Director of Climate Sciences

MSCI Inc; New York (NY); On-site; USD 173,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Flexible working arrangements

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

MSCI Inc. seeks a senior climate risk modeling leader in the U.S. to architect and implement robust physical risk models.

You will guide a team of scientists, collaborating with data, cloud, and security teams while aligning with product and sales stakeholders. This role requires advancing standard methodologies and validating models on a global scale. The ideal candidate holds a PhD with 5+ years in environmental product development, strong programming skills, and experience with CMIP,

Qualifications

• PhD in Meteorology, Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography, Hydrology, Physics, Engineering, Mathematics, or similar.
• 5+ years in roles developing environmental products with probabilistic risk focus.
• Programming experience in Python, R, C/C++, and/or Fortran.
• Experience with Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF, GeoParquet and related formats.
• Knowledge of CMIP outputs and SSPs.
• Experience using AI tools for writing production scientific code.
• Familiarity with financial services and index space is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of scientists to architect and implement models for climate risk assessment.
• Create robust, reproducible physical models validated globally under climate change.
• Establish standards and techniques for modeling physical risk and its changes.
• Organize team activities, track progress, and align with product, sales, and project managers.
• Coordinate with stakeholders to meet product requirements and resource planning.

Skills

PhD in Meteorology or related

Climate risk modeling

Team leadership

Python/R/C/C++/Fortran

Cloud geospatial formats

CMIP knowledge

AI tooling for production code

Education

PhD in Meteorology or related field

Tools

Python

R

C/C++

Fortran

Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF

GeoParquet

Job description

Your Team Responsibilities

• Build physical climate risk models using state-of-the-art methodologies including AI numerical weather prediction applied to climate applications; stochastic ensembles; earth observing foundation models; as well as traditional physics-based models.

• Collaborate with our climate scientists, hydrologists, fire scientists, data scientists, and data engineers to translate business requirements into scientific solutions.

• Partner with data, cloud, and security teams to design scalable and maintainable scientific modeling pipelines.

• Foster a culture of scientific rigor and excellence in model design, including conducting validation studies to guide continuous improvement of those models.

Your Key Ressponsibilities

• Lead a team of scientists to architect and implement models for climate risk assessment.

• Create robust, reproducible physical models which will stand up to peer review and validate well globally in a changing climate.

• Lead the establishment of standards, methodologies, and techniques for modeling physical risk, including how it is changing due to climate change.

• Organize and facilitate team activities for tracking work progress, communicate with internal stakeholders in product and sales teams, and align timelines and deliveries with project managers.

• Coordinate with other internal stakeholders as necessary to facilitate product requirements, deadlines, compute resources, etc.

Your skills and experience that will help you excel

• Ph.D. in Meteorology, Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography, Hydrology, Physics, Engineering, Mathematics, or similar subjects.

• 5+ years of experience in roles developing environmental products to meet client requirements, with a preference for probabilistic risk products including, but not limited to, catastrophe model outputs.

• Programming experience in Python, R, C/C++, and/or Fortran.

• Experience with cloud optimized geospatial formats such as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG), GeoParquet, and related standards.

• Knowledge of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) outputs and its shared socioeconomic pathways.

• Practical experience using AI tools (i.e. Claude Code, Codex) for writing production scientific code and pipelines.

• Familiarity with financial services and index space would be a plus.

About MSCI

What we offer you

• Salary range: $173,000 - $225,000 / year. Plus eligible for annual bonus.

• Transparent compensation schemes and comprehensive employee benefits, tailored to your location, ensuring your financial security, health, and overall wellbeing.

• Flexible working arrangements, advanced technology, and collaborative workspaces.

• A culture of high performance and innovation where we experiment with new ideas and take responsibility for achieving results.

• A global network of talented colleagues, who inspire, support, and share their expertise to innovate and deliver for our clients.

• Global Orientation program to kickstart your journey, followed by access to our Learning@MSCI platform, AI Learning Center , LinkedIn Learning Pro and tailored learning opportunities for ongoing skills development.

• Multi-directional career paths that offer professional growth and development through new challenges, internal mobility and expanded roles.

• We actively nurture an environment that builds a sense of inclusion belonging and connection, including eight Employee Resource Groups. All Abilities, Asian Support Network, Black Leadership Network, Climate Action Network, Hola! MSCI, Pride & Allies, Women in Tech, and Women’s Leadership Forum.

At MSCI we are passionate about what we do, and we are inspired by our vision – to power better decisions. You’ll be part of an industry-leading network of creative, curious, and entrepreneurial pioneers. This is a space where you can challenge yourself, set new standards and perform beyond expectations for yourself, our clients, and our industry.

MSCI strengthens global markets by connecting participants across the financial ecosystem with a common language. Our research-based data, analytics and indexes, supported by advanced technology, set standards for global investors and help our clients understand risks and opportunities so they can make better decisions and unlock innovation. We serve asset managers and owners, private-market sponsors and investors, hedge funds, wealth managers, banks, insurers and corporates.

MSCI Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of the firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital and civil partnership/union status, pregnancy (including unlawful discrimination on the basis of a legally protected parental leave), veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. MSCI is also committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, please email [e-mail] and indicate the specifics of the assistance needed. Please note, this e‑mail is intended only for individuals who are requesting a reasonable workplace accommodation; it is not intended for other inquiries.