Meteorologist Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
Meteorologist positions in the United States typically qualify for H-1B visa, O-1 visa, and other work visa sponsorship. The role meets specialty occupation requirements due to the specific atmospheric science degree requirement and specialized forecasting skills. Federal agencies like NOAA and the National Weather Service regularly sponsor international meteorologists. For detailed occupation requirements, see the O*NET profile.
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Get Access To All JobsAt PGE, our work involves dreaming about, planning for, and realizing a smarter, cleaner, more enduring Oregon neighborhood. Its core to our DNA and we haven’t stopped since we started in 1888. We energize lives, strengthen communities and drive advancements in energy that promote social, economic and environmental progress. We’re always on the lookout for people passionate about leading and being a part of teams that are advancing innovative clean energy solutions that are also affordable and accessible to all.
Meteorologist
Portland General Electric is seeking a meteorologist with skills in operational and fire weather forecasting, as well as data science. The primary responsibility will be to create a daily forecast to and provide briefings to keep operations and emergency management informed of potentially impactful weather including wind, ice, snow, and fire. The candidate must have expertise in forecasting critical fire weather patterns that lead to high fire danger.
The successful candidate will also produce seasonal weather outlooks, lead or support the development of predictive models, and support the development of tools, dashboards, and other forecast products to advance forecasting and fire environment analysis.
This position will also serve on the PGE incident management team when the Emergency Operations Center is activated supporting situational awareness and incident response operations, including public safety power shutoffs to mitigate the risk of wildfires.
Primary Job Responsibilities:
- Interpret meteorological data and forecasts to produce a daily impacts-based forecast and briefing for operations
- With a strong understanding of both probabilistic and deterministic modeling, work collaboratively with meteorologists, data scientists and risk modeling team to support development of predictive modeling for outage and ignition probability
- Advance the development of meteorological tools for fire environment analysis
- Develop and maintain user interfaces for meteorology tools that provide actionable situational awareness insights
- Analyze historical weather data to support fire environment and impactful weather event analysis
- Effectively communicate findings from data analysis and forecast information to deliver reports to a variety of stakeholders
- Collaborate with diverse teams to develop plans and procedures
- Develop relationships and collaborate with both internal and external stakeholders, data scientists, project managers, engineering, operations, analysts and leadership to develop data driven solutions for weather, climate, and risk assessment models
- Assist with managing PGE’s weather station network including siting new locations and managing network data
- Provide weather analysis to support wildfire risk assessments including development or refinement of High Fire Risk Zones
Secondary Job Responsibilities:
- Assist storm preparedness and power restoration efforts by providing concise, detailed forecasts during periods of extreme weather to a variety of stakeholders. This may result in shift work, and extended hours.
Qualifications
Required:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Meteorology, Atmospheric Sciences, or related area of study
- Experience: Typically 5+ years in operational weather forecasting, prefer 2+ years in fire weather forecasting (including completion of S290: Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior)
Preferred Qualifications:
- Demonstrated knowledge of meteorological phenomena, fire science/behavior, climatology, geography, forecasting techniques, weather model analysis, data science and programming languages
- Proficiency in using meteorological software, tools, and data sources
- Ability to ingest, decode, analyze, and visualize meteorological observational and model data
- Demonstrated experience and expertise in the utilization of Python for geospatial data analysis
- Thorough understanding of various probabilistic and ensemble forecasting methodologies, with particular emphasis on the utilization of probabilistic numerical weather prediction methods for determination and presentation of various weather risks
- Knowledge of Pacific Northwest meteorology
- Experience preparing findings and presenting complex technical information to both technical and nontechnical audiences
- Excellent organizational skills and ability to efficiently handle multiple projects and requests
- Three years of weather forecasting experience in the energy and/or utilities sector
-
Thorough knowledge of fire/wildfire behavior, the National Fire Danger Rating System, and completion of wildland fire classes such as:
-
S-390: Intermediate Wildland Fire Calculations
- S-490: Advanced Fire Behavior Calculations
-
Thorough knowledge and experience with:
-
Database creation and manipulation, data management platforms, data collection, storage, and management
- Data visual analytics platforms: PowerBI and Neara
- Various numerical analysis packages Pandas, Scikit Learn, Scipy, etc.
- Leveraging and building out capabilities in Neara
- Thorough knowledge and experience with interpreting climate models
- Experience briefing stakeholders on the potential for extreme weather and impacts to business as it pertains to both market and operational utility operations
Knowledge, skills, and abilities
Advanced knowledge of forecasting tools.
