Title: Senior Program Officer, Geospatial Data Science
Location: Remote - Worldwide (with significant overlap with US business hours)
Reports to: Manager, Forest Carbon Data Innovation
The Opportunity.
Verra's Forest Carbon Strategy prioritizes leveraging cutting-edge science and technology in transparent and credible ways. In line with this objective, Verra seeks a Senior Program Officer, Geospatial Data Science, to collaborate with industry experts and stakeholders to build and implement novel geospatial technologies that support forest carbon methodology development and improvement. Serving as a liaison between technologists, scientists, and subject matter experts, this role ensures the integration of state-of-the-art remote sensing techniques while providing comprehensive geospatial support to Verra’s Forest Carbon Innovation team.
The Role.
The successful applicant will be responsible for tasks such as:
· Identify and evaluate remote sensing data (optical and radar satellite imagery, LiDAR) that are most suitable for forest carbon-related methodologies and projects.
· Support geospatial information and remote sensing components of all forest carbon methodologies, with a particular focus on the consolidated REDD methodology (VM0048), and, together with the technology solutions team, support integration with the long-term monitoring system and digital measurement, reporting, and verification (DMRV)
· Develop innovative tools to support project reviews, validation/verification body (VVB) assessments, and methodology development.
· Coordinate with contractors to ensure timely and accurate delivery of data, foster effective communication channels, and adherence to project requirements.
· Organize and manage geospatial datasets effectively, implement systematic data storage and retrieval procedures to facilitate seamless access and analysis for forest carbon methodology development and improvement initiatives.
Our Team.
You will join a team that works closely and collaboratively to solve problems, iterate, and implement updates and improvements to forest carbon methodologies and the VCS Standard.
- Verrans come from diverse locations and backgrounds, and include carbon market experts, project developers, consultants, climate negotiators, researchers, and auditors.
- We are committed to driving finance at scale to projects and programs that advance climate action and sustainable development through high-quality standards and programs.
What we’d like to see.
- A university degree in Forest Science, GIS, Remote Sensing, Geography, or a related field is advantageous, as is an advanced degree.
- At least three years of professional experience in GIS/remote sensing or data science, with a focus on analyzing remote sensing data, developing automated geospatial tools, and modeling.
- Familiarity with fundamental statistical techniques and terminology
- Knowledge and experience in Python and related geospatial and data science libraries such as rioxarray, GeoPandas, GDAL, Scikit-Learn, etc. required. Working experience with Git is an advantage.
- Familiarity with climate change mitigation; GHG accounting; forest reference levels estimation; MRV design; forest carbon methodologies, standards, and crediting programs; and REDD+ processes/initiatives (e.g., UNFCCC, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility).
- Skill at prioritizing and working under tight deadlines and the ability to coordinate across teams;
- Demonstrated enthusiasm for learning new technologies and approaches in RS/GIS; a commitment to staying knowledgeable of industry developments and best practices.
- A track record of developing and maintaining strong working relationships with various stakeholders.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; fluency in English is essential.
