Geospatial Data Scientist

Role overview A six-month consultancy is open for a Geospatial Data Scientist to support a data and AI practice delivering spatial analysis, digital mapping, and AI-enabled initiatives for an international intergovernmental computing centre. The role spans the full geospatial data lifecycle — preparation, integration, processing, validation, analysis, and publication — and is delivered remotely during Central European Time business hours with potential on-call availability. The engagement may be extended based on performance and ongoing project demand.

Responsibilities - Review project requirements, source datasets, reference geographies, and existing platform capabilities to define a geospatial implementation baseline. - Assess data readiness across raster, vector, administrative boundary, and sub-national datasets, including coordinate systems, metadata, and known quality constraints. - Design and execute preparation workflows covering geometry validation, reprojection, format normalization, clipping, joining, aggregation, enrichment, and spatial quality checks. - Implement geoprocessing functions such as buffering, proximity analysis, spatial joins, classification, and pattern analysis, and publish outputs as GeoJSON, Shapefile, GeoTIFF, CSV with coordinates, map services, or OGC-aligned APIs. - Coordinate with data engineering, architecture, governance, and API teams to integrate geospatial data into ingestion, transformation, validation, metadata, and publication pipelines. - Validate outputs through sample maps, accuracy checks, format checks, and documented limitations, and prepare technical documentation, configuration notes, and handover materials.

Requirements - Demonstrated experience across the geospatial data lifecycle, including preparation, integration, processing, validation, metadata, quality control, spatial analysis, and publication. - Proficiency in Python for geospatial processing with libraries such as GeoPandas, Rasterio, Shapely, Fiona, PyProj, or Xarray. - Working knowledge of spatial SQL, particularly PostGIS or SQL Server spatial, and cloud-based geospatial processing on Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. - Familiarity with OGC service patterns (WMS, WFS, WCS, OGC API), GeoJSON payloads, and metadata standards such as ISO 19115, DCAT/DCAT-AP, or Dublin Core. - Strong problem-solving skills, attention to data quality, reproducibility, and documentation, and the ability to explain geospatial concepts to mixed technical and non-technical audiences. - Excellent written and spoken English, with the ability to work independently and collaborate across data engineering, architecture, API, governance, and project management teams.

Nice to have - Azure Data Engineering or Azure Data Scientist Associate certifications. - Experience with data lake or lakehouse architectures and geospatial integration in analytics platforms. - Familiarity with SDMX, environmental indicators, or statistical-geospatial integration for international reporting frameworks.

Benefits and work setup - Remote position with no travel required. - Monday–Friday schedule aligned to Central European Time business hours, with potential on-call duties. - Six-month consultancy with the possibility of extension based on performance. - Anticipated annual compensation range of $110,000–$140,000 USD, dependent on experience, skills, and market considerations.