Rainmaker Fellow, Atmospheric Science

About the role

Rainmaker is pioneering a modern cloud-seeding system to increase precipitation, improve water availability, and address severe-weather challenges. The Rainmaker Atmospheric Science Fellowship is a paid, full-time research appointment designed for exceptional undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, recent graduates, and other early-career researchers seeking hands-on scientific impact. You will join Rainmaker's atmospheric-science team and work alongside our researchers on a scoped quantitative project that directly draws from current scientific and operational priorities. Your role involves taking responsibility for a concrete analytical workstream while contributing to broader team reviews and operational decisions, with the expectation that you turn important atmospheric or operational questions into rigorous, usable results. Fellows are not expected to arrive with an independent research agenda or to define a project in isolation, but rather to collaborate closely to deliver actionable outcomes. You will work with your research lead to translate atmospheric, operational, or program-design questions into measurable quantitative criteria that guide Rainmaker's decisions.

Key facts

What you'll do

Work with your research lead to translate an atmospheric, operational, or program-design question into measurable quantitative criteria.

Build and document the quality-controlled dataset required for the assigned project, ensuring integrity and usability across the team.

Apply appropriate statistical, climatological, geospatial, verification, or decision-analysis methods to derive robust findings.

Compare results across relevant reanalysis, NWP, satellite, radar, terrain, operational, or in-situ data sources to assess consistency and trade-offs.

Incorporate practical operational constraints when they are relevant to the question, ensuring results are feasible in real-world settings.

Quantify uncertainty, missingness, bias, and sensitivity to assumptions to communicate the limits of the analysis clearly.

Create maps, summaries, and decision-oriented outputs tailored for scientists, operators, and program designers.

Build a documented and reusable workflow that the team can extend to future questions and operational needs.

Deliver a final artifact such as a dataset, analysis, evaluation framework, operational tool, technical report, or presentation for team use.

Contribute to broader team reviews, data product evaluations, and operational decisions that shape Rainmaker's cloud-seeding strategy.

Assist in defining measurable success criteria for precipitation-enhancement programs based on atmospheric conditions and data availability.

Support the development of ground-truth datasets and validation methods for forecasting, retrieval, or machine-learning systems within cloud-seeding contexts.

Verify forecasts or help automate meteorological analyses used by operations to improve timing and targeting decisions.

Compare program designs, targeting strategies, or operational constraints across candidate regions to identify optimal opportunities.

Estimate seedable hours and program opportunity for a proposed or existing operating region using observed and modeled atmospheric data.

Requirements

Current undergraduate, master's, or PhD students; postdoctoral researchers; recent graduates; and other early-career researchers are all eligible to apply for this fellowship.

You must have a background in meteorology, atmospheric science, applied mathematics, statistics, physics, hydrology, geospatial science, or a related quantitative field.

Strong Python and quantitative-analysis ability is required for data processing, analysis, and reporting.

Experience with meteorological, climate, geospatial, radar, satellite, or model data is necessary to perform core analytical tasks.

You must be able to make ambiguous definitions explicit and test the sensitivity of results to assumptions and methodological choices.

Strong scientific judgment about uncertainty, representativeness, and the difference between an analytical proxy and operational ground truth is essential.

Clear written and verbal communication skills are required for collaboration, documentation, and presenting findings to diverse audiences.

Availability for full-time, on-site work in El Segundo for the agreed appointment is mandatory throughout the fellowship period.

Nice to have

Particularly Relevant Experience includes GRIB, netCDF, xarray, reanalysis, NWP, radar, satellite, terrain, or operational datasets.

Background in climatology, forecast verification, spatial statistics, time-series analysis, uncertainty quantification, or decision analysis is strongly preferred.

Experience with cloud microphysics, precipitation, orographic meteorology, convection, weather modification, or field operations is especially relevant.

Familiarity with reproducible scientific workflows and decision-oriented visualization is considered a significant advantage.

Practical notes

This is a paid, full-time, on-site internship in El Segundo, California.

The appointment duration is three to six months, with three months as the standard length.

Rolling applications are accepted, and project-specific start dates are determined based on team needs.

Fellows are attached directly to Rainmaker's atmospheric-science team and will have a named mentor for guidance and development.

There may be consideration for future full-time roles, though no promise or expectation of conversion is made.

Compensation is set at $8,000 per month, with full health coverage (medical, dental, and vision insurance) provided.

Lunch is provided when working in-office, and a fully stocked kitchenette is available for use.

Free EV charging at the HQ is included as a benefit for the duration of the fellowship.