Remote Vegetation Ecologist

June 5, 2026

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Title Remote Vegetation Ecologist

BELONG. CONNECT. GROW. with KBR.

Around here, we define the future. We are a company of innovators, thinkers, creators, explorers, volunteers, and dreamers. But we all share one goal: to improve the world responsibly and safely.

KBR’s Science and Space division is seeking a Vegetation Ecologist to support our Technical Support Services Contract (TSSC) at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation & Science (EROS) Center (http://eros.usgs.gov/) near Sioux Falls, SD (http://www.siouxfalls.org).

The primary focus of this position is to process and manipulate spatially referenced data to update maps of existing vegetation type, cover, and height for the United States to support the USGS EROS Center’s Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) Program. This position works with the existing team to process and analyze raster and vector data as well as other databases to assist in keeping vegetation after disturbance up to date and creating fire regime products which support fire and landscape management planning.

Responsibilities

Produce vegetation maps including Vegetation Type, Cover, and Height
Serve as Subject Matter Expert for vegetation products
Understand the inner workings of data sources, production processes, and steps taken for producing vegetation maps
Perform accuracy assessments on map products using cross-validation, regressions, and other standardized testing methods
Investigate ways to improve existing production methods and work with team of scientists to innovate new ways to map vegetation through trials and iteration
Create Python scripts to produce geospatial data products
Work with technologies such as ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, Jupyter Notebooks,

Required Education/Experience Candidates must meet the requirements listed below to be considered for this position; please note required items on your resume.

This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a national agency check and background investigation after hire to obtain credentials for facility access and user accounts.
Must have a minimum 3-year residency in the United States
Education: Advanced Degree or equivalent experience in remote sensing, ecology, landscape ecology, forestry, or other relevant field
Years of Experience: Must have minimum 5 years of recent and related work experience in ecology and knowledge with plant community dynamics across the landscape
Fundamental knowledge of vegetation and land cover mapping using supervised classification of raster products
Strong background in GIS analysis and data processing for land cover mapping
Experience using ground observation in conjunction with remotely sensed data such as satellite and lidar to generate models for vegetation mapping
Expertise in remote sensing, computer programming, and raster product generation
Thorough understanding of a wide range of ecosystems and dominant species characteristics across the United States including trees, shrubs, and herbaceous vegetation
Strong interpersonal communication, technical writing, editing and presentation skills and an advanced knowledge of Microsoft office tools for reporting and documentation of processes and procedures

Preferred Education/Experience

Highly skilled in processing geospatial frameworks using ArcGIS/ArcPro
Experience with Python, R, or other common computer programming languages
Experience with Classification and Regression Tree (CART) models for predicting landscape-level vegetation cover, height, and type such as See5, Random Forest or XGBoost
Experience with vegetation classification for categorizing species data and mapping vegetation such as Ecological Systems and National Vegetation Classification System
Basic knowledge of land cover mapping methods for differentiating open water, natural barren (rock/sand), agriculture, development, and other human-made features
Good understanding of typical field data collection methods such as areal cover estimates and point-transect sampling

WORK LOCATION This position supports a coordinated team across multiple locations and offers either remote work status or a hybrid remote – onsite schedule; some travel may be required. Standard Kbr Requirements All of KBR’s employee’s must be team players, able to communicate effectively with internal and external customers, able to follow safety and quality policies, able to follow company programs, processes, pro

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