Head of Meteorology

​Job Title: Head of Meteorology
​Location: Chicago, IL-Remote/Hybrid

Predictive Sales AI (PSAI) builds AI software for home services contractors. Our proprietary weather engine detects hail and wind events and scores how likely each property is to have damage. Contractors use those scores to decide where to send crews and where to focus outreach.

We're hiring a Head of Meteorology to own the science behind that engine. You'll be the final authority on how we detect severe weather events, estimate their intensity and turn them into property-level damage scores. You'll work every day with our data science and engineering teams. This is a hands-on technical leadership role: you'll set the scientific direction and also write production code.

Job Overview:

As Head of Meteorology, you will lead the weather science behind PSAI's hail and wind detection engine, which identifies severe weather events and scores property-level damage likelihood. You will work daily with our data science and engineering teams to build reliable radar and model data pipelines, validate detections against observed reports, and make sure our outputs are accurate, defensible, and production-ready at scale.

Key Responsibilities:

• Ph.D.-level expertise in hail, severe convective storms, and damaging wind
  
• Hands-on experience with NEXRAD, MRMS, SPC storm reports, and HRRR data
  
• Production Python and data engineering, not just research scripts
  
• Scientific ownership of detection accuracy, verification, and defensibility
  
• Own the science of hail and damaging-wind detection, including hail size estimation, swath mapping, and wind event identification.
  
• Partner with Data Science to design and validate property-level damage likelihood scoring.
  
• Build and maintain production pipelines for NEXRAD Level II and dual-polarization radar, MRMS products (including MESH), SPC storm reports, and HRRR model data.
  
• Work with gridded and observational data formats including GRIB2, NetCDF, Zarr, and Parquet in cloud or HPC environments.
  
• Define which data sources we use and when, including resolution and how to handle radar coverage gaps, beam height limits, and report bias.
  
• Build the verification framework for detection accuracy, false alarms, and missed events across regions, seasons, and storm types.
  
• Monitor engine performance over time and flag drift caused by data source changes, radar outages, or reporting artifacts.
  
• Lead root-cause analysis when detections or scores look off, and drive fixes through to production with Engineering.
  
• Maintain clean, testable, production-ready Python code using xarray, Pandas or Polars, and standard version control practices.
  
• Ensure engine outputs are scientifically defensible to customers, partners, and in disputes when needed.
  
• Explain severe weather science, uncertainty, and limitations in plain terms to Product, Sales, Customer Success, and leadership.
  
• Contribute to customer-facing methodology notes and sales enablement materials.
  

Desired Traits:

We are looking for an individual who is rigorous, proactive, and detail-oriented. In this role, you will work closely with teams across the company. Here's what we're looking for:

• Ownership mindset with a reliability-first approach to scientific outputs
  
• Builder who ships production code, not just analysis
  
• Interest in moving from research into applied, product-focused work
  
• Clear communicator who can explain uncertainty without killing usability
  
• Collaborative partner across data science, engineering, and customer-facing teams
  

Required Skills and Experience:

• Ph.D. in Meteorology or Atmospheric Science, with research in hail, severe convective storms, damaging winds, or tornadoes (e.g., hail detection, hail size estimation, MESH, severe storm climatology, storm damage).
  
• Hands-on experience with NEXRAD radar data, especially Level II and dual-polarization products.
  
• Working experience with MRMS, SPC storm reports, and HRRR model data.
  
• Python (Advanced): xarray, Pandas or Polars; production engineering practices
  
• Data Formats & Storage: GRIB2, NetCDF, Zarr, Parquet
  
• Data Engineering: ETL pipelines, APIs, cloud or HPC environments
  
• Full-time availability. This role cannot be held alongside a faculty appointment or another full-time position.
  

Preferred:

• Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM), or willingness to pursue it
  
• Forensic meteorology or expert witness experience
  
• Active GitHub or open-source contributions
  
• Experience operationalizing weather data in commercial products
  

Why Join Us?

• Innovative Environment: Be part of a forward-thinking company that values creativity and encourages the exploration of new ideas.
  
• Professional Growth: Access opportunities for continuous learning and career advancement within a supportive and dynamic team.
  
• Comprehensive Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, performance-based bonuses, flexible work arrangements, and a robust benefits package.
  
• Collaborative Culture: Work in a team-oriented environment where collaboration and mutual respect drive our success.