Senior Geospatial Data Engineer at Pachama

At Pachama, we are on a mission to restore and protect the planet's forests by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and satellite imagery. We provide companies with the transparency and confidence they need to invest in nature, offering continuous insights into how forests sequester carbon, support wildlife, and benefit local communities. By building tools that allow land stewards to secure funding and develop high-quality carbon projects, we are creating a future where protecting nature is both a viable and rewarding endeavor.

The role

We are seeking a Senior Geospatial Data Engineer to join our Digital Measurement, Reporting, and Verification team on a full-time basis. In this senior-level role, you will lead the development of the sophisticated data systems that underpin our products. This is a remote position, though we prefer candidates who are located within three hours of Pacific time to facilitate effective cross-functional collaboration. You will be instrumental in scaling our infrastructure to ingest, store, and compute the massive datasets that drive our remote sensing and AI insights.

Core responsibilities

• Build and maintain robust ingest pipelines, data access layers, and compute systems that empower our team and customers to derive actionable insights from multi-terabyte geospatial datasets.
• Provide technical leadership for cross-functional initiatives, connecting our product strategy with the core design of our data infrastructure and defining the long-term vision for our measurement stack.
• Drive engineering excellence by mentoring teammates, advocating for best practices in data pipeline development, and performing hands-on coding to optimize our methods for processing large-scale remote sensing data.

Skills and experience

• Extensive experience with geospatial data, including both raster and vector formats, as well as cloud-native standards like Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF, FlatGeobuf, and Geopackage.
• Proficiency in Python and a strong foundation in software engineering practices, including system design, debugging, profiling, and version control.
• Deep knowledge of distributed compute technologies and systems, such as Dask, Flyte, and Kubernetes, with an understanding of performance bottlenecks like latency, throughput, and CPU/GPU interactions.
• Proven ability to lead complex, cross-team engineering efforts and a track record of working effectively within fast-paced, iterative startup environments.
• A genuine passion for environmental sustainability and a drive to solve real-world problems related to climate change.
• Experience working alongside machine learning or scientific teams to build infrastructure for data-heavy applications is considered a strong asset.

Compensation and benefits

We are committed to supporting our team members through a flexible work environment. This role offers the opportunity to work remotely while contributing to a high-impact mission that directly addresses the global climate crisis.

How to apply

If you are an ambitious engineer who finds joy in the craft of building and wants to see your work have a tangible, end-to-end impact on the planet, we want to hear from you. We value diverse perspectives and backgrounds, so we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every single requirement listed above. We look forward to reviewing your application and exploring how your skills can help us scale our impact.