Position Overview

The Institute’s Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS) generates data insights through geospatial analytics and visualization that help partners design and implement equitable land, water, and climate solutions.

This position will primarily support CGS’ Who Owns AmericaSM (WHOA) program, a portfolio of projects developed by CGS that studies the state and effects of property ownership in America. In support of CGS’ WHOA-related contracts and projects, the Senior Analyst will develop and maintain workflows and processes to curate, aggregate, standardize, analyze, and visualize a variety of data, including parcel, census and other datasets. This role will work directly with the Director of Geospatial Innovation and the Associate Directors within the CGS team.

This is a full-time, exempt, fixed-term position that is eligible for all our benefits. This position is to be based out of our office in either the Washington D.C., Cambridge, MA, or Phoenix, AZ area; or there is the possibility for this to be a remote position. Our standard work week is 37.5 hours/week and this position is expected to be needed indefinitely, but will be arranging a 2-year fixed-term arrangement to monitor the progress of the project. We are registered to employ individuals in the following states: AZ, DC, MA, NC, NH, TX, VA, WY; please note if you reside in a state not included in this list it is unlikely we will proceed to hire.

What You’ll Do

Manage the execution of project deliverables

Under the guidance of supervisory staff, the Senior Analyst will interact with clients to understand issues, customize solutions, and provide deliverables in a timely manner.

Such as:

• Break down client project needs to develop and document geospatial analysis workflows.
• Independently execute assigned tasks, including but not limited to, data aggregation, data standardization, geospatial analytics, and web application configuration to ensure that project deliverables are coordinated and completed on time with internal and external stakeholders.
• Obtain, organize, and process component datasets. (e.g., a variety of spatial data, including national, state, and local vector data, tabular records, satellite and aerial imagery, and LiDAR.)
• Maintain and develop python scripts for the maintenance, cleaning and transformation of spatial datasets for various project use.

Effectively communicate information

Interact with clients and partners throughout a project’s lifecycle and be required to develop clear and effective communication materials for client use.

Such as:

• Summarize and communicate research results in narrative, visual, and digital formats for use in reports, policy briefs, public presentations, and other communications.
• Communicate project findings, as needed, in a variety of settings, including to partners unfamiliar with GIS.
• Create both print and web-based data visualizations and applications to present information in an effective manner that meets client needs and specifications.

Build the capacity and capabilities of the CGS team

CGS works to continuously improve and build the internal capacity and capabilities of the team. You contribute to these efforts through:

• Maintain and develop internal code bases. In collaboration with CGS team members, the Senior Analyst will assist in maintaining and further developing the team’s GitHub repositories and key project code bases. Key project code bases are written in Python, using a combination of open-source packages such as geopandas and numpy, as well as proprietary packages such as ArcPy and the ArcGIS API for Python.
• Provide training and technical assistance to other staff by maintaining flexibility to address urgent and/or unplanned needs, as well as exhibit an openness to teaching others and desire to exchange knowledge and skills.
• Identify opportunities for future GIS applications and service deliverables by working closely with supervisory staff to identify and develop additional business opportunities.

What You’ll Need

Base Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental management, natural resource management, geography, urban planning, transportation, or a related field. Graduate degree preferred.
• A minimum of 5 years progressive experience in collecting, aggregating, managing, analyzing, and visualizing geospatial data. A graduate degree or significant technical expertise/mastery may substitute for up to two years of experience.

Technical Skills and Knowledge

• Experience in automating data cleaning, ETL processes, and analysis workflows for social and geospatial data using Python.
  • Key Python packages: geopandas, pandas, numpy, ArcPy, and the ArcGIS API for Python.
• Experience and knowledge of key geospatial analyses, including Network Analysis, Geostatistics and Interpolation, Spatial Analysis, and Raster Analysis.
• Experience with Esri’s suite of products, including but not limited to ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online (and its various web application tools, such as Experience Builder, Insights, and StoryMaps), and ArcGIS Enterprise.
• Experience working with databases and database management, such as PostgreSQL, the PostGIS spatial extension, etc.
• Experience working with Anaconda or another environment manager.
• Experience working with GitHub.
• Experience developing scripts and geoprocessing workflows in IDEs such as Jupyter Notebooks, VS Code, etc.
• Familiarity with census data and/or parcel data.

Other Key Skills and Knowledge

• Self-motivated and goal-oriented with the ability to take an innovative, strategic, and analytical approach to research and collaboration.
• Desire to learn new skills and solve problems.
• Attention to detail to manage high volumes of data, project outputs and deadlines simultaneously.
• Collegial and able to work successfully in interdisciplinary teams with colleagues from various topical backgrounds and partner organizations.
• Excellent managerial, organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Exceptional critical thinking skills with the ability to deconstruct complex problems, prioritize issues, and implement sensible solutions.

We hope for:

• Experience with, or willingness to learn approaches to parallelizing python workflows (ie, dask), and/or webscraping packages such as Beautiful Soup and Selenium.
• Experience with, or willingness to learn continuous integration and development tools and development environment tools including Docker and GitHub Actions in concert with cloud infrastructure including Azure, AWS, and GCP.
• Experience with, or willingness to learn other programming languages including R, Java, JavaScript or C/C++.

Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Mission

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy seeks to improve quality of life through the effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land. A nonprofit private operating foundation whose origins date to 1946, the Lincoln Institute researches and recommends creative approaches to land as a solution to economic, social, and environmental challenges. Through education, training, publications, and events, we integrate theory and practice to inform public policy decisions worldwide. With locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Washington, DC; Phoenix; and Beijing, we organize our work around six goals: low-carbon, climate-resilient communities and regions;efficient and equitable tax systems;reduced poverty and spatial inequality;fiscally healthy communities and regions;sustainably managed land and water resources;and functional land markets and reduced informality.

Our Benefits

Include but are not limited to (a) 3x employer contribution towards retirement matching your employee contribution up to 15%, (b) health insurance, (c) dental insurance, (d) vision insurance, (e) 100% reimbursement of the health care deductible through a health reimbursement account, (f) short-term disability coverage, (g) long term disability coverage, (h) paid parental leave, (i) voluntary insurances such as accident insurance, (j) health care flexible spending, (k) dependent care flexible spending, (l) paid time off for holidays, vacation, personal, sick, bereavement, and jury duty, (m) office closure between December 24 – Jan 1 each calendar year, (n) flexible schedule and option for a compressed 4 day workweek, (o) tuition and staff development reimbursement, (p) pet insurance, and (q) Employee Assistance Program.

Application Process

Please submit a cover letter and resume. The cover letter should succinctly describe your interest to join the CGS team; why you are qualified to join as software developer for the Internet of Water initiative; and what relevant expertise and experience you offer. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Compensation Overview

The salary market range for this role is posted above and dependent on level of education and years of experience. We value internal and external equity and encourage those who may be missing qualifications to submit their materials still.

Our Values

We support a culture of forthright feedback, initiative, cooperation and teamwork, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and accepting responsibility.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is dedicated to creating an inclusive work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Individuals seeking employment at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy are considered without regards to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), ancestry, citizenship status, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.