Hydrogeologist/Geophysicist/Geostatistician

Job description

Woodard & Curran is a national engineering, science, and operations firm with a simple vision for clean water, a safe environment, healthy communities, and happy people. As an employee-owned company, we strive to cultivate teams that encourage collaboration in an inclusive culture. We seek talented individuals from all backgrounds to help us address a broad range of water and environmental issues. We prioritize our people, offering opportunities for professional growth, ownership, and flexibility. This commitment enables us to make a meaningful impact on our clients, communities, and the planet.

Woodard & Curran is a national engineering, science, and operations firm with a simple vision for clean water, a safe environment, healthy communities, and happy people. As an employee-owned company, we strive to cultivate teams that encourage collaboration in an inclusive culture. We seek talented individuals from all backgrounds to help us address a broad range of water and environmental issues. We prioritize our people, offering opportunities for professional growth, ownership, and flexibility. This commitment enables us to make a meaningful impact on our clients, communities, and the planet.

Woodard and Curran is currently seeking a dynamic, detail-oriented, and client-focused Professional Engineer (PE), Professional Geologist (PG), Certified Hydrogeologist (CHG), and/or Professional Geophysicist (PGP) to join our Water Team as a Project Engineer/Geologist. In this role, you will collaborate with our state, federal, and local clients to develop, execute, and deliver a variety of water resources modeling and planning projects across California.

Who are we looking for:

We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Hydrogeologist or Geophysicist interested in developing innovative solutions to challenging groundwater-related projects and managing successful project teams. The location for this opportunity is flexible; Sacramento, California, is preferred, but we are open to other locations. The selected candidate will have experience in the water resources field, exceptional communication skills, and the ability to interact with clients, stakeholder groups, and project teams.

Offering a flexible hybrid work schedule for those near the Sacramento office; other California locations are negotiable.

Travel up to 20% within California

What you will be doing at Woodard & Curran:

• Developing hydrogeologic conceptual and geostatistical texture models to support groundwater projects and groundwater models.
• Interpreting geologic and geophysical data and integrating it into hydrogeologic and geostatistical frameworks to support basin characterization, managed aquifer recharge, subsidence mitigation, interconnected surface water and groundwater modeling projects.
• Developing code, analysis tools, and machine learning models to support local- and regional-scale basin characterization efforts
• Creating and maintaining code to support and analyze modeling projects
• Performing data analysis and management with an emphasis on water resources
• Supporting development and implementation of integrated surface water-groundwater models
• Interpreting model results to support policy and regulatory processes
• Providing technical leadership and support for a wide variety of water resources planning and management activities related to water supply, water source vulnerability, groundwater basin characterization, and hydrogeologic field investigations.

What you will need to succeed:

• 3-7 years of professional experience in geology, hydrogeology or geophysics
• BS in Geology, Hydrogeology, Geophysics, Water Resources Engineering, Civil Engineering, Hydrology, Environmental Science, or a related field; MS and/or Ph.D. preferred.
• Strong programming skills in Python (highly preferred), R, Fortran, or other similar languages.
• Experience building 3D geologic and geostatistical models, including texture models and hydrogeologic conceptual models.
• Familiarity with ParaView, VTK, or other 3D visualization software or APIs is a plus.
• Experience processing, interpreting, and modeling with geophysical survey data (e.g., airborne electromagnetic data, downhole geophysics logs, seismic data)
• Experience building and tuning machine learning models is preferred.
• Familiarity with geostatistical methods (e.g., kriging, variogram analysis) and related software or libraries is a plus
• California registration as a Professional Geologist, Certified Hydrogeologist, Professional Geophysicist, or Professional Engineer is preferred.
• Experience with DWR’s Integrated Water Resources Model (IWFM) and/or USGS’s MODFLOW model is a plus
• Experience with GIS software to perform mapping and data processing tasks
• Experience or familiarity with California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and its implementations is a plus
• Excellent organizational, writing, communication, and interpersonal skills

$80,000 - $120,000 a year

This role has the option for remote work, and the anticipated pay range is flexible, depending on factors such as the employee’s primary work location, skills, experience, and education. The following examples illustrate how the pay range for the same role can vary based on different locations.

Group A (Sacramento, San Diego) = $80,000 - $105,000

Group B (Los Angles, Irvine) = $85,000 - $110,000

Group C ( San Francisco, Walnut  Creek) = $90,000 - $120,000

This position’s anticipated pay range is provided; the final exempt salary or non-exempt hourly pay will depend on experience level and consider a percentage-based geographic differential based on where the final candidate will be working. Geographic differentials recognize and reflect the cost of labor differences between geographic markets.

#LI-TB1

Employee Support & Benefits

Retirement Savings:

•401(k) Pre-tax or Roth Contributions: The company matches 100% of the first 3% of salary contributed

Time away from work:

•Observed holidays: Choose up to 8 holidays to observe annually

•Vacation: Accrued based on years of experience and calculated on hours worked

•Sick time: Paid sick time for non-work-related illness or injury.

•Parental leave: Up to 80 hours of Paid Parental Leave for child bonding

Coverage and support for your needs and well-being:

•Disability: Paid short- and long-term disability

•Health: Medical plan options; plus dental and vision plans.

•Life: Basic employee group life insurance and AD&D benefits; additional voluntary life insurance for employees and families is available through Sun Life.

•Wellbeing: DarioMind assistance program combined with personalized mental health and wellbeing resources.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Woodard & Curran is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Individuals with Disabilities and Protected Veterans are encouraged to apply. We are committed to ensuring our employment practices are non-discriminatory and based solely on job-related factors.  To read our entire Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement, click here. To view the EEOC Workplace Discrimination is Illegal poster and supplement, click here.

If you have a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to apply, please contact Beth Sweitzer.

Inclusion & Belonging

We welcome individuals from all backgrounds to apply, as we believe that different perspectives and experiences enrich our workplace and enhance our ability to serve our clients and communities effectively.

At Woodard & Curran, we are committed to fostering a respectful and inclusive work environment. We understand that the best solutions for our clients and communities come from a culture that nurtures the success and growth of all employees. As an employee-owned organization, our dedication to fostering growth, access and opportunity empowers us to serve our clients effectively and advance our mission of making a positive impact on the world. Our success is rooted in supporting our team members to reach their full potential, enabling us to deliver the most innovative, sound and effective solutions to improve our communities around us.

Non-Solicitation Disclosure:

Please be advised that we do not accept unsolicited resumes or candidate submissions from recruitment agencies. Any resumes or candidate profiles submitted without a signed contract in place will be considered unsolicited and will not be eligible for any referral fees. Recruitment agencies must have a valid signed agreement with our company prior to following the submission process to consider potential candidates.

Text Message Communication Notice:

We know your time is valuable! To keep things moving, we may send brief SMS reminders or updates during the hiring process. If you prefer not to receive texts, you can opt out by replying STOP.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.