We are seeking a highly experienced and technically accomplished Senior Modeler, focusing on both surface water and groundwater, to join our growing team in the Denver, Colorado, area. We are also open to considering remote candidates. In this role, you will lead and execute complex hydrological and hydrogeological modeling projects spanning risk assessment, climate change resiliency, water resources management, and decision support system development. You will apply advanced numerical, probabilistic, and data-driven methods to address water resources challenges across a variety of scales and sectors, including water resources and supply, mining, and environmental management.

As a Senior Modeler, you will serve as a technical lead and subject matter expert, providing mentorship to junior staff and contributing to business development and research & development. Your expertise will be critical in delivering high-quality, peer-reviewed analyses and innovative modeling frameworks for both public and private clients.

INTERA’s purpose is Innovation and stewardship for a sustainable tomorrow. Join the team and help us make a difference today! 

Key Responsibilities

• Surface Water and Groundwater Modeling: Create, calibrate, validate, and peer review groundwater, surface water, and integrated hydrologic models for a variety of applications including surface water- groundwater interaction, water availability, mine dewatering, flood inundation, and contaminant transport

• Risk Assessment and Mitigation: Develop and apply probabilistic risk assessment frameworks to analyze climate, land use, and land cover change impacts on water resources; define and implement risk mitigation strategies.

• Climate Change Resiliency: Conduct watershed-scale resiliency and sustainability analyses incorporating global climate model results, weather attribution methods, and probabilistic projections for enhanced wet and dry weather extremes

• Decision Support and Data Assimilation: Design and implement decision support systems (DSS) that combine physics-based models with machine learning and deep learning algorithms using data assimilation (DA) techniques

• Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis: Develop and apply uncertainty analysis procedures, observation error models, and ensemble methods for hydrological DA applications

• Systems Dynamics and Optimization Modeling: Apply systems dynamics methodology to model complex water resources systems, including infrastructure design, remediation, water quality, and process optimization

• Software Development: Develop, extend, and document hydrological models, numerical methods, and decision support tools; maintain source code version control and software development standards

• Technical Leadership and Mentorship: Lead technical teams, provide peer review, mentor junior staff, and establish best practices for hydrological and hydrogeological analysis and modeling

• Business Development: Support proposals, client relationships, and strategic growth initiatives and serve as principal investigator on competitive projects

• Communication and Publication: Author and co-author peer-reviewed journal publications, technical reports, and conference papers; present findings at professional conferences and workshops

• Technical Writing: Develop highly visible planning documents for a variety of audiences which ncludes documentation of technical analyses and water resources plans

Required Qualifications:

• Education: Master’s or PhD in Hydrology, Hydrogeology, Civil/Environmental Engineering, Geosciences, or a related field

• Experience: Minimum of 15 years of progressive experience in surface water and/or groundwater modeling, with demonstrated technical leadership on complex, multi-disciplinary projects

• Modeling Expertise: Demonstrated proficiency with industry-standard modeling platforms including MODFLOW 6, HSPF, FEFLOW, HEC-HMS, and/or comparable tools; experience with integrated groundwater-surface water models preferred

• Probabilistic and Statistical Methods: Strong background in probabilistic risk assessment, Monte Carlo simulation, uncertainty analysis, and ensemble methods

• Data Science and AI/ML: Experience integrating machine learning and deep learning models with physics-based hydrological simulations in data assimilation or forecasting frameworks

• Software Development: Proficiency in Python (including scientific libraries), and experience with at least one additional programming language (e.g., Java, C#, R, Fortran); familiarity with version control systems (e.g., Git)

• Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills; demonstrated record of peer-reviewed publications and professional presentations

• Licensure: Professional Hydrologist (PH), Professional Geologist (PG), or Professional Engineer (PE) license preferred

• Collaboration: Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a team environment and across diverse, multidisciplinary teams

• Writing Skills: Highly skilled in writing technical reports

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with systems dynamics modeling platforms (e.g., GoldSim)

• Familiarity with cloud computing platforms (e.g., Microsoft Azure, AWS) for scalable modeling workflows

• Experience with database management systems (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL)

• Foundational understanding of Colorado water rights

Compensation: Expected base salary range is $ 150,000 - $200,000 per year depending on skills and experience plus annual bonus based on individual performance and company profitability.

About INTERA & Our Benefits

INTERA is a Top Workplaces USA 2025 award winner!

Founded in 1974, INTERA has grown into an international geosciences and engineering consulting firm that helps clients make informed business decisions, mitigate risk, and drive optimal outcomes in a multitude of industries. Building and sustaining a strong company culture is at the heart of INTERA’s practice of good stewardship. We strive to foster an environment where people love the work that they do and the place that they work because we believe that our employees are our most valuable asset. As an employee-owned company, we are committed to investing in our people’s needs for security, health, and well-being with:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance that includes a free health plan option for employee-only coverage

• Paid parental leave – up to 12 weeks for birthing and non-birthing parents

• Group term life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, short-term and long-term coverage – paid 100% by the company

• Paid holiday, vacation, and sick time

• Opportunities for stock ownership

• Performance-based bonuses and award programs for technical paper publication and employee referrals

• Career coaching instead of performance evaluations

• Tuition reimbursement, financial assistance for professional licensure and registration, and one paid membership to a professional society

• Pet insurance, LegalShield, IDShield, and more

These are just some of the reasons why many of our employees have spent 10 to 25 years at INTERA. We love what we do, and it shows.