Remote Sensing Data Scientist

Title:
Remote Sensing Data Scientist
Belong. Connect. Grow. with KBR!
Around here, we define the future.
But we at KBR we share one goal: to improve the world responsibly as a company of innovators, thinkers, creators, explorers, volunteers, and dreamers.
Delivering Solutions, Changing the World. We deliver science, technology, and engineering solutions to governments and companies around the world. - https://www.kbr.com/en
KBR's Science and Space division is seeking a Remote Sensing Data Scientist to support our Technical Support Services Contract (TSSC) with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center (http://eros.usgs.gov/), located near Sioux Falls, SD (http://www.siouxfalls.org).
Are you a Data Scientist professional who is looking to flex your AI/ML skills to develop cutting edge geospatial products that can make a difference in the world? How would you like to leverage over 50 years of continuous Earth monitoring products, afforded by Landsat and other satellite missions, to study trends in change and create high-level geospatial science products to monitor, assess, and project land cover change? If you're interests are piqued, keep reading!
This position is aligned with the Science Division of the TSSC and will support the USGS EROS Land Cover Program on the Land Cover Next Project. The LCNext project develops foundational capabilities and geospatial products for integrating land cover and land cover change science within the Integrated Science and Applications Branch (ISAB) at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.
The main objective is to design, develop, and implement an operational capability for monitoring, assessing, and projecting land cover, land cover change, and impervious surface and to use this framework to support scientific research for understanding a changing Earth. Land cover and land use data are high priority data themes within the USGS. These data are often combined with other sources of relevant scientific data to provide a robust suite of geospatial data that allow informed decisions by managers and the public. Land cover map data (and derived products) require repeated production, updating and improvement, to provide the most relevant land cover and land cover change information for the Nation. The work includes coordination with a team of exceptionally skilled Remote Sensing scientists, Data Scientists, systems/software engineers, and communications specialists, as well as collaboration with our USGS customers at the EROS Center.
Read on to see if you're a match. If you think you have what it takes and are interested in becoming an integral part of our team, we'd love to hear from you!
RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Achieve a thorough understanding of land cover and land cover change mapping in terms of project-level and scientific/land management goals, the historical and current state of the field, and fundamental domain-specific challenges and limitations
• Leverage machine learning/deep learning frameworks to improve upon existing supervised multiclass classification and regression workflows
• Implement workflows at scale within an AWS cloud environment or through submission to a high-performance compute cluster
• Support the generation and evaluation of geospatial data products
• Write organized, scalable, and well-documented code

• Interact with software engineers for code reviews and output evaluation and verification
• Support the automation of workflows for other areas of the project
• Author technical documentation, support or lead scientific manuscripts and conference abstracts, and prepare/deliver oral presentations on progress and outcomes

PREFERRED SKILLSET:
Technical Skills:

• Knowledge of Remote Sensing principles, satellite imaging systems, and land cover science
• Experience using the Python/Julia programming languages for data analysis, data science, and geospatial analysis
• Experience with Python libraries such as numpy, pandas, scikit-learn, gdal, rasterio, and tensorflow
• Knowledge of statistical approaches to data sampling, analysis, and validation techniques

• Experience building machine learning/deep learning workflows
• Familiarity with cloud-based and/or high-performance computing environments, parallel and distributed computing
• Familiarity with using version control systems (e.g., Git)
• Experience with GIS software, such as QGIS, ERDAS Imagine, and ArcGIS

Soft Skills:

• Able to collaborate effectively in a hybrid/remote work environment
• Self-motivated and willing to tackle open-ended problems
• Well-organized and able to track and report progress toward goals
• Effectively able to communicate problems, request clarification, and express opinions
• Able to convey technical topics at various levels of detail to different audiences

REQUIREMENTS:

• Education: Master's degree in data science, geography, Remote Sensing, mathematics, statistics, or related field is preferred. BA/BS in data science, geography, remotes sensing, mathematics statistics or related field required.
• Years of Experience:BA/BS +8 years of relevant work experience or MA/MS +6 years of relevant work experience
• Three years of continuous residency in the U.S.

• This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a national agency check and background investigation after hire to obtain credentials for facility access and user accounts.

WORK LOCATION:
This position supports a coordinated team across multiple locations and offers either remote work status or a hybrid remote/onsite schedule; some travel may be required.
STANDARD KBR REQUIREMENTS:
All of KBR's employee's must be team players, able to communicate effectively with internal and external customers, able to follow safety and quality policies, able to follow company programs, processes, procedures, practices, requirements, goals, and objectives. In addition, they must also be organized, with good time management skills.
Experience and/or Education in lieu of these qualifications will be reviewed for applicability to meet these requirements.
KBR Benefits
KBR offers a selection of competitive lifestyle benefits which could include 401K plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D, flexible spending account, disability, paid time off, or flexible work schedule. We support career advancement through professional training and development.
Click here to learn more: KBR Benefits
KBR partners with several other companies to fulfill its requirements as a government contractor. The selected subcontracting companies align their benefits as closely as possible to those above.
Inclusion and Diversity at KBR
At KBR, we are passionate about our people, sustainability, and our Zero Harm culture. These inform all that we do and are at the heart of our commitment to, and ongoing journey toward being a more inclusive and diverse company. That commitment is central to our team of team's philosophy and fosters an environment of real collaboration across cultures and locations. Our individual differences and perspectives bring enhanced value to our teams and help us develop solutions for the most challenging problems. We understand that by embracing those differences and working together, we are more innovative, more resilient, and safer. We Deliver - Together.
Click here to learn more: Inclusion and Diversity at KBR
KBR is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.