Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Weather Program Coordinator

🎯 Role Definition

The Weather Program Coordinator is a mission-critical role responsible for planning, implementing, and managing operational weather programs and observational networks. This position coordinates meteorological field operations, maintains partnerships with agencies (e.g., NWS/NOAA), oversees instrumentation and data quality assurance, manages program budgets and grants, produces operational and stakeholder-focused weather products, and supports emergency response and public outreach. The ideal candidate combines applied meteorology knowledge, project and stakeholder management experience, and strong data-analysis skills to deliver reliable weather information and maintain robust observational infrastructure.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Meteorological Technician or Weather Observer
Junior Forecast Analyst or Forecast Intern
Field Operations Specialist or Environmental Technician

Advancement To:

Senior Weather Program Coordinator / Program Manager
Meteorological Services Manager or Director of Weather Programs
Emergency Management Coordinator / Chief of Operations

Lateral Moves:

GIS Analyst (Meteorological focus)
Data Scientist / Data Analyst (climate and weather data)
Field Operations Manager / Instrumentation Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the planning, coordination, and execution of regional weather observation programs, including sensor deployments, routine maintenance schedules, and decommissioning plans to ensure continuous, high-quality meteorological data collection.
Act as the primary liaison with federal and state meteorological agencies (e.g., National Weather Service, NOAA), academic partners, and local stakeholders to align program objectives, share observational data, and coordinate joint field activities.
Develop, write, and manage program budgets, grant proposals, and funding reports; administer awarded grants and contracts to ensure compliance with funder requirements and effective resource allocation.
Design and implement standard operating procedures (SOPs) for instrument calibration, radiosonde launches, automated weather station (AWS) operations, remote sensing maintenance, and on-site safety to guarantee data integrity and operational safety.
Oversee day-to-day field operations, including scheduling and supervising field crews, coordinating travel and logistics for deployments, and ensuring adherence to health, safety, and environmental protocols.
Manage procurement, installation, calibration, and preventive maintenance of meteorological instrumentation (e.g., weather stations, anemometers, ceilometers, radiometers, radar interfaces), working with vendors and in-house technicians to maintain uptime.
Conduct quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) on incoming meteorological and climatological datasets, identify anomalies, implement corrections, and maintain metadata and provenance for traceability.
Produce, review, and distribute operational weather briefings, situation reports, and tailored forecasts for internal leadership, partner agencies, emergency managers, and public-facing channels during routine and high-impact weather events.
Coordinate real-time severe weather activation protocols and serve as a point of contact during watches, warnings, and emergency responses; integrate observational data and forecasts to support decision-making.
Develop and maintain geospatial products and dashboards (GIS, web maps, interactive dashboards) that visualize observational networks, model output, and hazard footprints for stakeholders and end users.
Lead multi-disciplinary project teams to implement new observational technologies or pilot studies, including test design, data collection plans, performance evaluation, and dissemination of results.
Manage data ingestion pipelines and metadata systems to ensure timely transfer, archival, and accessibility of observational and model datasets for operational and research use.
Provide technical guidance and hands-on training to staff, volunteers, and partner organizations on observational methods, instrument handling, data QC, and forecast interpretation to build capacity across the network.
Prepare concise technical reports, scientific summaries, post-event analyses, and program performance metrics for senior leadership, funders, and public release to demonstrate program impact and inform strategic decisions.
Establish and maintain service-level agreements (SLAs), memoranda of understanding (MOUs), and interagency agreements that define responsibilities, data-sharing protocols, and expected deliverables.
Coordinate outreach and education activities, including workshops, community briefings, and press interactions, to communicate weather risks, program results, and safety messaging to diverse audiences.
Maintain program documentation, asset inventories, and lifecycle tracking for instruments, software licenses, and field equipment to support procurement planning and capital budgeting.
Monitor and evaluate emerging meteorological technologies, remote sensing platforms, and data-processing tools to recommend upgrades or new capabilities that improve program effectiveness.
Implement and monitor cybersecurity and data governance practices for operational systems, ensuring secure access controls, backups, and compliance with applicable data policies and privacy requirements.
Serve as the program representative on cross-functional committees, emergency operation centers (EOCs), and regional planning groups to integrate meteorological perspectives into broader hazard and resilience planning.
Coordinate with aviation, transportation, agriculture, and critical infrastructure stakeholders to translate observational data and forecasts into actionable guidance tailored to sector-specific operations and safety requirements.
Design and conduct post-deployment and post-event assessments to capture lessons learned, update SOPs, and refine response protocols for continuous program improvement.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis for internal teams and partner organizations, delivering cleaned datasets, summary statistics, and visualization-ready products.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap by identifying gaps in observational coverage, proposing technology investments, and defining data standards.
Collaborate with business units and technical teams to translate meteorological and operational needs into engineering requirements for data pipelines, APIs, and web services.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies with software and data engineering teams to prioritize weather program features, user stories, and bug fixes.
Assist in public communications during non-emergency periods by drafting weather outlooks, social media content, and educational materials that promote program visibility.
Provide backup operational support for national and regional forecast centers as needed, including shift coverage during high-impact weather events.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Operational meteorology and applied forecasting (synoptic and mesoscale analysis, convective forecasting, boundary-layer processes).
Proven experience with meteorological instrumentation: installation, calibration, troubleshooting, and maintenance of AWS, anemometers, ceilometers, and radiosonde systems.
Hands-on data management: ingestion, ETL, QC/QA, metadata standards, and archival of observational and model datasets.
Proficiency with geospatial tools and GIS (ArcGIS, QGIS) for mapping networks, hazard overlays, and spatial analyses.
Familiarity with remote sensing and radar interpretation (NEXRAD, dual-polarization products, satellite imagery).
Programming and scripting for data processing and automation (Python, R, Bash); experience with libraries such as xarray, pandas, netCDF4 is a plus.
Experience with databases and APIs (SQL, PostGIS, RESTful APIs) for serving and querying meteorological data.
Experience designing, writing, and managing grants and contracts, including budget development and compliance reporting.
Knowledge of emergency management frameworks (ICS/NIMS) and experience coordinating with EOCs during severe weather incidents.
Competence with cloud platforms and tools used for data storage and dissemination (AWS, Azure, or GCP), and familiarity with data security best practices.
Ability to develop operational dashboards using tools such as Grafana, Power BI, or custom web applications.
Technical writing skills for SOPs, technical reports, post-event analyses, and scientific summaries.

