The Company:

We are working with a first of it's kind soil probes are handheld devices packed with over a dozen sensors and a spectrometer, used to capture soil data in unprecedented resolution. The devices run primarily Python code on an embedded raspberry pi. The devices need to detect very small changes in soil properties, so sensor data fidelity and accuracy are paramount, as well as ensuring consistency across devices.

There are already a few prototype devices deployed with a field team this fall, with a few dozen planned for deployment next year. This role brings the opportunity to grow a project from prototype to a smoothly operating and maintainable machine. You will immediately be responsible for supporting and expanding the capabilities of in-field devices, monitoring and improving sensor data quality and calibrations, and working with the hardware team to design the next generation of devices. You will eventually need to manage data and software across a large number of deployed devices.

This is a remote-first company with cofounders in Oakland, Chicago, and Boston, but prefer the hardware team (including this job) to be based in the SF Bay area. The hardware team is currently centered in Oakland, CA and they will open a hardware-focused lab here in the future.

The Role:

In this role, you will lead on-device software development. You are responsible for making sure our little handheld carbon-measuring devices operate reliably and intuitively, ensuring they collect high-quality data, and delivering that data to our data science team. You will work closely with our mechanical and electrical engineers, data scientists, and field teams who are using (and occasionally breaking) the device. You should be excited about having climate impact, working on small, creative teams, and getting hands-on with dirty hardware.

• Owning device software development and sensor data delivery
• Deploying and managing software on a fleet of deployed devices
• Delivering high-quality, calibrated sensor data to data science team
• Creating and maintaining software for working with the soil probes.
• Play a key role in development of a novel carbon measurement technology
• Writing low-level drivers to integrate new sensors
• Collecting user feedback to improve device usability and user joy
• Working with data science team to ensure data quality
• Working with mechanical and electrical engineers to develop next-generation devices

About you:

• 3+ years relevant experience
• Competency with Python
• Experience building and maintaining Linux-based hardware
• Familiarity with sensor data collection and calibration
• Value generosity, honesty, accountability, diversity, and curiosity!
• Passion for having climate impact
• Enthusiasm to learn, teach, and collaborate

Bonus Qualifications

• Data engineering or machine learning experience
• Experience targeting a Raspberry Pi
• Experience developing for remote systems
• Experience with spectroscopic data
• Familiarity working at the software/hardware interface (I2C-connected devices, power management, reading schematics)