Senior Geospatial Data Scientist

SynMax • Washington, DC

35d

About The Position

The Senior Geospatial Data Scientist is part of Theia's data science team, developing models and pipelines that combine satellite imagery and vessel-tracking data to produce a verified picture of activity. The role fuses optical and SAR imagery with AIS and other data sources and builds detection and prediction models for capabilities such as dark vessel detection, AIS spoofing detection, ship-to-ship transfer detection, and vessel attribution. The position takes work from prototype through production on GCP in collaboration with engineering, and requires clearly explaining analytical reasoning and model behavior.

Requirements

• Strong geospatial data science background, with demonstrated experience working with spatial data, coordinate systems, and geospatial analysis techniques.
• Experience working with earth observation data, such as electro-optical or synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data.
• Some computer vision experience, such as object detection or classification applied to imagery.
• Strong Python skills and practical experience with the machine learning lifecycle, including predictive modeling, classification, evaluation, and iteration.
• Comfort working independently, thinking through ambiguous problems, and explaining reasoning and approach to others.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working with AIS (vessel-tracking) data.
• Familiarity with GCP (BigQuery, Vertex AI) or equivalent cloud data platforms.
• Experience with geospatial tooling and libraries such as QGIS, GDAL, or GeoPandas.
• Experience with PyTorch, scikit-learn, or similar machine learning frameworks.
• Background in maritime, defense, intelligence, or energy domains.

Responsibilities

• Develop and improve geospatial models and pipelines that fuse AIS data with optical and SAR satellite imagery to detect vessel behavior, anomalies, and deceptive activity at sea.
• Apply computer vision techniques to satellite imagery for vessel detection, classification, and attribution.
• Work with large-scale geospatial and time-series datasets, including AIS tracks, imagery, and vessel metadata, to build and validate detection and prediction models.
• Take models from prototype through production, working with engineering to deploy them on GCP.
• Investigate new data sources and methods to close gaps in maritime domain awareness.
• Communicate findings and model behavior clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders, including customers.
• Collaborate with Theia's data science and engineering teams on shared infrastructure, data pipelines, and tooling.

What This Job Offers

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