Senior Product Engineer, Data Lab

Job Description

This is a hybrid position which requires 8 days/month in the office. You can be based in our office in Washington DC, London, The Hague, Sao Paulo, Bogota or Mexico City. Existing work authorization is required at the time of application submission as WRI is unable to sponsor any visa work sponsorship for this position.

About the Program:

The Data Lab is WRI’s core data innovation and delivery unit. We are a team of over 35 engineers, product managers, and data scientists with deep experience setting data strategy, doing quantitative research, and building data tools and products. Our mission is to use advances in data and technology to help our community improve lives, protect nature, and ensure just transitions.

The Land & Carbon Lab (LCL) is WRI’s premier hub for geospatial data, analysis, and monitoring of the world’s land and its natural ecosystems. We develop breakthroughs in geospatial monitoring to help governments, businesses, and communities power solutions for sustainable landscapes worldwide.

Job Highlight:

Reporting to the Head of Engineering, Data Lab as your anchor manager and LCL’s Sr. Product Manager as your outcomes manager, you will work as a member of the Data Lab to build high quality, reliable, and impactful data products to support WRI’s mission. You will help define and lead the development of the world’s first large language model (LLM)-powered land-based carbon monitoring system. You will run experiments, build prototypes, and iteratively determine requirements for the production-ready product. You will also develop expertise in the architecture, technology, and functional requirements of WRI’s data products and infrastructure. For the first 18 months, you will focus on LCL deliverables, after which you will help contribute to other WRI data products and data architecture.

You will be supported by a team of full stack engineers (internal and external), product managers, data scientists, and product specialists.

What will you do:

Technical Leadership and Strategy (20%): -

• Develop deep expertise in the architecture, technology, and functional requirements of LCL’s land-based carbon monitoring system and make recommendations
• Integrate WRI’s internal APIs into LCL’s land-based carbon monitoring system
• Develop deep expertise in WRI’s internal APIs to ensure consistent use and integration across products and help shape the API roadmap
• Support, mentor, advise, and supervise internal and external software engineering efforts to ensure code quality, consistent CI/CD processes, and consistent use of WRI’s APIs, software libraries, and standards across products
• Stay abreast of the latest developments in full-stack software engineering and geospatial technologies, tools, and techniques and support product engineering teams in adoption

Product Engineering & Prototyping (70%): -

• Lead product engineering teams, with an initial focus on LCL, to write, review, and deploy code to deliver product features, reduce technical debt, and improve software architecture, reliability, and performance
• Apply cloud engineering best practices to ensure reliable, scalable infrastructure to meet product performance, operational, and maintenance needs
• Ensure data architecture and APIs are optimized for LLM use cases and other machine learning tasks
• Work closely with product managers to turn user stories and feature requests into technical requirements, and ensure a consistent approach to building, testing, and QC of new features
• Work with program and research staff to develop and build prototype applications to explore and test new ideas

Solution Architecture (10%): -

• Work with product engineering teams to identify common needs across products, identify potential open-source solutions, and develop internal software libraries, API features, application scaffolds, toolkits, and guidance documentation to support those needs, improve product development efficiency, and ensure integration and consistency across products
• In collaboration with the Head of Engineering, develop technical processes, standards, and documentation to assist in onboarding new engineers and external vendors, ensure consistent software quality, and improve process efficiency and developer experience
• Support the Data Lab Product Studio by participating in diagnostic reviews of product proposals, understanding the technical stack of existing products, and advising on solution architecture and technical requirements of new products and product features

What will you need:-

• Education: You have completed a bachelor’s degree in a related field or a relevant work experience in lieu of degree is accepted
• Experience: You have a minimum of 7 years of professional experience working with open-source geospatial processing software, such as PostGIS, GDAL, and MapBoxGL
• Mentor and/or manage more junior developers and serving as technical lead on a project
• Provide advice and counsel to research and programmatic teams
• Build software following the Software Development Lifecycle and Agile methodologies
• Work with designers and UX experts to implement designs
• Advise projects on technical and architectural best practices
• Deploy code in cloud environments, preferably AWS, using infrastructure-as-code such as Terraform
• Use version control tools such as Git and IDE software such as VS Code, IntelliJ, etc.
• Write code in JavaScript
• Use development frameworks such as NodeJS, NextJS, and React
• Knowledge of API standards and best practices (REST, GraphQL)
• Write code in Scala and working with the Spark big data framework is preferred
• Languages: English required, Spanish or Portuguese desirable
• Requirements: Existing work authorization is required where this position is based. WRI is unable to authorize visa work authorization

Potential Salary: US salary range is between 116K and 125K USD. UK: 53K - 67K GBP. Netherlands: 67K – 84K EUR. Salary is commensurate with experience and other compensable factors.

How to Apply: Please submit a resume with a required cover letter by the date of August 9, 2024. We are unable to consider your application without a cover letter.

You must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered.

What we offer:

• Access to the WRI global network with the opportunity to exchange with and learn from passionate colleagues working at the cutting edge of their fields across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the US
• The chance to have an impact and to develop your career within a mission driven organization with access to varied learning and training opportunities.
• A workplace that strives to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• The opportunity to join and get involved in different working groups and affinity groups to shape the future of WRI
• Commitment to hybrid working model with flexible working hours
• Generous leave days that increase with tenure

About Us:

Founded in 1982, World Resources Institute(WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. We are working to address seven critical challenges that the world must overcome this decade to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, sustainable cities, and the ocean. WRI has a global staff of over 1,800 people with work spanning 60 countries. We have offices in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia and the United States, as well as a growing presence in other countries and regions.

The foundation of our work is delivering high-quality research, data, maps, and analysis to solve the world’s greatest environment and international development challenges and improve people’s lives. We work with leaders in government, business, and civil society to drive ambitious action and create change on the ground. Equally important, we bring together partners to develop breakthrough ideas and scale-up solutions for far-reaching, enduring impact.

Our mission and values:

WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.

Our values are shared ideals that bind us together: Integrity, Innovation, Urgency, Independence and Respect.

Our culture:

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices. We are committed to providing equal opportunities in employment; we embrace all diversity and encourage women, the LGBTQ+ community, persons with disabilities, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous people to apply. Recognizing our strong commitment to gender equality, WRI has also been awarded EDGE certification.

Our team in Human Resources carefully reviews all applications