Senior Geospatial Data Scientist

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Netherlands.

📋 Description

• Develop precise, high-quality models and datasets for assessing production areas and analyzing sourcing areas (supply sheds) across various commodities and origin countries.

• Utilize Meridia's in-situ farm plot datasets for training and validating models.

• Modify existing machine learning models to fit local agricultural contexts, enhancing prediction accuracy.

• Establish scalable and reproducible methodologies applicable to diverse geographies and commodities.

• Generate a methodology and codebase.

• Organize all source files efficiently.

• Provide comprehensive documentation outlining operating workflows, methodologies, data sources, and licensing details.

• Assist in first-mile intelligence by linking commodity supply chains to production areas through production area assessments, supply shed modeling, and traceability.

⛳️ Requirements

• Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in Remote Sensing, Geospatial Science, Computer Science, or a related field.

• Over 10 years of hands-on experience applying statistical and earth observation techniques to agricultural applications.

• Proficient in Python, R, and Google Earth Engine.

• Familiarity with agricultural systems and supply chains in tropical and subtropical regions.

• Experience with modeling approaches relevant to supply chain analysis, such as optimization, spatial allocation, entity matching, or network analysis across diverse datasets.

• Strong geospatial data engineering skills, including knowledge of spatial databases like PostGIS, GDAL/geopandas, or equivalents, along with managing large raster and vector datasets.

• Experience in building reproducible, version-controlled analytical pipelines using Git; familiarity with Docker/containerization is a plus.

• Proven track record of rigorously documenting methodologies, including data provenance, assumptions, limitations, and licensing.

• Ability to work autonomously in a remote environment.

• Excellent communication skills with full professional proficiency in English.

• Familiarity with agri-commodity sectors and their data landscape is advantageous.

• Knowledge of agricultural supply chain transparency and traceability methods, logistics, procurement, and certification is a plus.

• Working knowledge of EUDR, DCF/NDPE, certification schemes, and related risk assessments is beneficial.

• Experience in validating models against ground-truth or in-situ field data and conveying uncertainty is a plus.

• Background in production statistics and yield data in data-scarce environments is advantageous.

• Publications in peer-reviewed journals or public technical documentation in a relevant field is a plus.

• Prior experience in Southeast Asia and/or Latin America is desirable.

🏝️ Benefits

• Initial engagement for 3 months, with the possibility of extension based on progress and mutual fit.

• Commitment of 2-3 days per week.

• Fully remote work environment.

• Software subscriptions provided by Meridia where applicable.

• Monthly invoicing based on agreed milestones and deliverables.

• Collaborate on a data lake that encompasses over 20% of the world’s agricultural land, alongside a team of over 70 experts in agriculture, data, and technology.

• Make a direct impact on EUDR, DCF, and Scope 3 compliance efforts.