Senior Space Sensors Data Scientist
Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI) is seeking a Senior Scientist/Engineer with experience in space sensors and instrument calibration to support projects on the Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences (HBS) contract at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
If you are on a journey to explore and expand your ideas and career, you are ready for HBS. This contract provides scientific, engineering and software support for the design, development and testing of remote sensors, sensor systems, space-based instruments, sensor calibration and on-orbit performance analysis to NASA. Check out more information on the NASA website here.
At SSAI we invest in our people, optimize creativity and leverage opportunities. At SSAI, we provide robust training opportunities and mentoring to advance your career, giving new opportunities when possible to switch teams and projects as the company grows and evolves. Our collaborative team environment encourages employees to be enthusiastic, creative and to bring challenging ideas that enhance your passion for science and technology while maintaining work-life balance. If this is what you are looking for, we want to hear from you.
Situated at our offices in Lanham, MD, this position will support on-orbit calibration and characterization of optical Earth imaging sensors onboard current and upcoming NASA missions such as JPSS-VIIRS, PACE-OCI and EOS-MODIS. The work will involve space remote sensing instrument's operations, performance analyses and sensor calibration throughout the instrument's life-cycle. The incumbent will work with instrument testing and operation teams to monitor and independently assess instrument performance, develop and utilize software for processing the data from instrument systems (pre-launch and on-orbit data) and related ancillary data sources to generate the first level data products and performance assessments. The work also involves instrument characterization, algorithm improvement, and modeling of sensor characteristics, as well as frequent interactions with the scientific user community to investigate instrument calibration and performance issues.
Required Qualifications:
- MS or higher in physics, engineering, computer science or comparable field of study and at least 5 years of related experience (or equivalent combination of education and experience)
- Experience with analysis software such as IDL, Matlab, and Python
- Strong background in data analytics with the ability to identify and perform research tasks
- Capable of working both independently and within a dynamic science team
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills are a must, as demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications and oral presentations made at major science conferences
- US Citizenship or Permanent Residency is required
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience working with space sensors pre-launch testing, calibration and characterization
- Experience with thermal infra-red sensors and associated calibration algorithm and data analysis
- Experience with machine learning and artificial intelligence