Head of Geospatial Science

Head of Geospatial Science

Company: Upstream Carbon

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https://airtable.com/appPo2Ct9FRlfL1Js/shrwzFccqPaJad2Ft

Role Overview: Upstream Carbon is seeking a mission-driven technical leader to advance its geospatial intelligence platform at the intersection of machine learning, climate science, and land conservation. As a founding team member, this role will design and deploy machine learning models and geospatial data pipelines that identify high-impact opportunities for forest conservation, carbon projects, and sustainable land use across the eastern United States. The position combines applied research and product development, improving methods to estimate carbon pools and conservation co-benefits, creating high-resolution datasets from public and scientific sources, and developing visualizations that communicate ecosystem risks and climate opportunities to landowners, corporations, and public partners. Working closely with external collaborators and internal teams, this leader will help shape technical strategy, contribute to public-facing methodologies and publications, and recruit and mentor a growing research and engineering team while helping build a company dedicated to protecting ecosystems and accelerating climate solutions.

About Upstream Carbon: Upstream Carbon uses AI to drive land conservation and sustainable development. Our platform’s models assess properties on their suitability for climate-smart projects, aiding in carbon project site evaluations and public sector land use planning. Founded in 2023, Upstream Carbon is a profitable business self-funded on geospatial software licensing, services revenue, and government contracts.

Benefits:

• Pioneering a mission that directly combats climate change and protects critical ecosystems in North America
• Founding team equity stake with substantial potential
• Competitive salary ($145,000), health benefits, and a generous PTO policy
• Remote-first work environment with meaningful in-person collaboration

Responsibilities:

• Scale and enhance existing machine learning algorithms and geospatial data pipelines leveraging raster data, vector data, and AI agents
• Upgrade existing data sources and develop new methods by working with partners (scientific community, public sector agencies, corporations) to improve the accuracy of carbon pool (live biomass, soil, wetland, etc.) estimates
• Evaluate and implement methods to quantify conservation co-benefits “beyond carbon” including biodiversity, water, food, and ecosystem connectivity
• Apply machine learning, statistical, and other techniques to create proprietary high-resolution input datasets from established open source and public data
• Develop data visualizations to communicate ecosystem threats, opportunities, and value to landowners, corporations, and third-party verifiers
• Draft and review methodological publications intended for public audiences
• Recruit and develop new hires for research and engineering roles

Ideal Candidate:

• Nature enthusiast
• Creative with a hacker mindset, eager to deploy new AI and geospatial technology
• Success implementing machine learning models for real-world problems
• Fluent with Python (Geopandas, GDAL, Rasterio, etc.) and R for geospatial data preparation, analysis, and machine learning application
• Familiar with hosted mapping tools (Leaflet, Mapbox) and the geospatial tech ecosystem
• Experience with grant writing, publications, and/or patent filing
• Experience leading a team
• Previous work in conservation, ecology, geoscience, or related fields is desirable
• Graduate degree in a scientific field
• Motivated by performance-based compensation

How to Apply: Submit an application at: https://airtable.com/appPo2Ct9FRlfL1Js/pagv4fYlliEmUvqUQ/form

Location: Boston, MA

Sector

Conservation, Forestry, and Real Estate