded, curious individuals who want to use their professional skills to make a positive difference in climate change.

We value everyone’s contribution and offer a friendly, diverse culture with a range of generous employment conditions.

• Flexible working arrangements, including remote and hybrid working
• Fortnightly Wellbeing Days while remaining on full-time pay
• Access to our Employee Assistance Program
• Company-funded paid parental leave
• Empowered cross-functional teams
• Continuous feedback and recognition

If this sounds like you, please apply now by submitting your CV and a cover letter addressing all the criteria and why you’d like to work for The Climate Risk Group/XDI. We can only accept applications from candidates with the right to work in Australia.

Role Type
Hybrid • Permanent • Full-time • Mid-level Senior

Company Overview
The Climate Risk Group is a group of companies committed to quantifying and communicating the costs of climate change. Our mission is to influence global decision makers – large and small – towards action that prevents catastrophic climate change using innovation, empathy and logic. The Climate Risk Group brings together XDI, with its finance and business focus, and Climate Valuation, which provides household level insights into the costs of climate change. Together, our work leverages physical risk data, influence with global financial players and grass roots momentum to create a compelling case for change towards a resilient and zero carbon world.