Requisition Number:
75631
Location:
Boulder, Colorado
City
Boulder
State
Colorado
Employment Type:
Research Faculty
Schedule:
Full-Time
Posting Close Date:
20-Nov-2026
Date Posted:
02-Nov-2026
Close All
Job Summary
The Environmental Data Science Innovation and Impact Lab (ESIIL) within CIRES at the University of Colorado Boulder welcomes applications for Postdoctoral Associates who are working in the field of environmental data science (EDS) to address pressing environmental challenges. ESIIL's vision is grounded in the conviction that innovation and breakthroughs in EDS will be precipitated by a collaborative research community empowered by open data and infrastructure, cross-sector, and community partnerships (e.g., academic, non-profit, government, industry), team science, and engaged learning. ESIIL Postdoctoral Associates are expected to produce innovative and/or applied environmental biology research to thrive in the rapidly evolving field of EDS.
CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.
Who We Are
At CIRES, more than 900 environmental science professionals work to understand the dynamic Earth system, including people's relationship with the planet. CIRES has partnered with NOAA since 1967, and our areas of expertise include weather and climate, changes at Earth's poles, air quality and atmospheric chemistry, water resources, solid Earth sciences, and more. Our vision is to be instrumental in ensuring a sustainable future environment by advancing scientific and societal understanding of the Earth system.
The Environmental Data Science Innovation & Impact Lab (ESIIL) is an NSF-funded data synthesis center led by the University of Colorado Boulder in collaboration with NSF's CyVerse at the University of Arizona and the University of Oslo. ESIIL's mission is to empower a broad community to accelerate open Environmental Data Science. ESIIL is part of CIRES and enables a global community of environmental data scientists to demonstrate the wealth of environmental data and emerging analytics to develop science-based solutions to solve pressing challenges in environmental sciences. ESIIL's research community generates discoveries and novel approaches through 1) transformative team science, 2) innovative tools and collaborative cyberinfrastructure, 3) data-science education and training, and 4) building collaborative communities. These activities advance the frontier of environmental data science, a rapidly evolving field bridging computational, biological, environmental, and social sciences.
What Your Key Responsibilities Will Be
(80%) Develop and implement an environmental data science project that uses open data, tools, and cyberinfrastructure to address frontier research questions in environmental biology. Examples of data-driven projects may include: cross-scale or cross-site data harmonization and analysis to explore ecosystem patterns, artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in ecology, open science ethics and data sovereignty for environmental data, data-intensive exploration of evolutionary processes, data intensive translation to resilience technologies, or other topical area in environmental biology that crosses the data, natural, and social sciences.
Apply open or available spatial and temporal data in creative ways to develop a data-driven research project. Examples of environmental data sources include remote sensing, observatories, biorepositories, citizen science, field-based collections, modeled and synthetic data, genetic data, social data, or other. Sovereign and protected data shall be treated with special considerations that follow the CARE data principles.
Leverage cloud, or other high-performance computing, resources to harmonize and analyze big, complex environmental data, and/or develop open AI-based pipelines.
Contribute to the open, reproducible science and education objectives of ESIIL, which include creating and publishing well-documented datasets and codes, FAIR-compliant code workflows, or other outputs that will serve the larger EDS community and other audiences.
Effectively share research results with colleagues and the broader science community through peer-reviewed publications, presentations, and other science products.
(20%) Work with the ESIIL team and network on collaborative projects, such as with working group(s), hackathon teams, or summit participants, to advance environmental data science.
What You Should Know
This is a two-year position, and the anticipated start date is as soon as February 1, 2027, but is negotiable.
Location: The Postdocs will work in person at ESIIL's main office on the CU Boulder campus in Boulder, CO. After an initial onboarding period, a hybrid work modality is possible, following CIRES and university guidelines and policies. This is not a fully remote position. The in-person cohort experience and engagement with the ESIIL community is a key aspect of this position.
In the application, candidates are welcome (but not required) to suggest a mentor who is affiliated with a research institution in the United States. ESIIL has funds available to support travel to Boulder for mentors within the U.S.
What You Should Know
This is a two-year position, and the anticipated start date is as soon as February 1, 2027, but is negotiable.
Location: The Postdocs will work in person at ESIIL's main office on the CU Boulder campus in Boulder, CO. After an initial onboarding period, a hybrid work modality is possible, following CIRES and university guidelines and policies. This is not a fully remote position. The in-person cohort experience and engagement with the ESIIL community is a key aspect of this position.
In the application, candidates are welcome (but not required) to suggest a mentor who is affiliated with a research institution in the United States. ESIIL has funds available to support travel to Boulder for mentors within the U.S.
What We Can Offer
CIRES offers a generous compensation and benefits package.
The annual hiring salary for this position ranges from $65,000.00 to $70,000.00. Salary is commensurate with education and experience and determined based on our CIRES internal career track classification.
Some relocation funds are available for this position following CIRES and the University of Colorado's relocation processes and procedures.
This position can accommodate a hybrid work modality.
CIRES and the University of Colorado boulder offer a robust training curriculum, opportunities for professional development and a Mentorship Program. ESIIL provides training for postdocs in technical data skills, open science and education, translational science, and collaborative team science, along with other career development opportunities.
Boulder is a vibrant community with access to mountain parks, dog parks, miles of trails, rivers, lakes, cafes, restaurants, boutiques, theaters, museums, and sports venues.
As an employee at CU Boulder, you will have free access to the regional public transit system, an outstanding network of buses, and light rail systems that service Boulder and connect to Denver, the Denver airport, and surrounding communities.
Benefits
At the University of Colorado Boulder, we are committed to supporting the holistic health and well-being of our employees. Our comprehensive benefits package includes medical, dental, and retirement plans; generous paid time off; tuition assistance for you and your dependents; and an ECO Pass f
