Senior Program Officer, REDD+ Remote Sensing and GIS Analysis

Job Title:                 Senior Program Officer, REDD+ Remote Sensing and GIS Analysis

Location:                Remote - Worldwide (with significant overlap with US business hours)

Start Date:              Immediately

Reports To:            Senior Director, REDD+ Program Development and Innovation

Verra is a global leader helping to tackle the world’s most intractable environmental and social challenges. As a mission-driven non-profit organization, Verra is committed to helping reduce and remove greenhouse gas emissions, improve livelihoods, and protect natural resources across the private and public sectors. We support climate action and sustainable development with standards, tools, and programs that credibly, transparently, and robustly assess environmental and social impacts and enable funding for sustaining and scaling up projects that verifiably deliver these benefits. We work in any arena where we see a need for clear standards, a role for market-based mechanisms, and an opportunity to generate significant environmental and social value. Verra manages a portfolio of programs, including the:

• Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) – the world’s leading carbon crediting program, with more than 2,000 registered projects in 80 countries, and accounting for two-thirds of all voluntary carbon market transaction volume.
• Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta) – a flexible framework for assessing and reporting on the sustainable development benefits of project-based activities.
• Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards – to identify projects that simultaneously address climate change, support local communities and smallholders, and conserve biodiversity.
• Plastic Waste Reduction Program – to enable robust impact assessment of new or scaled-up waste recovery and recycling projects around the globe.

The VCS Program provides methodologies that support forest carbon projects, and the VCS Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) Framework is the world’s first accounting and verification framework for jurisdictional REDD+ programs and nested projects. As we scale up our work in both areas, Verra is looking for a Senior Program Officer to conduct remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) analyses mainly related to REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and sustainable management of forests and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks) activities.

A day with Verra’s Program Development & Innovation Department (PDID) might include…

• Processing and analyzing geospatial (remote sensing and other) data to produce a jurisdiction-specific risk map for the new avoiding unplanned deforestation methodology;
• Conducting strategic analyses of geospatial data to pilot-test prospective changes to existing or under-development forest carbon-related methodologies; and
• Supporting a Program Management Department project review by conducting GIS analysis.

Specific functions you will be responsible for leading…

• Identifying and evaluating remote sensing data (optical and radar satellite imagery, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and others) that are most suitable for forest carbon-related methodologies and projects;

• Leading geospatial information and remote sensing components of all nature-based methodologies, with a particular focus on the new consolidated REDD methodology, and, together with the technology solutions team, supporting their integration with the long-term monitoring system and digital measurement, reporting, and verification (DMRV);

• Processing remote sensing data, ground truth plots (if available) and developing innovative tools to support project reviews, validation/verification body (VVB) assessments, and methodology development using GIS software (e.g., QGIS) and cloud computing platform (e.g., SEPAL, GEE, Microsoft Planetary Computer);

• Conduct accuracy assessments and uncertainty analyses of forest cover maps and activity data;

• Supporting other PDID teams with remote sensing-related analyses and reviews as needed (e.g., remote sensing of soil organic stocks in the agriculture sector);

• Planning and organizing training and capacity-building programs on using geospatial information and remote sensing for Verra staff and VVBs; and

• Providing materials (e.g., maps, data) necessary for outreach events.

You bring with you…

• A university degree in RS, GIS, Geography, Cartography, or a related field;

• At least three years of experience in geospatial analytics (especially with high-resolution satellite and active remote sensing data) using tools such as GDAL/OGR, GEE, QGIS, or any other cloud computing platform in forestry or other land use contexts;

• Knowledge and experience in programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, R, etc. for GIS/RS analyses is required; experience working in cloud computing environments (e.g., GEE, AWS, MS-Azure, etc.) is an advantage;

• Familiarity with climate change mitigation; GHG accounting; forest reference levels estimation; MRV design; forest carbon methodologies, standards, and crediting programs; and REDD+ processes/initiatives (e.g., UNFCCC, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility);

• Skill at prioritizing and working under tight deadlines and ability to coordinate across teams;

• A track record of developing and maintaining strong working relationships with various stakeholders; and

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; fluency in English is essential.

In this role, you will grow and expand your expertise by…

• Helping to implement new and evolving systems in a quickly growing organization;
• Gaining exposure to systems, projects, and partners that are leading the way in forest conservation driven by climate finance;
• Gaining knowledge on how carbon market mechanisms can address social and environmental issues; and
• Working with a dynamic, committed, and focused team of professionals.

You will join an inclusive team...

• Of leading experts in the natural climate solutions space.
• From diverse locations and backgrounds, including carbon market experts, forest carbon innovations and REDD+, climate negotiators, researchers, and more.
• Committed to driving finance at scale to projects and programs that advance climate action and sustainable development through high-quality standards and programs.

Compensation at Verra

To help us attract and retain top talent, Verra pays employees competitively to the market. In return, we expect each employee to, at a minimum:

• Meet expectations in terms of work effort and performance.
• Take the initiative to build the skills and knowledge needed to do their job effectively; and
• Embody Verra’s values.

We will recognize employees who go beyond expected performance with salary increases and/or promotions, but the bar for earning those rewards is high.

Salary is one component of Verra’s total compensation package, which also includes:

• Health, vision and dental care, and life insurance;
• Verra contributions to each employee’s retirement plan;
• Verra contributions as required by national labor laws in countries where staff are located;
• Paid Time Off (PTO), comprising 22-30 days plus eleven floating holidays, sabbatical after five years of service, and other leave allowances; and
• Funds to support professional development.

How to Apply

To apply, please send us the following:

• Cover letter (not to exceed one page)
• Resume/CV (not to exceed two pages)

*Please add app.bamboohr.com to your contact list to ensure you receive emails from us*

Verra provides equal opportunity for all job applicants and employees and is committed to providing a work environment free of discrimination. We conduct our recruitment and hiring without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, genetics, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, and local law.