Description

Looking for opportunities to design and implement data-driven models and solutions for the benefit of millions of smallholder farmers in the Tropics? Ready to start an exciting journey as part of a small team of dedicated scientists and developers? Ignitia is now hiring a service-minded remotely based meteorological science developer with expertise in building code bases for models based on geospatial and spatiotemporal datasets, tracking performance and developing internal tools for rapid prototyping of new science products.

The company

Ignitia is an entrepreneur-led business that offers critical decision support in Africa and South America. Based on several years of development and market traction, our science-based innovation is designed for the agriculture sector. We have developed a weather forecasting system for the Tropics that is twice as accurate as existing models, allowing us to provide daily, monthly, and seasonal forecasts for farmers through SMS, apps and web applications to their mobile phones. Using our forecasts, smallholder farmers have the ability to double yields and incomes, reducing food insecurity and poverty for some of the poorest in the world.

To date we have reached over 2.5 million users and are aiming to reach 200 million by 2030! Due to our pioneering position and proven track record we now offer the right person the opportunity to grow with the company internationally.

The position

Ignitia AB has a vacancy for a full-time remote Senior Science Innovation Engineer. This is a highly creative role and main duties will include:

  • Maintain & deploy WRF model instances to support R&D initiatives
  • Develop code for weather prediction driven decision support & impact models
  • Develop tools (code) for verification of various models’ performance
  • Develop tools (code) for rapid prototyping of new science products
  • Develop and automate rapid response quality control (QC) systems
  • Support the continued development of our science data warehouse (SDWH)
  • Support the development of a robust and efficient ETL data pipeline
  • Provide on demand analytics utilising verification tools
  • Actively contribute towards building our tech/science/product strategies
  • Act as a supportive interface between science and other business units
  • Build software tools for efficient use of our SDWH
  • Monitor performance, ensure data quality, and advise on necessary infrastructure and architectural changes
  • Implement best practices for design, architecture and implementation of high-performance, scalable and optimised data solutions
  • At times lead a group of supporting developers in the tech implementation

Other duties may include (commensurate with any relevant experience):

  • Managing data exploration and visualisation tools
  • Support the tech/product development teams in code development
  • Present our tech and science to an internal and external audience

Requirements

We expect you to have the following background, experience and skills:

  • Experience of setting up and running WRF model on parallel computers
  • Minimum MSc level in Physics/Meteorology/Atmospheric Sciences
  • Advanced skills in mathematics and statistics
  • At least 3+ years of work experience in software development
  • Advanced skills in working with geospatial/spatiotemporal datasets
  • Proficiency in RDBMS (e.g., PostgreSQL), Python incl. NumPy & Pandas, SQL
  • Unix environment and shell scripting
  • Good understanding of concepts related to data science and data analytics
  • Comfortable developing solutions within a cloud environment
  • Experience managing source code using Git

Beneficial skills include:

  • Experience working with mathematical models in general
  • Experience in applying advanced analytics and predictive modelling techniques
  • Knowledge of data mining and machine learning techniques
  • Experience handling GIS & remote sensing data (e.g., using PostGIS)
  • Experience with data exploration and visualisation tools (e.g., Superset)
  • Experience with ETL development and working with databases
  • Experience of automation and configuration management
  • Working knowledge of system monitoring, alerting, and dashboarding experience
  • Experience with NoSQL databases
  • Experience working Agile

In addition you should:

  • Have strong creative and analytical skills
  • Have good communication skills
  • Have a sound understanding of the science & datasets you are working with
  • Have a sound understanding of the business implications of your work
  • Be strategic & visionary in your planning yet detail oriented in your implementation
  • Be a teamplayer while working efficiently independently
  • Maintain focus under rapidly changing work tasks and time pressure
  • Have a positive attitude
  • Have good written and communication skills in the English language