Satellite Tasking Lead & Geospatial Ops

Carbon Mapper; Pasadena (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Affordable health coverage (medical, +

Generous time-off policy

Professional development

Job summary

Carbon Mapper seeks a Technical Collection Lead to coordinate satellite tasking operations, lead a cross-functional team of scientists, engineers, and analysts, and drive deployment of hyperspectral systems with Planet partnership.

The role includes flight planning, sensor operation, field processing, and developing target decks to support methane and CO2 monitoring, with opportunities to travel across the continental United States.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in satellite collection planning, satellite mission operations, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience with satellite tasking operations, tasking optimization, and target deck management, including supporting the tasking needs of multiple stakeholders.
• Hands-on experience with GIS software (e.g., QGIS, ArcGIS, or geopandas) and a solid understanding of spatial data formats, coordinate reference systems, and raster processing.
• Strong understanding of collection feasibility and the factors that affect successful collection.
• Proficiency with scripting in a GIS context (e.g., Python, R).
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across science, engineering, and operations teams, manage competing priorities, and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to travel up to 25%, including continuous campaigns of up to 30 days.
• Ability to serve as a sensor operator aboard small commercial aircraft during aerial surveys.

Responsibilities

• Develop, submit, and monitor satellite collection tasks. Work collaboratively across the organization to understand stakeholders' target decks and recommend tasking strategies to meet their goals.
• Submit tasking requirements, monitor collection accomplishment, and track, validate, and manage monthly tasking credits.
• Lead routine tasking work groups to align collection requirements across Carbon Mapper departments and customer sectors.
• Develop strategies to maximize collection across all sectors while applying established priorities, and communicate limitations and conflicts clearly to Mission Management leadership.
• Lead troubleshooting efforts across the organization and coordinate with Planet engineers to resolve issues.
• Work closely with the Carbon Mapper engineering team to implement scripts and automation and identify streamlined workflows and tools that improve tasking performance.
• Analyze tasking feasibility and capacity to predict performance relative to Carbon Mapper's target decks.
• Develop analytics and metrics to characterize tasking performance and identify opportunities to improve future performance.
• Flight Planning & Operations: Plan flight tracks, analyze real-time and predictive weather forecasts, coordinate with flight crews, and serve as the airborne sensor operator during mission execution.
• Maintain flight logs, sensor calibration records, and equipment maintenance histories in strict adherence to aviation safety protocols.
• Geospatial Data Processing: Process raw post-flight sensor imagery and spectral data into core GIS deliverables (e.g., orthomosaics, georeferenced rasters, and surface models).
• Payload Installation & Maintenance: Perform physical integration, pre-flight checks, calibration, and post-flight removal of sensor payloads, along with in-field diagnosis and troubleshooting of system issues.

Skills

Satellite collection planning

Satellite mission operations

GIS software

Python scripting

Cross-functional collaboration

Travel 25%+

Sensor operator

Tools

QGIS

ArcGIS

geopandas

Job description

Carbon Mapper seeks a Technical Collection Lead to coordinate satellite tasking operations, lead a cross-functional team of scientists, engineers, and analysts, and drive deployment of hyperspectral systems with Planet partnership.

The role includes flight planning, sensor operation, field processing, and developing target decks to support methane and CO2 monitoring, with opportunities to travel across the continental United States.