Advanced skills in using database applications.
Intermediate skills with programming languages used in department.
Advanced analytical thinking skills.
Advanced business acumen.
Advanced decision-making skills.
Advanced enterprise/business awareness skills.
Advanced influence skills.
Advanced presentation/facilitation skills.
Advanced written/oral communication skills.
Advanced diplomacy skills.
Physical and Cognitive Demands
Cognitive:
Consistent use of logic or scientific thinking to define problems, collect information, establish facts and draw valid conclusions (for example, engineer, HR director, plant manager, etc.).
Ability to adhere to set response times, deadlines and time-sensitive tasks.
Ability to follow accuracy standards.
Ability to follow through on decision-making tasks.
Ability to interact effectively and collaboratively within a team environment.
Ability to communicate and problem solve when under stress.
Ability to respond and adapt to frequent change.
Ability to accept and demonstrate self-awareness when provided constructive feedback.
Ability to discern feedback and acknowledge ownership of areas of improvement.
Ability to avoid future mistakes by applying reasonable skills to new but similar work situations or tasks.
Ability to successfully collaborate with peers, managers, and others within the organization.
Demonstrates sound memory.
Ability to process new information to be applied consistently to work tasks.
Schedule/Attendance
Ability to work long hours.
Ability to work a variable schedule.
Ability to report to work and perform work during periods of severe inclement weather.
Ability to consistently meet attendance standards for regular, reliable, predictable, full-time attendance [for part-time positions, change to part-time attendance].
Physical Capabilities
Driving/travel/commute
- Occasionally within service territory (one to two times a month or less)
- Overnight inside/outside the service territory Occasionally (one to two times a month or less)
Computer use (use computer regularly for entire work shift).
Office environment.
Actual total compensation, including a performance based incentive bonus, is commensurate with experience, skills, qualifications, education, training, and internal equity.
PGE believes in rewarding dedicated performance. We provide a total rewards package that is designed to reward your contributions to the company, and, at the same time, support your well-being and professional development, both now and into the future. To find out more, click here.
Join us today and power your potential!
Assisting with storms or other Company emergencies is a part of all positions at Portland General Electric.
PGE is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to fostering a workplace where employees feel connected, valued, and empowered to thrive. PGE will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.
PGE does not discriminate on the basis of disability. We recognize individuals have a variety of abilities to offer and we believe there is much to value and celebrate by incorporating different abilities into the work we do. One very important way we live this out is in our application and interview process. We work hard to support individuals who may need an accommodation to fully participate in these processes. If you feel you may need an accommodation, or would like to request one, please notify the Recruiter associated with the job posting. You may also make this request by contacting talentacquisition@pgn.com or by calling 503-464-7250. The Recruiter will provide information and next steps for the accommodation process.
To be considered for this position, please complete the following employment application by the posting close date. Posting closes at midnight (Pacific Time) on the closing date below. If no date is listed, job is open until filled.
At PGE, our work involves dreaming about, planning for, and realizing a smarter, cleaner, more enduring Oregon neighborhood. Its core to our DNA and we haven’t stopped since we started in 1888. We energize lives, strengthen communities and drive advancements in energy that promote social, economic and environmental progress. We’re always on the lookout for people passionate about leading and being a part of teams that are advancing innovative clean energy solutions that are also affordable and accessible to all.
Meteorologist
Portland General Electric is seeking a meteorologist with skills in operational and fire weather forecasting, as well as data science. The primary responsibility will be to create a daily forecast to and provide briefings to keep operations and emergency management informed of potentially impactful weather including wind, ice, snow, and fire. The candidate must have expertise in forecasting critical fire weather patterns that lead to high fire danger.
The successful candidate will also produce seasonal weather outlooks, lead or support the development of predictive models, and support the development of tools, dashboards, and other forecast products to advance forecasting and fire environment analysis.
This position will also serve on the PGE incident management team when the Emergency Operations Center is activated supporting situational awareness and incident response operations, including public safety power shutoffs to mitigate the risk of wildfires.
