Data Platform Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Grassroots Carbon is hiring a Data Platform Engineer to build and operate the core data infrastructure powering our soil carbon modeling work and PastureMap grazing management platform. In this role, you will integrate and serve soil measurements, satellite imagery, ranch records, and partner data through a unified database to ensure reliable, high-integrity access across the company.

As the first dedicated owner of our data platform, you will drive data ingestion, dataset accessibility, and production pipeline architecture. Your immediate mission is to replace manual and ad-hoc data preparation with dependable, automated workflows that support science, operations, and rancher-facing products.

You will work closely across our engineering and science teams. While Data & Soil Science handles model development and scientific validation, you will own the production pipelines and execution runtimes that put approved models into live use. You will also partner with backend engineers on application APIs and integrations, aligning key priorities with the VP of Product & Technology.

About You

We are looking for a pragmatic, hands-on builder who designs sound systems and gets things done. You take pride in making sensible architecture decisions, weighing trade-offs clearly, and methodically tackling production challenges when they arise. Working alongside scientists, product managers, and our engineering team, you will rely on clear documentation and strong cross-time-zone collaboration to keep projects moving forward. If you love shipping resilient infrastructure and want to apply your skills to agriculture and environmental technology, this is the role for you.

Requirements

Data storage and pipelines

• Design and build our unified data platform from our AWS stack of S3 and PSQL with PostGIS DB, selecting the right storage and processing tools to balance workload, reliability, and cost.
• Develop tested, scheduled datasets with clear lineage. Maintain consistent, versioned ranch and pasture identifiers across all internal systems.
• Migrate priority PastureMap history, reconcile it to source records, and document gaps. Preserve original locations and flag records that cannot be mapped reliably.

Data ingestion and integrations

• Build and maintain reliable, automated ingestion pipelines for APIs, hardware feeds (IoT), and imagery services, replacing ad-hoc manual data extraction.
• Normalize spatial and temporal incoming data from external partners and hardware, establishing clear validation and error-recovery protocols.

Model operations & Security

• Build secure data services with backend engineers so PastureMap, internal tools, and approved partners can use shared datasets and model outputs.
• Package, deploy, schedule, and monitor science models. Ensure code and inputs are versioned so runs are reproducible and verifiable for carbon crediting.
• Provide documented datasets and accessible query tools for operations and commercial teams. Evaluate AI-assisted access where it solves a defined need and respects permissions.

• Apply least-privilege access, ranch-level data isolation, secrets management, and encryption. Protect rancher and landowner information and support SOC 2 readiness.

Must Haves

• 5+ years in data engineering or data platform work, including ownership of a production data system from design through ongoing operation.
• Strong Python and SQL, with maintainable code, automated tests, and practical debugging skills.
• Production orchestration and deployment experience, including scheduled jobs, backfills, failure recovery, and CI/CD.
• Hands-on AWS experience, infrastructure as code, and an understanding of cloud operating costs.
• Experience taking ML or scientific models into production, ensuring reproducible runs, versioning, monitoring, and automated recovery.
• Experience handling third-party API integrations, specifically dealing with rate limits, schema changes, and unreliable source data.

Nice to Haves

• Working knowledge of geospatial data, coordinate systems, spatial joins, and tools/formats like H3, PostGIS, GDAL, GeoPandas, or cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs.
• Experience implementing data access controls, secrets management, and encryption to support SOC 2 readiness or audited MRV systems.

• Familiarity with model deployment tools (MLflow or SageMaker) and serverless batch processing (e.g. Modal).
• Experience ingesting IoT/telemetry data from livestock devices, environmental sensors, or satellite pipelines.
• BS or MS in Computer Science or similar technical studies

What success looks like

In Your First 90 Days:

• Align on Priorities: Partner with Product, Tech, and Soil Science to select and map out your first high-value production workflow based on data readiness.
• Ship to Production: Deploy that first pipeline into active use for science or product teams, fully equipped with data validation, access controls, monitoring, and runbooks.
• Build the Blueprint: Establish shared identifiers, source lineage, and repeatable ingestion patterns to form the foundation for all future pipelines.

In Your First Year:

• Migrate Historical Data: Successfully migrate and reconcile priority PastureMap legacy data, systematically documenting known gaps.
• Productionize Core Modeling: Power core science inputs and approved production models through versioned, maintainable pipelines feeding a unified, reliable database.
• Scale Data Services: Deliver key integrations and data services built with end-to-end lineage, clear SLAs, and documentation that enables seamless team coverage.

About Grassroots Carbon

Grassroots Carbon works with ranchers to improve grazing practices, restore grasslands, and store carbon in soil. We combine field measurements, data, and scientific models to quantify soil carbon outcomes. PastureMap is our ranch management platform, and Grassroots Carbon is a portfolio company of Soilworks Natural Capital.

What the teams are building

Product & Technology powers PastureMap and its core data services, while Data & Soil Science builds the quantification models for carbon crediting and Scope 3 insetting. Together, these teams turn complex datasets and science into actionable grazing recommendations and practical decision-support tools for ranchers on the ground.

Why join Grassroots Carbon

• Build systems used in carbon measurement, rancher payments, and grazing management.
• Work with soil measurements, satellite imagery, and livestock activity data.
• Have a direct role in platform architecture and implementation.
• Work closely with the people who use the data and see the results of your work.

Benefits

Benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance; health plan options with a $0 deductible and $0 co-pay; a flexible spending account option; open paid time off and 9 paid holidays; a 401(k); company-paid Life and AD&D coverage; and support for continuing education.