Senior Geospatial Scientist

Senior Geospatial Scientist

Location:

Seattle, WA

Position:
Senior Geospatial Scientist |

Reports To:

FLSA:
Exempt |

Location:

Seattle, WA | Posted: 7/15/26

Innovate! Inc. is seeking a highly experienced Senior Geospatial Scientist to provide advanced GIS, remote sensing, and geospatial data analysis support to convert habitat conditions and ecological stressors into reproducible spatial indices and management-ready geospatial products for NOAA Fisheries and the Northwest Salmon Life Cycle Modeling program.

Contingent upon contract being awarded

Location:

Work will be conducted on-site at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, Washington (WA) or at one of its associated field stations in WA or Oregon

Salary Range: $120,000 - $138,000

Position status: Full Time; with benefits

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

• Integrate large spatial, remotely sensed, biological, and environmental datasets across freshwater, estuarine, and nearshore marine habitats.
• Perform advanced GIS and geospatial analyses to characterize salmon habitats, ecological conditions, and environmental stressors.
• Compute and validate spatial indices representing factors such as prey availability, predator abundance, habitat condition, and other ecological metrics used in assessment tools.
• Contribute spatial datasets, indices, and analytical expertise to fish life-cycle models and simulations used to evaluate management scenarios.
• Lead geospatial data processing, QA/QC, visualization, map production, and development of interactive dashboards or other accessible spatial products.
• Design reproducible GIS and scientific data engineering workflows and document methods, metadata, scripts, assumptions, and dependencies in reports and code repositories.
• Store geospatial datasets and analysis products in organized, accessible formats suitable for reuse by NOAA scientists and interdisciplinary collaborators.
• Collect fish and environmental field data when needed, including work around water, travel in vehicles or boats, and occasional support of vessel surveys.
• Write technical reports and status updates, contribute to peer-reviewed manuscripts, and present geospatial methods and findings at scientific meetings and conferences.
• Collaborate with fisheries scientists, quantitative modelers, data managers, field staff, and natural resource managers.

• Advanced proficiency with ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, or comparable GIS platforms for collating and analyzing large spatial datasets.
• Expertise in spatial analysis, remote sensing, raster and vector processing, geospatial statistics, data visualization, and cartographic communication.
• Experience with R, Python, Git Hub, or comparable tools for reproducible geospatial analysis, workflow automation, and version control.
• Ability to design scalable data-processing workflows and organize spatial datasets for integration into ecological or life-cycle models.
• Knowledge of open-science principles, metadata, reproducible research, code repositories, and transparent documentation.
• Familiarity with Pacific salmon ecology and the freshwater, estuarine, nearshore marine, and broader West Coast habitats managed by NOAA Fisheries.
• Strong quantitative skills and the ability to interpret ecological data and translate biological questions into geospatial analyses.
• Excellent technical writing, peer-reviewed publication, presentation, and stakeholder communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, deliver high-quality products efficiently, and work independently and within interdisciplinary teams

• Bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited institution in fisheries, ecology, natural sciences, mathematics, statistics, oceanography, hydrology, geography, GIS, remote sensing, or a closely related field.
• Three or more years of relevant GIS or geospatial analysis experience; an MS may substitute for up to two years and a PhD for up to four years of experience.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing large environmental or ecological spatial datasets and producing documented, reproducible geospatial products.
• Experience…