Primary Job Responsibilities:
- Interpret meteorological data and forecasts to produce a daily impacts-based forecast and briefing for operations
- With a strong understanding of both probabilistic and deterministic modeling, work collaboratively with meteorologists, data scientists and risk modeling team to support development of predictive modeling for outage and ignition probability
- Advance the development of meteorological tools for fire environment analysis
- Develop and maintain user interfaces for meteorology tools that provide actionable situational awareness insights
- Analyze historical weather data to support fire environment and impactful weather event analysis
- Effectively communicate findings from data analysis and forecast information to deliver reports to a variety of stakeholders
- Collaborate with diverse teams to develop plans and procedures
- Develop relationships and collaborate with both internal and external stakeholders, data scientists, project managers, engineering, operations, analysts and leadership to develop data driven solutions for weather, climate, and risk assessment models
- Assist with managing PGE’s weather station network including siting new locations and managing network data
- Provide weather analysis to support wildfire risk assessments including development or refinement of High Fire Risk Zones
Secondary Job Responsibilities:
- Assist storm preparedness and power restoration efforts by providing concise, detailed forecasts during periods of extreme weather to a variety of stakeholders. This may result in shift work, and extended hours.
Qualifications
Required:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Meteorology, Atmospheric Sciences, or related area of study
- Experience: Typically 5+ years in operational weather forecasting, prefer 2+ years in fire weather forecasting (including completion of S290: Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior)
Preferred Qualifications:
- Demonstrated knowledge of meteorological phenomena, fire science/behavior, climatology, geography, forecasting techniques, weather model analysis, data science and programming languages
- Proficiency in using meteorological software, tools, and data sources
- Ability to ingest, decode, analyze, and visualize meteorological observational and model data
- Demonstrated experience and expertise in the utilization of Python for geospatial data analysis
- Thorough understanding of various probabilistic and ensemble forecasting methodologies, with particular emphasis on the utilization of probabilistic numerical weather prediction methods for determination and presentation of various weather risks
- Knowledge of Pacific Northwest meteorology
- Experience preparing findings and presenting complex technical information to both technical and nontechnical audiences
- Excellent organizational skills and ability to efficiently handle multiple projects and requests
- Three years of weather forecasting experience in the energy and/or utilities sector
-
Thorough knowledge of fire/wildfire behavior, the National Fire Danger Rating System, and completion of wildland fire classes such as:
-
S-390: Intermediate Wildland Fire Calculations
- S-490: Advanced Fire Behavior Calculations
-
Thorough knowledge and experience with:
-
Database creation and manipulation, data management platforms, data collection, storage, and management
- Data visual analytics platforms: PowerBI and Neara
- Various numerical analysis packages Pandas, Scikit Learn, Scipy, etc.
- Leveraging and building out capabilities in Neara
- Thorough knowledge and experience with interpreting climate models
- Experience briefing stakeholders on the potential for extreme weather and impacts to business as it pertains to both market and operational utility operations
Knowledge, skills, and abilities
Advanced knowledge of forecasting tools.
Advanced skills in using database applications.
Intermediate skills with programming languages used in department.
Advanced analytical thinking skills.
Advanced business acumen.
Advanced decision-making skills.
Advanced enterprise/business awareness skills.
Advanced influence skills.
Advanced presentation/facilitation skills.
Advanced written/oral communication skills.
Advanced diplomacy skills.
Physical and Cognitive Demands
Cognitive:
Consistent use of logic or scientific thinking to define problems, collect information, establish facts and draw valid conclusions (for example, engineer, HR director, plant manager, etc.).
Ability to adhere to set response times, deadlines and time-sensitive tasks.
Ability to follow accuracy standards.
Ability to follow through on decision-making tasks.
Ability to interact effectively and collaboratively within a team environment.
Ability to communicate and problem solve when under stress.
Ability to respond and adapt to frequent change.
Ability to accept and demonstrate self-awareness when provided constructive feedback.
Ability to discern feedback and acknowledge ownership of areas of improvement.
Ability to avoid future mistakes by applying reasonable skills to new but similar work situations or tasks.
Ability to successfully collaborate with peers, managers, and others within the organization.
Demonstrates sound memory.
Ability to process new information to be applied consistently to work tasks.
Schedule/Attendance
Ability to work long hours.
Ability to work a variable schedule.
Ability to report to work and perform work during periods of severe inclement weather.
Ability to consistently meet attendance standards for regular, reliable, predictable, full-time attendance [for part-time positions, change to part-time attendance].
Physical Capabilities
Driving/travel/commute
- Occasionally within service territory (one to two times a month or less)
- Overnight inside/outside the service territory Occasionally (one to two times a month or less)
Computer use (use computer regularly for entire work shift).
