Senior Soil Carbon Scientist for Nature-Based Solutions

Anthesis Group; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working hours

Hybrid working model (2–3 days WFH)

Monthly medical allowance

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

Anthesis Group seeks a scientist to lead soil carbon modelling and verification for carbon farming programs in South Africa. You will develop, validate, and document quantitative models, and support methodology transitions in response to Verra VM0042 revisions.

You’ll collaborate with global teams to ensure robust evidence trails for auditors and project teams. You will design sampling and reporting plans, build data pipelines in R or Python, and translate complex results for diverse audiences

Qualifications

• Master's degree in quantitative environmental discipline (PhD welcomed).
• 4+ years post-qualification in soil carbon or quantitative environmental research.
• Hands-on experience with process-based soil carbon models (Roth-C, DNDC, DayCent).
• Working knowledge of VCS Programme and at least one agricultural methodology.
• Strong statistics and fluency in R or Python.
• Ability to translate technical material for non-technical audiences.
• Right to live and work in South Africa.

Responsibilities

• Lead soil carbon modelling and validation for VM0042 projects, ensuring robust evidence trails.
• Draft model validation reports and respond to reviewer/auditor comments.
• Align model validation with VM0042 uncertainty requirements and document evidence.
• Contribute to soil sampling design and field protocols under evolving VM0042 requirements.
• Define data needs for MRV platforms and build reproducible analysis pipelines.

Skills

Soil carbon modelling

R

Python

VM0042 knowledge

Statistics

Science communication

Education

Master's degree in quantitative environmental discipline

PhD welcome

Tools

R

Python

Job description

Anthesis Group seeks a scientist to lead soil carbon modelling and verification for carbon farming programs in South Africa. You will develop, validate, and document quantitative models, and support methodology transitions in response to Verra VM0042 revisions.

You’ll collaborate with global teams to ensure robust evidence trails for auditors and project teams. You will design sampling and reporting plans, build data pipelines in R or Python, and translate complex results for diverse audiences