Senior Machine Learning Research Engineer

About the Company

Seqana is an EU- and venture-backed start-up building monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) tools to drive soil carbon sequestration and the transition towards regenerative and climate-preserving agriculture.

One of the most powerful (and underutilized) solutions to climate change is capturing carbon in soils via regenerative agricultural practices. This approach has the potential for several times more climate impact than planting forests, while also providing extensive co-benefits such as erosion mitigation and improved water quality, food security, and biodiversity.

Existing solutions for MRV for the carbon and insetting market are one of the main drivers of cost and effort, and often the limiting factor for new project development. At Seqana, we leverage machine learning alongside remote sensing data to evaluate the impact of regenerative agriculture practices on a large scale. Our team is at the forefront of soil organic carbon modeling, making significant strides in applied research, peer-reviewed studies, and methodological advancements with the goal to provide an accurate, cost-effective, and efficient MRV solution for soil organic carbon. Our product enables project developers, large corporations and NGOs with a scalable solution to measure and quantify the impact of their regenerative agricultural practices on soil carbon sequestration and other key sustainability metrics, enabling them to report credible CO2 reductions.

The Role

Our growing team is looking for a Senior ML Research Engineer who will be instrumental driving our research and development agenda to model soil organic carbon around the world at unprecedented accuracies. Your primary responsibility will be to spearhead the creation and refinement of machine learning models and pipelines for our pioneering organization. Your contributions will be critical in quantifying soil organic carbon changes within agricultural soils. Collaborating with our team of applied scientists and engineers you will be involved in all aspects of model development drawing from the most recent scientific discoveries, and enhancing our understanding of the influence of different parameters and constraints on model performance and uncertainty. Moreover, you will play a vital role in refining our development workflows as we transition prototypes into fully-fledged products.

Responsibilities you’ll own

Design, enhance, and implement machine learning models and pipelines to model soil organic carbon, utilizing remote sensing data.
Develop and evaluate novel approaches for model regionalization in scarce data scenarios.
Innovate new and enrich existing features for soil organic carbon modeling to accurately and precisely track carbon stock changes over time.
Assess the performance and uncertainty of model predictions, illustrating how accuracy metrics are affected by the specific context and parameters of a carbon project.
Manage the entire research and development workflow efficiently, from conducting exploratory data analysis and initial research & development to quick prototyping and enhancing models in production.
Collaborate closely with the Engineering, Product, and Business Development teams, acting as a data science expert to evaluate feasibility, define requirements and scope, and shape initiatives on our Research Roadmap.
Keep our organization at the cutting edge of soil organic carbon modeling by staying informed on relevant research and incorporating novel ideas to foster innovation within our Research Team.
Communicate your findings both within and outside the organization through documentation, presentations, and contributions to peer-reviewed literature.

Awesomeness you bring

A Ph.D. or Master’s degree in statistics, mathematics, computer science, remote sensing, AI/ML, ecosystem science, geography, or another relevant STEM discipline.
6+ years of proficiency in Python programming and 4+ years of industry experience writing code in a production environment.
Proficiency in math and statistics.
Proven track record in designing, conducting and analyzing ML experiments.
Proven track record in developing machine learning models for regression problems.
Knowledge in quantifying different types of uncertainties within machine learning models using well-established statistical methods (e.g., confidence intervals, prediction intervals, hypothesis tests).
Experience in evolving prototype models and software into dependable, production-ready solutions.
Outstanding communication and teamwork abilities, capable of working effectively with both functional and cross-functional teams.
Self-driven with the capability to manage a project from inception to completion and achieve outcomes.

What makes you stand out

Specialization in geospatial analysis/remote sensing tools and applications.
Knowledge in assessing the uncertainty of spatial maps, or broadly in geostatistics or spatial statistics.
Experience with Google Earth Engine and geospatial libraries in Python.
Experience developing machine learning models applied to remote sensing time series data
Experience with a cloud platform (e.g. GCP, AWS)
Background in a startup environment or possessing a strong entrepreneurial spirit, typically gained through experience in private sector companies.

Benefits you can expect

Be part of our highly motivated, committed, and international team with flat hierarchies that is working on solving one of societies’ biggest challenges: Climate Change
Witness and shape the evolution of a new business being built
Collaborative DevOps culture with opportunities for continuous learning and improvement
Work in a casual environment with flexible hours and some ability to work from home
Competitive salary, benefits, and compensation package
Drinks, snacks, team events, and your choice of hardware

Seqana is committed to building a workplace culture based on the values of proactivity, authenticity, creativity, and empathy, where equal employment opportunity is guaranteed to all applicants and team members regardless of their race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual identity, religion, or disability. If this job intrigues you, but you’re thinking you might not have all of the qualifications, please do apply anyway. We are looking for well-rounded people from around the world who can contribute in more ways than just what is listed in this job description. We are excited to build a team that celebrates diversity in all its forms.

Join us if you want to advance climate action in your daily work and are open to new insights and opportunities everyday!

Our Offer

30 days of paid vacation (PTO)
Full-time, unlimited contract.
Stock options: take part in our success

Preferred starting date: As soon as possible

‍Location: Beautiful office in the heart of Berlin-Kreuzberg, check out our LinkedIn for some impressions of the team and the office

Apply here