Landscape Remote Sensing Scientist

Applying electronically via CalCareers is highly recommended. If submitting a hardcopy application (mail/drop-off), please email Essam.Gad@arb.ca.gov to confirm submission.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is the State agency responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the State of California. It is CARB’s responsibility to develop a strategy for California to be carbon neutral by 2045, implement policies to achieve carbon neutrality, and to track progress towards that objective. As part of this effort, Natural and Working Lands (NWL) are a critical component of California’s climate change mitigation strategy. NWL refers to all forests, shrublands, grasslands, croplands, deserts, wetlands, and developed lands within California’s boundaries.

The new Nature-Based Strategies Section brings together all of these lands, quantifying their socio-ecological impacts, to formulate statewide holistic nature-based climate action policy. Specifically, this section leads the integration of natural systems into California’s overall carbon neutrality and climate action efforts. The science, policy, and technical work performed in this section will influence high impact policies and programs on local, state, and national levels. To accomplish this, the Nature-Based Strategies Section uses data and scientific inference to inform and develop cutting-edge statewide nature-based policies, decisions, and programs. Work in this section includes:

1. Modeling ecosystems in California under current and future conditions to quantify the contribution of NWL to statewide carbon neutrality and to set carbon targets.
2. Developing and reporting California’s NWL carbon inventory to track progress towards carbon targets and monitor other environmental metrics.
3. Performing causal assessments identifying the driving factors to environmental change, particularly isolating the impact from nature-based management actions.
4. Working with other State, Federal, and Local agencies to develop and implement policies that support nature-based strategies.

The newly created Nature-Based Strategies Section is seeking to recruit an Air Pollution Specialist (APS) position through this announcement. CARB is seeking a leader with experience and expertise in remote sensing, geospatial programming, and landscape ecology. This position will serve as a remote sensing and geospatial processing expert to help fulfill the section’s responsibilities, as listed above.

Duties include serving as an expert in space-based remote sensing, geospatial big-data processing, and landscape ecology. The APS (Landscape Remote Sensing Scientist) will assist in the development of new data products to track ecosystem change through time. These data products include carbon stocks, greenhouse gas fluxes, and other environmental metrics where appropriate. The APS will lead or assist in generating validation, calibration, and initial condition data, maps and time-series for future projection modeling of California ecosystems performed by other members of the section. The remote sensing scientist will independently, and along with other partners and contractors, develop workflows and analyses to assess spatiotemporal environmental change and attribute that change to causes. The selected candidate will also assist with other technical and policy analyses including quantifying the costs, benefits, and equity implications of NWL policies and climate action. Additionally, the candidate will identify research needs that advance CARB’s understanding of cutting-edge issues in natural and working lands. The candidate will engage and collaborate with relevant stakeholders including, but not limited to, public agencies, research institutions, equity stakeholders, industry, and other CARB staff, management, and executive leadership teams. The candidate will work with other public agencies and contractors on complex joint projects. The candidate must understand the complexities of ecosystems and have a desire to use that knowledge for crafting polices and land management strategies that will change the way in which California’s lands are managed. The candidate will incorporate into their work the social equity implications of NWL policies and be able to develop strategies to ensure California's most disadvantaged and low-income communities benefit from such policies.

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement.

Candidates should have the legal right to work in the US, but do not have to be US citizens.

Before applying, candidates must take the Air Pollution Specialist “Exam.” The exam is a self-assessment to determine experience in and exposure to relevant fields; it does not include technical questions.  Exam-takers should consider all professional or academic experience that counts towards relevant experience. The exam can be taken online any time, and prospective applicants who are not currently on the Air Pollution Specialist eligibility list are encouraged to take the exam prior to applying for this position. Interested candidates can reach out to the hiring manager with any questions about the exam.

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement.

Working Conditions

This position may be eligible for hybrid in-office work and in-state telework. The amount of telework is at the agency's discretion and is based on the California Air Resource Boards' (CARB) current telework policy. While the CARB may support telework, some in-person attendance is also required. 

The positions at the CARB may be eligible for telework with in-person attendance based on the operational needs of the position under Government Code 14200 for eligible applicants residing in California, subject to the candidate meeting telework eligibility criteria outlined in the CalEPA telework policy and/or future program need. Employees not residing in California are not eligible for telework. Regardless of hybrid telework eligibility, all employees may be required to report to the position’s designated headquarters location at their own expense, as indicated on their duty statement.

• Position located in a high-rise building.
• Requires being stationary, consistent with office work, for extended periods.
• Standard office environment (artificial lighting, controlled temperature, etc.)  
• Daily use of a personal computer, office equipment, and/or telephone.
• Telework availability may be updated in the future to reflect business needs.