Office environment.
Actual total compensation, including a performance based incentive bonus, is commensurate with experience, skills, qualifications, education, training, and internal equity.
PGE believes in rewarding dedicated performance. We provide a total rewards package that is designed to reward your contributions to the company, and, at the same time, support your well-being and professional development, both now and into the future. To find out more, click here.
Join us today and power your potential!
Assisting with storms or other Company emergencies is a part of all positions at Portland General Electric.
PGE is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to fostering a workplace where employees feel connected, valued, and empowered to thrive. PGE will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.
PGE does not discriminate on the basis of disability. We recognize individuals have a variety of abilities to offer and we believe there is much to value and celebrate by incorporating different abilities into the work we do. One very important way we live this out is in our application and interview process. We work hard to support individuals who may need an accommodation to fully participate in these processes. If you feel you may need an accommodation, or would like to request one, please notify the Recruiter associated with the job posting. You may also make this request by contacting talentacquisition@pgn.com or by calling 503-464-7250. The Recruiter will provide information and next steps for the accommodation process.
To be considered for this position, please complete the following employment application by the posting close date. Posting closes at midnight (Pacific Time) on the closing date below. If no date is listed, job is open until filled.
See all Meteorologist Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Meteorologist roles.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Meteorologist Jobs
Target Federal Weather Agencies
NOAA, National Weather Service, and Department of Defense weather units regularly sponsor H-1B visas for meteorologists with specialized atmospheric science backgrounds.
Emphasize Specialized Forecasting Skills
Highlight expertise in severe weather prediction, climate modeling, or aviation meteorology. These specialized skills strengthen your specialty occupation case for visa approval.
Consider Research Institutions
Universities with atmospheric science programs and research labs like NCAR often sponsor O-1 or H-1B visas for meteorologists with advanced degrees.
Leverage Broadcast Experience
Television stations in major markets sponsor meteorologists with on-air experience. Media companies value international weather presenters with diverse forecasting backgrounds and language skills.
Document Climate Research Publications
Published research in atmospheric science journals strengthens O-1 extraordinary ability petitions and demonstrates the specialized knowledge required for H-1B specialty occupation status.
Pursue National Weather Service Certification
American Meteorological Society certification and National Weather Service training programs can enhance your qualifications and improve sponsorship prospects with government agencies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do meteorologists qualify for H-1B specialty occupation requirements?
Yes, meteorologist positions typically qualify as specialty occupations because they require a bachelor's degree specifically in atmospheric science, meteorology, or closely related fields like physics or mathematics with atmospheric concentration. The role involves specialized knowledge of weather systems, forecasting models, and atmospheric physics that directly relates to the educational requirements.
Which degree fields qualify for meteorologist visa sponsorship?
Atmospheric science, meteorology, and physics degrees with atmospheric concentration are the strongest qualifications. Related fields like applied mathematics, environmental science, or earth sciences may qualify if combined with relevant meteorological coursework and experience. The degree must demonstrate the specialized knowledge needed for weather forecasting and atmospheric analysis.
Do government weather agencies sponsor international meteorologists?
Yes, federal agencies like NOAA and the National Weather Service regularly sponsor H-1B visas for meteorologists. However, certain positions may require security clearances that are only available to U.S. citizens. Research-focused roles and operational forecasting positions are more commonly available to visa holders than classified defense weather positions.
How to find Meteorologist jobs with visa sponsorship?
To find Meteorologist jobs with visa sponsorship, use Migrate Mate, which specializes in connecting international professionals with sponsoring employers. Focus on roles at government agencies like NOAA, private weather services, broadcasting companies, and agricultural technology firms. These employers commonly sponsor H-1B, O-1, and TN visas for qualified meteorologists with specialized forecasting or climate analysis skills.
Can broadcast meteorologists get visa sponsorship from TV stations?
Television stations in major markets do sponsor meteorologists, particularly those with specialized forecasting skills or language abilities that serve diverse audiences. The on-air role combined with the meteorology degree requirement strengthens the specialty occupation case. Smaller markets may be less likely to sponsor due to cost considerations.
What's the O-1 visa approval outlook for meteorologists?
Meteorologists with published climate research, advanced degrees, or recognition in severe weather forecasting can qualify for O-1 extraordinary ability visas. The key is demonstrating sustained national recognition through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, or awards from meteorological organizations like the American Meteorological Society.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored Meteorologist jobs?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.