NSSL People: Working at NSSL
The National Severe Storms Laboratory hires meteorologists, hydrologists, physicists, engineers and computer scientists at the master's and Ph.D. level.
Government positions at the National Severe Storms Laboratory are typically within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Office of Atmospheric and Oceanic Research (OAR). There are also research positions at joint institutes, including cooperative partnerships between NOAA and universities, such as the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO).
Current openings at NSSL
- Research Physical Scientist — closes 10/16/24
Application information
Jobs within the Federal Government
- United States Office of Personnel Management: USA JOBS
- U.S. Department of Commerce: Commerce Career Opportunities On-line
- NOAA Workforce Management
- NOAA OAR Careers
- Video: NOAA Libraries Webinar—Federal Resume Guidance
Jobs through the University of Oklahoma
- Job openings at CIWRO
- OU School of Meteorology
- Faculty, Post-Docs, Permanent Research Positions (search for “School of Meteorology”)
- Student Jobs (use keyword search, e.g., “meteorology”); also see Students @ NSSL
OU/CIWRO (formerly CIMMS) employees enjoy the excellent benefits provided by the University of Oklahoma while working at the NSSL. CIWRO and the University of Oklahoma are equal opportunity employers.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
The NSSL postdoctoral scientist program is operated by the National Research Council (NRC) and funds two recent Ph.D. graduates each year to pursue their research interests in support of the NSSL mission. The program is open to recent Ph.D. graduates in radar engineering, meteorology, hydrology, physics, applied mathematics, computer science and other related disciplines. Successful applicants are mentored by NSSL scientists (advisors) over their two-year tenure and are encouraged to take advantage of the unique and exciting opportunities found within the National Weather Center.
Additional opportunities for postdoctoral positions in the NWC beyond those listed in job openings include the CIWRO Pete Lamb Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships.
Other places to look
“Storm Chasers”
In case you were wondering: There is no “Storm Chaser” job description at NSSL. The only time people chase storms for NSSL is when a special project is being run to collect data in the field. These projects are somewhat rare. When a project is running, some of the scientists are asked to help with data collection during storm intercept operations.
When we do go to the field to collect data, our “storm chasers” are NSSL employees, University of Oklahoma students, or collaborating scientists from other laboratories or universities. Consequently, if you have an interest in this type of work, it is important that you obtain a degree in meteorology or a related field—physics (lightning research), electrical engineering (radar design and fabrication), etc.—and have some ties to the type of research we are conducting at the time of the field project. Note that nearly all of our meteorologists at the lab have master's degrees or PhDs.
Government regulations make it impossible to accept offers from the public to do volunteer field work for any tornado intercept programs. Legal liability issues prevent NSSL from accepting volunteers.
Citizen Science
Observe your world. Observe with us. While regulations and legal liability issues generally prevent NSSL from accepting volunteers for fieldwork, there are ways for you to get involved wherever you are. Be a community scientist for NOAA! Help NOAA predict, observe and protect our changing planet by making your own contributions toward a greater understanding of our Earth and its diverse systems. Learn more about our community science volunteer programs, like NSSL’s own Tornado Tales and mPING.