Wildfire Spread Modeler - Advanced Simulations & Analytics

AON PLC; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Aon plc in Boston is seeking a Wildfire Scientist – Wildfire Spread Modeler to operate and enhance wildfire spread modeling workflows, with emphasis on WUI transitions and ember dynamics. You will develop pipelines in R/Python, evaluate models against historical data, and collaborate across a global team.

The role is hybrid, combining time in the Boston office with virtual work, and offers an opportunity to contribute to state-of-the-art wildfire modeling.

Qualifications

• MS/PhD in wildfire science, fire behavior, environmental science, or closely related field (required)
• Direct experience with wildfire spread modeling (required) such as using FARSITE, FlamMap, BehavePlus or related tools
• Strong understanding of wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire behavior and structure-to-structure spread (preferred)
• Strong programming/scripting in R and/or Python (required)
• Experience with geospatial data and tools (raster/vector, GDAL, ArcGIS, QGIS, sf/terra in R) (required)
• Experience with HPC or cloud environments and large datasets (preferred)
• Excellent technical writing and presentation skills (required)
• Experience with catastrophe modeling or risk modeling (preferred)

Responsibilities

• Operate, maintain, and enhance wildfire spread modeling workflows
• Improve WUI representations and embed ember generation, spotting, and structure-to-structure spread
• Develop, test, and maintain modeling/data-processing pipelines in R and/or Python
• Evaluate traditional wildfire spread science within the modeling framework
• Perform model validation against historical perimeters and footprints
• Prepare technical documentation, presentations, and summaries
• Collaborate with an international interdisciplinary team
• Contribute to model deployment and market-ready workflows

Education

MS/PhD in wildfire science or closely related field

Tools

FARSITE

FlamMap

BehavePlus

ArcGIS

QGIS

GDAL

Job description

Aon plc in Boston is seeking a Wildfire Scientist – Wildfire Spread Modeler to operate and enhance wildfire spread modeling workflows, with emphasis on WUI transitions and ember dynamics. You will develop pipelines in R/Python, evaluate models against historical data, and collaborate across a global team.

The role is hybrid, combining time in the Boston office with virtual work, and offers an opportunity to contribute to state-of-the-art wildfire modeling.