Radar Science Fellow

About the role

The Rainmaker Radar Science Fellowship is a paid, full‑time research appointment for early‑career researchers to work on radar‑focused projects that support cloud‑seeding operations and precipitation‑enhancement programs.

Key responsibilities

• Build quality‑controlled radar datasets aligned with aircraft, UAS, satellite, model, surface, or operational observations.
• Implement and validate radar‑processing, feature‑extraction, retrieval, storm‑tracking, or statistical‑analysis methods.
• Investigate result variations across storm types, terrain, temperature regimes, and data quality.
• Create visualizations, scientific analyses, and reusable code for domain experts.
• Present findings to radar scientists, meteorologists, operators, and technical leadership.

Required profile

• Current undergraduate, master’s, PhD student, post‑doctoral researcher, recent graduate, or other early‑career researcher.
• Strong quantitative ability and high agency to own a bounded workstream.
• Comfort working with large, imperfect observational datasets.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.
• Availability for full‑time, on‑site work in El Segundo.

Required skills

• Proficiency in Python programming.

What we offer

• Paid $8,000 per month, full‑time, on‑site appointment (3‑month rolling term).
• Full health coverage (medical, dental, vision) and lunch provided on‑site.
• Stock options, 401(k) matching, unlimited PTO, paid holidays and parental leave.
• Relocation assistance for eligible candidates.
• Potential consideration for future full‑time roles and support for publications.