Data Scientist, Geospatial

Neara • Houston, TX

23h • $140,000 - $150,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a Data Scientist, Geospatial to join our Houston team, supporting a key regional electric utility. You’ll work directly with their team to build physics-backed models on Neara, leveraging complex datasets like LiDAR, GIS, asset records, and weather data. Your work will directly prevent wildfires by simulating vegetation encroachment, predict grid failures under extreme weather loads, and inform capital investment decisions to harden critical infrastructure.

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in data science or machine learning.
• Strong quantitative intuition for data, with excellent communication skills and proven experience presenting complex findings to customers and senior leaders.
• Self-driven with a bias for action; comfortable taking full ownership of complex projects and adapting quickly to shifting priorities.
• Natural collaborator who thrives at the intersection of technical teams (ML, Software) and external customer stakeholders.
• Grounded, resourceful approach to problem-solving, with a track record of navigating messy, real-world datasets to deliver clear, business-driven outcomes.

Nice To Haves

• Geospatial data or power grid domain experience is a plus.
• Experience working in fast-paced, high-growth scale-up technology environments is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Embed and collaborate directly with customer geospatial and GIS teams in a hybrid setting, spending time on-site at their offices to deeply understand their data workflows, integrate systems, and solve complex spatial challenges.
• Build predictive risk models on Neara that combine LiDAR, terrain models, and weather data to simulate conductor sag, sway, and vegetation fall-in risks to directly prevent wildfire ignitions.
• Translate complex spatial and structural risk metrics into defensible, data-driven insights that inform utility capital investment decisions for grid hardening.
• Build and maintain robust spatial data pipelines to ingest, clean, vectorize, and integrate diverse geospatial data formats from our utility partner.
• Establish QA/QC benchmarks for spatial accuracy, coordinate reference system (CRS) transformations, and structural alignment across disparate data sources.
• Mentor others in best practices for model training, data analytics, and building data-driven products.

Benefits

• Work with an industry-leading, multi-modal spatial data stack - including airborne LiDAR, high-resolution satellite imagery, and physics-enabled digital twins - to solve real-world engineering challenges at immense scale.
• Your spatial modeling will directly mitigate wildfire risks, optimize utility vegetation management, and harden critical infrastructure across millions of kilometers of energy grids.
• Shape the spatial architecture of our core product line while collaborating with top-tier ML and software engineers.
• Enjoy a highly competitive compensation package with a significant equity component, ensuring you are a true stakeholder in our rapid global scaling.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed