Local recruitment: TWDB - 26-115: Coastal Hydrologist (Hydrologist III)

Only applicants who apply with a State of Texas application via the CAPPS online application system will be considered for this position. First time applicants will need to create an account in the CAPPS online application system at https://tinyurl.com/CAPPS-Explore-Jobs. Please visit our job opportunities page at https://tinyurl.com/How-to-Apply-in-CAPPS for more information about the Texas Water Development Board and answers to frequently asked questions. To view this position in greater detail, visit the CAPPS online application system.

Texas Water Development Board’s Mission

     Leading the state’s efforts in ensuring a secure water future for Texas. 

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) offers competitive compensation and benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k), flexible spending, and flexible work alternatives so you can have a work/life balance! For more information about these benefits and more visit http://www.twdb.texas.gov/jobs/benefits.asp.

The Texas Water Development Board does not discriminate on basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, sexual orientation, age, or disability in employment or provision of services, programs, or activities.

**Must meet agency in-office requirements**

***Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications***

• Develops, maintains, and applies hydrologic and hydraulic models of inland and coastal watersheds to inform environmental flow studies, drought science, and water resources planning, and oil spill response, with only occasional assistance on topics related to flood science and planning.
• Seeks to improve estimates of watershed hydrology for practical applications to water resources planning.
• Acquires and processes input data for various models, including precipitation, flow, bathymetry, land use, soil characteristics, and other environmental datasets.
• Calibrates, evaluates, and applies rainfall-runoff models (e.g., Texas Rainfall-Runoff model, HEC-HMS, National Water Model, SWAT, etc.).
• Conducts statistical, graphical, and geospatial analyses to support model validation and to detect spatial/temporal patterns.
• Generates, maintains, and updates the coastal hydrology database of freshwater inflow estimates to Texas estuaries, including obtaining, processing, conducting quality assurance/quality control, and version control of data, as well as implementing new/improved methods.
• Supports Oil Spill Prevention and Response by developing, testing, and implementing near-real time estimates of modeled streamflow from ungauged watersheds to advance oil spill trajectory modeling.
• Plans and executes scientific studies to improve the representation of key hydrological components in modeling and analyses.
• Investigates and pursues new approaches to determine sediment transport and geomorphic conditions in Texas waters.
• Writes, executes, and maintains the Python, Linux, and ArcGIS programs and scripts.
• Writes, reviews, and evaluates technical memos, reports, work process, and policy documents.
• Provides presentations and informational material to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Assists with field studies, including planning, on-site work, equipment installation, data acquisition, and data management.
• Serves as liaison and provides technical support and information to stakeholder groups, scientific committees, and customers.
• Seeks and supports opportunities to collaborate with academia, consulting firms, federal and state agencies, and other stakeholders to improve coastal hydrology datasets.
• Coordinates with data scientists and analysts within the division to integrate modeled data and visualizations into Water for Texas Data.
• Writes, reviews, and evaluates technical memos, reports, work processes, and policy documents.
• Coordinates with internal and external partners to develop and implement modeling studies and analyses.
• Plans and participates in field studies, including planning, on site work, equipment installation, data acquisition, and data management.
• Serves as liaison and provides data, models, information, and technical support to stakeholder groups, scientific committees, and customers.
• Serves as contract manager for modeling, research, and monitoring contracts.
• Coordinates with other staff to post updates of data, model output, and technical memos to agency websites.
• Maintains confidential and sensitive information.
• Ensures individual and team files (electronic and hard versions) are appropriately maintained and timely disposed of in accordance with the agency’s records retention procedures and schedule.
• Maintains required certifications and licenses and meets the continuing education needs and requirements of the position to include, attending mandatory training courses.
• May be required to operate a state or personal vehicle for business purposes.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

• Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a bachelor’s degree in Hydrology, Engineering, Physical Science, or a related field.
• Five years of demonstrated work experience developing and applying hydrologic and hydraulic models to inform environmental flow studies, drought or flood science, and water resources planning.
• Experience developing, modifying, and running hydrologic and hydraulic models (e.g., HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS, SWAT, or similar).
• Experience programming in Python.
• Relevant education and experience can be substituted for each other on a year-for-year basis.

• Graduate degree, or working toward completion of a graduate degree, from an accredited college or university with major coursework in Hydrology, Engineering, Physical Science, or a related field with emphasis in hydrology, hydraulics, or surface water resources.
• Experience conducting geospatial analysis of environmental and hydrologic data, using GIS software or programming tools (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS, Python, R).
• Experience with command line work flows and shell scripting (e.g., Unix/Linux, Windows PowerShell).
• Experience running models on high-performance computing systems, including parallel computing (e.g., MPI or OpenMP).
• Experience processing, analyzing, interpreting, and displaying large scientific datasets using numerical or visualization tools.
• Experience connecting hydrological studies to water quality, ecological, or environmental studies or assessments in estuarine systems along (or similar to) the Texas Coast.
• Experience with remote sensing or geomorphology.

• Knowledge of local, state, and federal laws and regulations relevant to the Surface Water Division.
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of public administration.
• Knowledge of environmental flows and water resources management in Texas.
• Knowledge of the practical application of scientific, engineering, statistical, modeling, and hydrologic principles, as well as hydraulics, water quality, and water resources or environmental flows management, as applied to watersheds and bay systems.
• Knowledge of data quality assurance/quality control and relevant modeling and statistical procedures.
• Skills in using Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel, and Access.
• Skills in use of internet, email, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database software.
• Skills in developing, applying, or running hydrologic and hydraulic models (e.g., TxRR, HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS, SWAT) or other computational/numerical models.
• Skills in programming and scripting languages, especially Python, and in collaborative coding workflows such as GitHub.
• Skills in statistical and/or spatial data analysis techniques (e.g., QGIS and ArcGIS).
• Skills in running models on high-performance computing systems, including parallel computing (e.g., MPI or OpenMP).
• Skills in using numerical/visualization tools (e.g., SciPy/NumPy, Matplotlib, Gnuplot).
• Skills in project management and grant/contract administration, including time-management and prioritization.
• Skills in scientific data collection, management, and interpretation, including that of modeled or statistical data.
• Skills in writing technical memos, reports, work process, and policy documents.
• Skills in critical thinking.
• Ability to maintain the security or integrity of critical infrastructure within Texas.
• Ability to meet agency in-office requirements.
• Ability to adhere to work schedules, follow procedures with respect to leave and submit accurate timesheets by prescribed deadlines.
• Ability to make mature, objective decisions and identify areas of potential problems.
• Ability to perform effectively and willingly when changes occur in scope and nature of the work and work environment.
• Ability to perform routine and non-routine work assignments accurately and on-time with little or no supervision.
• Ability to perform assigned duties and improve work habits and/or output.
• Ability to complete assigned work, on time, neatly and with infrequent errors.
• Ability to interpret policies, procedures, and regulations.
• Ability to provide prompt, courteous and accurate assistance and clear and concise communication to internal and external stakeholders both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to work and cooperate with others in a team environment.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks.
• Ability to stand/sit/move to perform activities such as retrieve/replace files in a large file system for boxes up to 30 lbs.
• Ability and willingness to travel 5% of the time, primarily within the State of Texas.
• Ability to operate a vehicle (state or personal) for state business and maintain a driver’s license and driving record that complies with state and agency requirements.
• Ability to work shifts that may exceed 8 hours, including early mornings, nights, and weekends.
• Ability to train others.