Hydraulic Model Developer
Hydraulic Model Developer
Location: Commutable distance to Bristol office, this is a hybrid role working from the Bristol office and home.
Salary range: £Competitive + Generous benefits package
The Company
Fathom is a leader in the climate and flood risk intelligence space. Working at the
forefront of climate data and analysis. Our data is used by leaders in engineering,
international development, finance, government, insurance and NGOs. This is an
exciting time to work within the ever-changing, fast-paced climate risk space. Fathom recently joined the Swiss Re group, furthering its vision of becoming the gold standard in the provision of flood risk intelligence.
The Role
We are looking for an experienced hydraulic modeller to join our growing team and help us to build flood models across the globe. There will be opportunities to work on various parts of the model build process, including helping to incorporate new datasets into our modelling framework, debugging any issues that arise when building models and helping to validate model outputs. There will also be plenty of opportunity to undertake CPD and contribute to academic papers, as well as contributing to work across other teams throughout the business.
We are looking for applicants who are able to use their initiative and creativity to
tackle the many challenges of building models at scale. Most of our processes are
programmatic, and familiarity with Python will be necessary to enable you to
understand our model framework and implement improvements. You should have
excellent coding skills and be able to write scripts to automate various aspects of
data processing. Most importantly you must be enthusiastic about hydraulic
modelling and be willing to learn as we continue to break new scientific ground in the understanding of flood risk across the globe under a changing climate.
Key Responsibilities
● Build, simulate and process hydraulic model simulations from local to global scales
● Undertake QA/QC and model validation
● Continue to develop and improve core codebase within the modelling framework
● Contribute to client-based projects as required
● Explore how newly released scientific datasets can be incorporated into our hydraulic models
● Contribute to modelling academic journal articles
Skills Required
● At least two years’ experience working with hydraulic models (experience can be either through work in industry or academia)
● Strong coding skills, including Python (essential) & Matlab (desirable)
● Experience with GIS (QGIS - desirable)
● A sound knowledge of hydraulic modelling principles
● Practical experience with hydraulic solver packages (Fathom’s model is based on the principles of LISFLOOD-FP but experience with other packages is also welcomed)
● Experience building and simulating hydraulic models, as well as analysing their outputs
Personal attributes
● Ability to work and communicate effectively as part of a team
● Solid problem solving skills, to help diagnose and resolve modelling issues that arise
● Keen to expand their knowledge of flood risk modelling
● Ability to develop novel approaches to make improvements to our modelling approaches
● Strong attention to detail
- Department
- R&D
- Locations
- Fathom Bristol - UK
- Remote status
- Hybrid
- Employment type
- Full-time
- Location of work
- Hybrid (some office days preferred)

We offer some great benefits to support our team!
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Private medical insurance - Group life assurance
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Group income protection
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Health cash plan
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Dental insurance
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Enhanced family policies
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Pension contributions matched up to 10%
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28 days + bank holidays
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Subsidised gym memberships
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Access to mental health cover and support
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Cycle to work scheme
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Personal training & development
About Fathom
Founded in 2013, Fathom gives risk management professionals the most scientifically robust tools and intelligence to understand the climate's impact on water risk.
By publishing cutting-edge peer-reviewed academic research and applying it to real-world challenges, Fathom powers better decision-making for (re)insurance, civil engineering, corporate risk, financial markets, disaster response and government.
Fathom's dedicated team of scientists harness their passion for innovation and the environment to develop rigorous catastrophe models and comprehensive mapping and geospatial data that make a real-world difference to customers and communities worldwide.
From 2023, Fathom is a part of Swiss Re, one of the world's leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient.
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