Geospatial Data Scientist

Organization: Innovate! Inc.
Title: Geospatial Data Scientist Location: Sioux Falls, SD

Posted:

We are seeking a highly motivated individual to join its geospatial solutions team as a Geospatial Data Scientist. This position plays a vital role within the Technical Support Services Contract (TSSC) for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As a key contributor to the USGS EROS Land Use Land Cover Modeling and Projections project, you will engage in the advanced development of science, data, and software products designed to project future land use scenarios and build foundational geospatial datasets essential for robust land cover modeling.

Location: Hybrid near Sioux Falls, SD

Salary Range: $62,

Position Status: Full Time; with benefits

Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K with match, Life Insurance, PTO

• Collaborate with scientists, software engineers, project managers, creative professionals, and external collaborators to scope, develop, and implement technical solutions that meet project objectives.
• Support the full data science project lifecycle, including exploratory data analysis, data acquisition, data preparation, statistical modeling, model evaluation, software development, and deployment.
• Develop organized, modular, scalable, and maintainable code for geospatial science and land cover modeling applications.
• Build and support machine learning workflows for geospatial applications, including object detection, semantic segmentation, and other remote sensing use cases.
• Work with common geospatial data sources, data formats, GIS software, visualization tools, and geospatial data science libraries.
• Contribute to public-facing project deliverables, including academic publications, agency reports, data and software documentation, oral presentations, and poster presentations.
• Support regional- and national-scale environmental monitoring and scientific research through development of geospatial data, models, and software products.
• Maintain effective technical partnerships with customers, collaborators, and project stakeholders.
• Communicate technical issues, project status, risks, and recommendations clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Work effectively in a hybrid or remote team environment while managing evolving requirements and open-ended scientific problems.

• Bachelor’s degree in data science, computer science, geography, remote sensing, mathematics, statistics, or a related field.
• Relevant professional experience in geospatial science, remote sensing, software development, data science, or technical applications in land cover mapping.
• Knowledge of fundamental remote sensing and geospatial principles, including satellite imaging systems, land cover science, and applied domains such as ecology, forestry, or agriculture.
• Experience working with common geospatial data sources and formats.
• Proficiency in Python and common geospatial or data science libraries such as GDAL, Num Py, pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch, xarray, or Dask.
• Knowledge of statistical approaches for data sampling, analysis, modeling, and validation.
• Familiarity with version control tools such as Git and data science or data engineering best practices.
• Ability to collaborate effectively in a hybrid or remote work environment.
• Strong organization skills with the ability to track, manage, and report progress toward goals.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a national agency check and background investigation after hire to obtain credentials for facility access and user accounts.
• Three years continuous residency in the United States; valid VISA if not US citizen.
• Ability to travel occasionally, as needed.

• Master’s degree in data science, computer science, geography, remote sensing, mathematics, statistics, or a related field.
• Bachelor’s degree with approximately eight years of relevant professional experience, or a master’s degree with relevant experience, aligned with the required labor category.
• Experience developing geospatial machine learning workflows for applications such as…