JOB DESCRIPTION

The NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) enriches the environment and protects public health for all New Yorkers by providing 1.1 billion gallons of high quality drinking water, managing wastewater and stormwater, and reducing air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution. DEP is the largest combined municipal water and wastewater utility in the country, with nearly 6,000 employees. DEP’s water supply system is comprised of 19 reservoirs and 3 controlled lakes throughout the system’s 2,000 square mile watershed that extends 125 miles north and west of the City.
The New York City Bureau of Water Supply seeks to hire a City Research Scientist III for a position within the Modeling & Analysis Division, in the Strategic Operations & Research Directorate, located in Valhalla, New York.

Under direction of, the Chief of Modeling & Analysis, the selected candidate will serve as Operations Support Tool Modeler and will use the Operations Support Tool (OST) software system and other modeling and analytical tools to assist with management and operations of the New York City Water Supply reservoir system. They will perform extremely difficult, responsible and technically complex unique and specialized professional scientific, engineering, and software development work. Specific tasks include, but are not limited to:

• Serving as an expert on extremely complex and highly specialized and unique scientific and/or engineering matters, including conducting or directing all aspects of water supply related research.
• Participating in high level training and knowledge transfer activities to elevate his/her technical background and skills to maintain and further develop OST to better serve its application to support operations, planning and climate change impact assessment for NYC Water Supply.
• Applying OST and other available tools to extract relevant information to support routine short-term operational decisions.
• Performing specialized modeling as needed during periods of water quality issues or other non-routine conditions; provide guidance for reservoir operations before and during planned infrastructure outages.
• Providing support for unplanned infrastructure outages and other emergency situations.
• Participating in projects aimed to optimize operations rules in OST.
• Designing and leading capacity building projects for junior staff.
• Planning, coordinating and conducting applied research including, but not limited to:

o Evaluating of the water supply vulnerability to droughts and hydrological extreme events in general;
o Evaluating potential impacts of climate change on the water supply;
o Evaluating alternative adaptive measures and operational responses to mitigate those vulnerabilities and negative impacts;
o Supporting research and modeling on special Filtration Avoidance topics.
The selected candidate will produce data and reports for operational, regulatory, and scientific purposes, and will represent the agency on these matters at meetings and conferences.
Leadership in the development of new methodologies and approaches for analyzing and synthetizing data, modeling, and operating the water supply will be required, as will outreach and coordination on these topics with scientific staff within and outside the agency.
OST is a dynamic system that will continue to evolve in order to leverage new developments in scientific knowledge, hydrologic forecasting, regulations, and technology. The selected candidate will work with internal colleagues and external partners to maintain OST as a world-leading, state-of-the-science decision support system. Detailed knowledge of the structure and function of OST, with the ability to make modifications to meet changing agency needs in the future, will be necessary. Knowledge of data management and data review methods is required.
(This is a brief description of what you might do in this position and does not include all the duties of this position)

Preferred Skills:

• Fluency with hydrological modeling software is essential. Knowledge of a water supply operational analysis and simulation software and CE-QUAL-W2 software is desirable.
• Experience in water resources systems and/or hydrological modeling is required.
• Knowledge of water supply or hydro-power decision support system modeling and optimization techniques is desirable.
• Knowledge of hydrological forecasting, especially ensemble forecasting, is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with hydrological extreme events research and techniques is desirable.
• Familiarity with climate change research and techniques is desirable.
• Ancillary desirable skills include, but are not limited to, knowledge of:

o Computer programming languages such as Fortran or VB;
o Scripting languages such as Python
o Statistical analysis packages such as R;

o Database management and ETL tools.

• Ability to effectively communicate results to a wide range of audiences (public, scientific, regulatory, legal) through written reports, graphics, oral and PowerPoint-type presentations, and the internet.

Hours/Shift:
35 Hours per week / May be required to work shifts including nights, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
Work Location:
465 Columbus Avenue
Valhalla, NY 10595
Valhalla is a hamlet in the Town of Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, NY approximately 28 miles from mid-town Manhattan.

• Serving as an expert on extremely complex and highly specialized and unique scientific and/or engineering matters, including conducting or directing all aspects of water supply related research.
• Participating in high level training and knowledge transfer activities to elevate his/her technical background and skills to maintain and further develop OST to better serve its application to support operations, planning and climate change impact assessment for NYC Water Supply.
• Applying OST and other available tools to extract relevant information to support routine short-term operational decisions.
• Performing specialized modeling as needed during periods of water quality issues or other non-routine conditions; provide guidance for reservoir operations before and during planned infrastructure outages.
• Providing support for unplanned infrastructure outages and other emergency situations.
• Participating in projects aimed to optimize operations rules in OST.
• Designing and leading capacity building projects for junior staff.
• Planning, coordinating and conducting applied research including, but not limited to