About Rainmaker

Rainmaker is ending water scarcity with next-generation cloud seeding. Through an integrated system of advanced radar, unmanned aircraft, and a cutting-edge weather awareness platform, we steward the natural world and make freshwater available to all. Cloud seeding delivers moderate, predictable increases in precipitation—and over years, those gains lead to powerful outcomes: restoring ecosystems, recharging aquifers, and reducing wildfire risk.

We are an engineering organization and a microcosm of El Segundo's deep-tech renaissance. We iterate quickly to solve the most important problem of our age.

The Role

We're looking for a Data Scientist to join our Business Development and Program Development teams. You'll be the analytical backbone behind how we demonstrate economic value to partners—quantifying the benefit of additional snowpack and water supply, and building the data infrastructure that correlates our operations to real-world outcomes for agriculture, municipalities, utilities, and environmental stakeholders.

This role sits at the intersection of environmental science, economics, and data storytelling. You'll work with messy, multi-source datasets (weather, hydrology, commodity pricing, land use, economic indicators) to produce clear, defensible benefit analyses that drive partnerships and program expansion.

What You'll Do

• Economic Benefit Modeling: Develop and refine models that quantify the dollar-value impact of incremental precipitation—across agriculture, hydropower, municipal water supply, wildfire mitigation, and ecosystem services.

• Partner-Specific Analysis: Work directly with Business Development to tailor analyses for prospective and existing partners—showing ROI in terms they care about (yield improvements, reduced water acquisition costs, reservoir storage gains, etc.).

• Data Pipeline Development: Identify, acquire, and integrate external datasets (USGS streamflow, SNOTEL snowpack, USDA crop data, utility rate schedules, regional economic data) into our analytical infrastructure.

• Correlation & Attribution: Build frameworks to correlate Rainmaker operations with downstream outcomes—working with our Research team to link precipitation enhancement to measurable hydrological and economic effects.

• Visualization & Communication: Translate complex analyses into clear dashboards, one-pagers, and presentations for non-technical stakeholders—including water districts, agricultural co-ops, investors, and government officials.

What We're Looking For

Required:

• 4+ years of experience in data science, quantitative economics, or applied research—ideally in water resources, agriculture, environmental consulting, or a related domain

• Strong skills in Python or R for data analysis, statistical modeling, and visualization

• Experience working with geospatial data (GIS, satellite/remote sensing, or hydrological datasets)

• Ability to translate technical findings into business value and communicate to diverse audiences

• Comfort with ambiguity and incomplete data—you can make defensible estimates when perfect data doesn't exist

Preferred:

• Background in hydrology, water economics, agricultural economics, or environmental science

• Experience with economic impact analysis, cost-benefit analysis, or ROI modeling

• Familiarity with cloud seeding, precipitation enhancement, or atmospheric science

• Experience working with government agencies, water districts, or agricultural stakeholders

• SQL proficiency and experience building data pipeline

Rainmaker is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Rainmaker is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.