Soft Skills

Strong stakeholder management and interpersonal communication; able to represent the program to federal partners, local officials, academic collaborators, and the public.
Project and program management skills: planning, scheduling, risk management, and vendor coordination.
Problem-solving aptitude with attention to detail and a pragmatic, solutions-oriented mindset for field operations.
Ability to manage competing priorities, work under pressure during active weather events, and adapt to rapidly changing conditions.
Leadership, mentoring, and team-building capabilities; experience supervising field staff and coordinating volunteers.
Clear oral and written communication skills for briefing leadership, drafting public messaging, and producing technical documentation.
Cultural competence and diplomacy when working with diverse communities and partner organizations.
Analytical mindset with the ability to synthesize complex meteorological information into actionable guidance for non-technical audiences.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Meteorology, Atmospheric Science, Environmental Science, Geography (with meteorology focus), or closely related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Meteorology, Atmospheric Science, Climate Science, or a related discipline; additional certifications in Emergency Management, GIS, or Project Management (PMP, CAP) preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Meteorology / Atmospheric Science
Environmental Science / Climatology
Geography / GIS
Emergency Management / Disaster Science
Computer Science / Data Science (for data pipeline and analytics roles)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of professional experience in meteorological operations, field programs, or applied weather services.

Preferred:

5+ years of combined experience coordinating observational networks, managing field deployments, or working in operational forecast environments.
Demonstrated track record of grant management, interagency coordination (NWS/NOAA), and delivering weather products or tools that support decision-making.
Prior experience in emergency response activations, public communications during severe weather, and supervising technical staff is strongly preferred.