Job Description:
Balancing the needs of fire adapted communities with the requirements of resilient wildlands is
an exercise in tradeoffs. The cultivation of data and application of science into strategic
frameworks that enable tradeoff consensus is critical for ecosystem planning through
treatments. However, we are out of time. Many of our wildlands are at a tipping point and
traditional multi-jurisdictional planning and monitoring isn’t currently efficient or adaptable
enough to keep up with the rates of change we are all experiencing. Vibrant Planet’s Land
Tender, with USDA’s FORSYS engine embedded, is an optimized decision support system for
hazard mitigation and ecological restoration across all natural systems so we can help
communities and managers get to implementation fast and effectively adapt those plans when
conditions inevitably change. We need additional talent for Land Tender’s growing demand.
A significant portion of Land Tender’s behind-the-scenes calculations depend on wildfire
hazard modeling. As a basis for fire modeling, the development of calibrated, current
fuelscapes is a crucial step in improving Land Tender assessments.
We are seeking an experienced, technically skilled, and motivated individual with great
attention to detail to help Vibrant Planet’s Resilience Group and Pyrologix team develop,
improve, and further automate fuelscapes required by Land Tender, some general spatial
analytical support, or other duties as assigned. While the position is mostly virtual, some travel
may be required. The majority of this work occurs in the western United States, but software
deployment opportunities may occur across the world.
Responsibilities:
● Improve fuelscape calibration across the nation, and potentially develop fuelscapes
internationally
● Contribute to further development of fuelscape automation
● Perform spatial and temporal data analysis
● Develop geospatial data and modeling frameworks
● Adhere to data standards and naming conventions, maintain and update metadata
● Incorporate data quality assurance and quality control
● Document methodology and contribute to reports
● Contribute to proposal development for new business opportunities
Required Qualifications:
● Knowledge of surface fuel models, such as the Scott and Burgan Standard 40 Fire
Behavior Fuel Models (FBFM40), experience with practical applications preferred
● Strong background in GIS applications and principles
● Enjoys complex, multi-disciplinary problem-solving and has excellent attention to detail
● Ability to learn new concepts quickly
● Excellent communication skills (oral, written)
Preferred Qualifications:
● Experience with fuelscape vegetation and fuels datasets, such as datasets produced by
LANDFIRE’s vegetation team and fuels team. Some examples of these datasets include:
Existing Vegetation Type (EVT), Fuels Vegetation Cover (FVC), Canopy Cover (CC), Canopy
Base Height (CBH), and Fuel Disturbance (FDist).
● Experience working in wildfire sciences and/or management, such as incident response,
fuels management, fire research, etc.
● Experience with Python geospatial libraries such as GeoPandas, Rasterio, Shapely, GDAL,
and ArcPy with the ability to utilize existing Python scripts and to contribute to the
enhancement and automation of fuelscape processing.
Desired Qualifications:
● Familiarity with land management and wildfire decision support datasets, models,
software, and workflows. For example, LANDFIRE, USFS Forest Service Activity Tracking
System (FACTS), DOI National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System (NFPORS),
FlamMap, Nexus, WindNinja, FSim, Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support System
(IFTDSS), Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS), Google Earth Engine.
● Familiarity with the geospatial requirements for forest treatment implementation and
understanding of fuel reduction planning, post-fire restoration, treatment implementation,
and monitoring challenges.
● Familiarity with processing remote sensing datasets such as LiDAR, NAIP, and LANDSAT.
● Understanding of ecology in dry forests and Mediterranean environments and ecological
forest management; ability to effectively communicate concepts to lay audiences.
● Familiarity with policies related to procedures for environmental review and impact
analysis, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, California Environmental Quality
Act, etc.
Duty Requirements:
● Full time, year-round employment
● Virtual position with an operational independent/home office with sufficient internet
speeds
Compensation:
● $80-130k base salary (dependent on experience)
Benefits:
● Health insurance
● Unlimited PTO policy
● 401k w/future match
● Company equity
● Home office set-up allowance (one time)
Equal Opportunity Employer:
Vibrant Planet is committed to diversity. We encourage applicants from all cultures, races,
colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation,
gender identity, military, or other status protected by law to apply.
We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may come
from a less traditional background, but have capacity to grow into and thrive in the position
after some mentoring. We do not require that you have experience with every job description
task. We will consider any equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and
experience to meet minimum qualifications. We encourage each candidate to think broadly
about their unique background and skill set and how it may relate to the role.
Applications:
Please submit a resume (2 pages maximum) and cover letter (2 pages maximum) as a single
PDF and responses to the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities questions using this Google Form.
This form will accept responses until the posting has received 10 qualified applicants or until
December 11, 2023, whichever comes first. Interviews will be held beginning in January 2024
and the position target start date is in early February