About this role
Examples of the Work
Fellowship projects change with Rainmaker's research and operational priorities. Examples of the work our satellite remote-sensing team may pursue include:
- Benchmarking and improving microwave-sounder retrievals using Rainmaker in-cloud measurements, radar, geostationary imagery, and model fields.
- Fusing intermittent polar-orbiting observations with frequent geostationary imagery to track cloud properties between overpasses.
- Automating an existing manual satellite-analysis workflow used by Rainmaker scientists or operators.
- Validating cloud-phase, cloud-top, precipitation, moisture, temperature, or related satellite products against Rainmaker observations.
- Developing a bounded retrieval or satellite data product for research or operational use.
What You'll Do
- Acquire, process, collocate, and quality-control microwave, polar-orbiting, and geostationary satellite observations.
- Reproduce an existing retrieval or operational baseline before testing improvements.
- Validate satellite products against radar, NWP, soundings, surface observations, and Rainmaker aircraft, UAS, or in-situ measurements.
- Quantify detection skill, bias, uncertainty, spatial representativeness, latency, coverage, and failure modes by meteorological regime.
- Implement physically motivated, statistical, or ML retrieval improvements when justified by the project and data.
- Build documented, reproducible workflows that other Rainmaker scientists can run and extend.
- Present findings to satellite scientists, radar scientists, meteorologists, operators, and technical leadership.
- Deliver a final artifact such as a collocation dataset, retrieval benchmark, automated data product, error analysis, fusion prototype, or research paper.
What We're Looking For
- Current undergraduate, master's, or PhD students; postdoctoral researchers; recent graduates; and other early-career researchers are all eligible.
- Strong quantitative and programming ability, preferably in Python.
- Experience with atmospheric remote sensing, satellite meteorology, physics, applied mathematics, electrical engineering, computer science, or a related field.
- Interest in microwave sounders, polar-orbiting observations, geostationary imagery, retrieval methods, or scientific data products.
- Ability to implement a scientific method, establish a baseline, and validate the result carefully.
- Comfort working with large, imperfect, multidimensional observational datasets.
- High agency and the ability to take responsibility for a bounded workstream while collaborating with experienced researchers.
- Clear written and verbal communication.
- Availability for full-time, on-site work in El Segundo for the agreed appointment.
Particularly Relevant Experience
By the end of the fellowship, you will have answered a clearly defined scientific or operational question and delivered a trusted computational result the satellite remote-sensing team can continue using. Depending on the project, that might be a quality-controlled validation dataset, retrieval benchmark or improvement, error analysis, fusion prototype, automated data product, or operational workflow.
Success does not require a positive result. A rigorous conclusion about what the available observations can and cannot support can be as valuable as an improved retrieval.
Fellowship Details
- Paid, full-time, and on-site in El Segundo.
- Three-to-six-month appointment, with four months as the standard duration.
- Rolling applications and project-specific start dates.
- Attached directly to Rainmaker's satellite-science group with a named mentor.
- Consideration for future full-time roles
- Publication may be supported when it does not compromise Rainmaker intellectual property or operational know-how.
Compensation and Benefits
$8,000 per month
Benefits:
- Full health coverage (medical, dental, and vision insurance)
- Lunch provided when working in-office and a fully stocked kitchenette
- Free EV charging at the HQ