About Verra.

At Verra, we've created a culture of flexibility + autonomy. You'll be able to work with remote teams from diverse countries and industries. Wherever possible, we aim to find mutually agreeable solutions for international hiring.

Verra is a global leader helping to tackle the world’s most intractable environmental and social challenges. As a mission-driven non-profit organization, Verra is committed to helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve livelihoods and protect natural resources across the private and public sectors. We support climate action and sustainable development with standards, tools and programs that credibly, transparently and robustly assess environmental and social impacts and enable funding for sustaining and scaling up projects that verifiably deliver these benefits. We work in any arena where we see a need for clear standards, a role for market-based mechanisms, and an opportunity to generate significant environmental and social value.

Verra manages a portfolio of standards, including the: 

• Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) -- the world’s leading carbon crediting program, with more than 2000 registered projects in 80 countries, and accounting for two-thirds of all voluntary carbon market transaction volume.
• Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta) -- a flexible framework for assessing and reporting on the sustainable development benefits of project-based activities.
• Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards -- to identify projects that simultaneously address climate change, support local communities and smallholders, and conserve biodiversity.
• Plastic Waste Reduction Program -- to enable robust impact assessment of new or scaled-up waste recovery and recycling projects around the globe.

Title:  Senior Program Officer, Geospatial Data Science

Location: Remote  - Worldwide (with significant overlap with US business hours)

Reports to: Manager, Forest Carbon Data Innovation     

The Opportunity. 

Verra's Forest Carbon Strategy prioritizes leveraging cutting-edge science and technology in transparent and credible ways. In line with this objective, Verra seeks a Senior Program Officer, Geospatial Data Science, to collaborate with industry experts and stakeholders to build and implement novel geospatial technologies that support forest carbon methodology development and improvement. Serving as a liaison between technologists, scientists, and subject matter experts, this role ensures the integration of state-of-the-art remote sensing techniques while providing comprehensive geospatial support to Verra’s Forest Carbon Innovation team.

The Role.

The successful applicant will be responsible for tasks such as:

·      Identify and evaluate remote sensing data (optical and radar satellite imagery, LiDAR) that are most suitable for forest carbon-related methodologies and projects.

·      Support geospatial information and remote sensing components of all forest carbon methodologies, with a particular focus on the consolidated REDD methodology (VM0048), and, together with the technology solutions team, support integration with the long-term monitoring system and digital measurement, reporting, and verification (DMRV)

·      Develop innovative tools to support project reviews, validation/verification body (VVB) assessments, and methodology development.

·      Coordinate with contractors to ensure timely and accurate delivery of data, foster effective communication channels, and adherence to project requirements.

·      Organize and manage geospatial datasets effectively, implement systematic data storage and retrieval procedures to facilitate seamless access and analysis for forest carbon methodology development and improvement initiatives.

Our Team.

You will join a team that works closely and collaboratively to solve problems, iterate, and implement updates and improvements to forest carbon methodologies and the VCS Standard.

• Verrans come from diverse locations and backgrounds, and include carbon market experts, project developers, consultants, climate negotiators, researchers, and auditors.
• We are committed to driving finance at scale to projects and programs that advance climate action and sustainable development through high-quality standards and programs.

What we’d like to see.

• A university degree in Forest Science, GIS, Remote Sensing, Geography, or a related field is advantageous, as is an advanced degree.
• At least three years of professional experience in GIS/remote sensing or data science, with a focus on analyzing remote sensing data, developing automated geospatial tools, and modeling.
• Familiarity with fundamental statistical techniques and terminology
• Knowledge and experience in Python and related geospatial and data science libraries such as rioxarray, GeoPandas, GDAL, Scikit-Learn, etc. required.  Working experience with Git is an advantage.
• Familiarity with climate change mitigation; GHG accounting; forest reference levels estimation; MRV design; forest carbon methodologies, standards, and crediting programs; and REDD+ processes/initiatives (e.g., UNFCCC, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility). 
• Skill at prioritizing and working under tight deadlines and the ability to coordinate across teams; 
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for learning new technologies and approaches in RS/GIS; a commitment to staying knowledgeable of industry developments and best practices. 
• A track record of developing and maintaining strong working relationships with various stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; fluency in English is essential. 

Working at Verra.

Verra is a global leader helping to tackle the world’s most intractable environmental and social challenges. As a mission-driven non-profit organization, Verra is committed to helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve livelihoods, and protect natural resources across the private and public sectors. We’ve created a culture of flexibility + autonomy. You’ll be able to work with remote teams from diverse countries and industries. Wherever possible, we aim to find mutually agreeable solutions for international hiring.

The final compensation offered will be contingent upon role, level, and location. Our Talent team can share the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process. Salary is one component of Verra’s total compensation package which also includes:

• Health, vision and dental care, and life insurance
• Verra contributions to each employee’s retirement plan
• Verra contributions as required by national labor laws in countries where staff are located
• Paid Time Off (PTO), comprising 22-30 days vacation, 7 days of annual sick leave, holidays, sabbatical after five years of service, and other leave allowances

Verra is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all our work, and doing this successfully is crucial for us to embody our established values, including Teamwork, Results, Integrity, Balance, and Exploration. We actively celebrate belonging among our team members’ different abilities, sexual orientations, ethnicity, faith, and gender.

How to Apply.

Please send us a Cover letter (not to exceed one page) and your Resume/CV (not to exceed two pages).

Verra provides equal opportunity for all job applicants and employees and is committed to providing a work environment free of discrimination. As such, we conduct our recruitment and hiring without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, genetics, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, and local law.