Fire Modeling Scientist — CFD & AI for Property Risk

FM; Norwood (MA); On-site; USD 121,000 - 173,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits

401(k) & pension

Tuition reimbursement

Flexible work

Vacation and sick time

Job summary

FM, based in Norwood, MA, seeks a Senior Research Scientist to advance CFD-based fire hazard modeling and AI-enabled workflows for property loss prevention. The role combines scientific computing, physics-based reasoning, and rigorous analysis.

You will lead internal research projects, calibrate models with experimental data, and communicate findings to stakeholders while managing project lifecycles.

Qualifications

• Strong fundamental background in combustion, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and applied mathematics.
• Demonstrated expertise in CFD modeling, with substantial research experience applying numerical methods to fire, combustion, or closely related reacting-flow problems.
• Experience developing, implementing, calibrating, and validating physics-based models using experimental data.
• Proficiency with scientific programming and high-performance computing used in advanced numerical modeling.
• Experience using modern AI-enabled tools to increase productivity and solve technical problems, together with sound judgment to verify outputs and ensure reproducible results.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and a demonstrated ability to develop effective solutions to complex technical challenges.
• Strong interpersonal and teamwork skills, with the ability to productively collaborate in an interdisciplinary research environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead internally funded research projects involving CFD simulations for practical engineering applications.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate physics-based models and sub-models for combustion, heat transfer, fire spread, suppression, and related fire phenomena.
• Integrate AI and machine-learning approaches with physics-based modeling where they provide clear technical value, including surrogate and reduced-order models, parameter estimation, and sensitivity analysis.
• Use AI-enabled tools to improve research productivity and technical problem solving, including code development, workflow automation, data assimilation, visualization, and knowledge sharing, while maintaining scientific rigor, appropriate oversight, and accountability.
• Collaborate across teams to help design experiments and use test data to support model development, calibration, validation, and uncertainty quantification.
• Apply fire modeling tools to analyze complex industrial hazards and translate research findings into practical solutions for property loss prevention.
• Interpret and analyze computational and experimental data and prepare high-quality technical documentation.
• Communicate methods, results, limitations, and recommendations to internal and external stakeholders, including collaborators, clients, and industry partners.
• Manage all aspects of project management, including proposals, planning, execution, reporting, and application.

Skills

combustion

fluid mechanics

heat and mass transfer

applied mathematics

Education

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering or related field

Tools

CFD modeling

Numerical methods

Scientific programming

High-performance computing

AI-enabled tools

Job description

FM, based in Norwood, MA, seeks a Senior Research Scientist to advance CFD-based fire hazard modeling and AI-enabled workflows for property loss prevention. The role combines scientific computing, physics-based reasoning, and rigorous analysis.

You will lead internal research projects, calibrate models with experimental data, and communicate findings to stakeholders while managing project lifecycles.