Principal Operational Meteorologist

Overview

OnPeak is hiring its first dedicated operational meteorologist, at the Senior or Principal level depending on experience. Internally we call the role a forward-deployed meteorologist, because you’ll be embedded with our utility and infrastructure customers.

OnPeak delivers weather intelligence through forward-deployed meteorologists, backed by an AI-native platform that runs large probabilistic ensembles around the clock. You’ll check that forecast against a customer’s assets, sign off on it, and tell their team what to do: a briefing before the event, support during it, and forensics after.

We want someone the industry already knows, ideally a utility meteorologist or an NWS Incident Meteorologist (IMET) on large incidents. Our customers aren’t only buying models. They’re buying the judgment of a meteorologist they already trust.

What you’ll own

• The forecast your customers act on. Produce event forecasts and updates for utility and infrastructure customers using OnPeak’s AI ensembles, AI downscaling, nowcasts, observations and global models. Update the call when conditions change.

• The operational recommendation. Turn probabilities into actions and timing: pre-stage crews, open the EOC, notify key accounts, change protection settings, de-energize or stand down. Brief it in plain language, under time pressure, to people who are not meteorologists.

• Knowing the customer’s system. Learn their territory, their assets (circuits, feeders, spans, substations, sites), damage thresholds, outage history and the storms they remember. Bring that context into every forecast.

• Event support across hazards. High wind, winter storms and ice, convection and hail, tropical systems, fire weather and de-energization (PSPS) events. Join customer calls and storm rooms during events.

• Verification and forensics. After each event, compare forecast vs. observed weather and impacts (outages, damage, acres). Keep a clear record of what worked and what didn’t, and feed it back to science.

• The product, from the field. Watch how operations teams actually use OnPeak. Turn that into written UI improvements, product specs and model priorities that engineering and science can build: what the customer needs to see, when, and what is missing or misleading.

• The playbook. Follow and improve the operations center’s SOPs, and document the forecast workflow so coverage is consistent across shifts, meteorologists and customers.

In your first 6–12 months

• Become the named meteorologist for one or more pilot or paying customers, and bring the trust you’ve built in the field to their team through a full storm season.

• Run event briefings end to end: an early flag days ahead, refined guidance at T−48h and T−24h, nowcast support at T−6h, and a restoration briefing after.

• Build a verification record for each customer that we can share with them and use in renewals.

• Help define the customer-facing briefing products and alert thresholds.

• Ship your first product specs to engineering based on what you saw in the field.

• Support the Lead Operational Meteorologist in standing up the operations center: shift coverage, briefing templates, SOPs and the forward-deployed playbook.

• Use your standing with utility meteorologists, incident teams and emergency managers to bring OnPeak into new pilots and partnerships.

You likely have

• A B.S. in meteorology or atmospheric science (or equivalent). M.S. a plus.

• 5+ years (Senior) or 10+ years (Principal) of operational forecasting experience, ideally as a utility meteorologist or an NWS Incident Meteorologist (IMET). NWS, private-sector, military or energy-desk backgrounds also fit.

• Strong forecasting skill: soundings, satellite, radar, mesoscale and synoptic analysis, and NWP and ensemble interpretation.

• A reputation for owning the call. Utility operators, incident commanders or emergency managers know your work, trust your forecasts and would vouch for you.

• Clear writing and speaking. You can say what will happen, how sure you are, and what to do about it in two sentences.

• Willingness to work nights, weekends and holidays during events, and to travel.

Bonus skills

• Hands-on knowledge of grid and emergency operations (storm outage prediction, PSPS, transmission, EOC or emergency management).

• Visibility in the field: AMS CCM or CBM, incident qualifications, conference talks, publications or leadership in utility weather groups.

• Experience with probabilistic or AI weather guidance, analog methods, or impact models.

• Python for pulling forecasts, verifying against observations and making plots (xarray, pandas, matplotlib).

• Experience writing product or display requirements for forecast or operations tools.

Location

Fort Collins, CO (hybrid) or remote in the U.S.

Travel Expectations

Occasional travel to customer control rooms, EOCs and field sites.

Schedule

Part of the operations center’s on-call rotation through active weather, including nights, weekends and holidays when customer operations need it.

Compensation

$90,000–$150,000 base salary, plus early-joiner equity, set by experience level and location. Benefits include health insurance, unlimited PTO, and 401k matching.

About OnPeak Intelligence

OnPeak is a weather-intelligence company for teams that own fixed, weather-exposed assets and have to act before the weather arrives: electric utilities, power generation, data centers, construction and defense. We combine physics-based and AI weather prediction, coupled fire–atmosphere simulation, and impact models that translate weather into outages, damage and losses, with a meteorologist in the loop.

We’re an early-stage, venture-backed team with federal research grants from DoD and NSF, and active customers and pilots across the country.

EEO Statement

OnPeak Intelligence, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. The Company evaluates qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Weather decision intelligence for high-consequence industries