Tl;dr

We are looking for a Crop Modeling Analyst with demonstrated ability to analyze input and output files generated from process based models. This role will require robust crop modeling experience to aid in troubleshooting modeling outputs and the quality assurance of the Nori enrollment process. 

Summary of Nori

Nori is a startup founded in October 2017 with the mission to enable global engagement to reverse climate change via carbon removal. By providing a marketplace where anyone in the world can pay for and get paid for removing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, Nori acts as a financial mechanism that will create new opportunities for climate innovation and carbon removal. 

We’re upgrading on the carbon offset space. Historically carbon offsets have been mired with opacity which then leads to a lack of confidence and trust in what projects are supported. Additionally, most carbon offsets (95%) represent paying someone to do less of a bad thing, i.e. mitigating emissions.

Nori is different in three key ways. First, Nori only supports carbon removal, or carbon sequestration, which is the only method that can actually reverse/negate carbon emissions. Second, Nori is the only platform with an end-to-end marketplace of credits. Because we work directly with project owners who “supply carbon removal”, maintain the retirement of carbon removal credits, and track this all on the blockchain, Nori is providing a transparent and credible way to pay for carbon removal directly from suppliers with no price markups. Lastly, with Nori’s API, businesses can offer environmental action and engagement directly to their customers at check-out or in-app, and immediately provide information on the project they supported, with immediate creation of certificates with the customers name on it. 

We highly recommend that you review the information about Nori and its team before applying to this position at https://nori.com/careers.

Learning a bit about Nori will help you to assess whether or not our mission aligns with your values. 

Who You’ll Work With

As our Crop Modeling Analyst, you will be part of the Supply and Methodology team and report  to the Agriculture Supply Lead. However, you will also work closely with the Product Team, led by the Head of Engineering. 

Both of these teams function a little bit differently, but they work hand in hand with each other to create an inventory of verified carbon removals that can be sold through our marketplace. 

The Supply & Methodology Team

The Supply Team works with Nori Suppliers: anyone who can verifiably remove and store CO2 from the atmosphere. The Methodology Team works on developing the requirements for how projects are enrolled (see current methodology). Both teams report to the Head of Supply and Methodology. As Nori’s current focus is on our Croplands Methodology, the Supply Team is working with farmers as well as the partners and companies around them to enroll croplands into the Nori market. Additionally, Nori will be doing two things coming up: creating a repeatable framework for adding new methodologies, and adding those actual methodologies to the marketplace. Improving the current methodology, developing analytical tools and digging (no pun intended) into the data is where you will come in. 

The Product Team 

The Product Team is responsible for delivery and operation of the Nori marketplace, supply-side enrollment app, marketing website, and any of the technical/software/data aspects of Nori’s work.  The Product Team works with the other teams—Supply, Sales, and Communications—to support business development needs. 

Five Key Aspects of the Role

• Process development— You will have robust crop modeling experience and will be responsible for identifying  ways that we can streamline our troubleshooting and QA process of our model outputs through programming.
• Curiosity— A desire to learn about many new things in a short period of time. This person must be a self-starter who finds opportunities to learn about the latest and greatest in carbon removal while also searching for the best academic research that supports those  methods.
• Agronomic crop modeling— You will be running test scenarios through process based models to understand the impacts of different agronomic rotations and helping with sensitivity analysis of the models for the impact of creating Nori Removal Tonnes (NRTs).
• Collaboration and communication— We’re a cross-functional team. We communicate with one another clearly, openly, and always in the spirit of supporting each other's work. We enjoy regular collaboration and look for unique points of view to push our work forward. 
• Acting with the end in mind—  Much of this role will be in the weeds of our process based modeling approach to carbon quantification. While you’ll be spending a lot of time sorting through complex output files, you are the type of person who understands that work such as this is the foundation for scaling carbon markets in a scientifically robust manner. 

You’ll Be Responsible For… 

• Technical assistance to the Supply Team of troubleshooting crop model output files
• Analyzing input and output files that inform our carbon quantification approach
• Developing processes for streamlining our troubleshooting and QA 
• Running test scenarios to understand the impacts of different soil types and farming operations on soil organic carbon stock changes
• Working with the Supply Product Manager and the Product Team to elaborate and implement improvements to Nori’s supply enrollment process and tooling

Must-haves 

• Experience calibrating and validating crop models to understand environmental impacts of agronomic rotations. Bonus if this work was also done in industry
• Familiar with conventional agriculture agronomics
• Experience with DayCent or other crop models such as DSSAT, APSIM, SALAS
• Proficiency in programming language such as Python, SQL, R, and / or typescript/javascript
• 1-3 years of experience in a similar position

Nice to haves

• Life cycle analysis experience
• Data visualization experience
• Experience working in a startup environment 

You’ll be a good culture fit here if you can...

• Handle a steep learning curve
• Work with abstract ideas and requirements to create something more concrete
• Develop processes with a focus on continuous improvement
• Stay playful and light without taking things too seriously or personally
• Limit work in progress and stay focused on the current goal

Key challenges in this role

Agricultural understanding in academia is quite different from agricultural understanding for the farmer. This role will be translating the scientific principles of the modeling we use to back our NRTs to our product in a way that fits the needs of our farmers and suppliers. At Nori, we are trying to get it right, not be right. There is a lot of ambiguity in what we’re building, and it’ll be up to you to work with the appropriate stakeholders to sort through all the concerns and ensure we’re still hitting our deliverables.  

Join us on our mission to reverse climate change

By joining Nori at this time, you’ll help to shape our culture and help us to grow the company we hope to become. You’ll be helping us to solve some of the biggest challenges when it comes to creating a marketplace for carbon removal, from teamwork to technical implementations. You’ll learn a lot about the environment and carbon removal. 

 What’s in it for you

• Four weeks paid time off, increases to five weeks after your first year. Plus holidays. Taking time off is essential, and we want you to recharge in whatever ways you see fit.
• Unlimited sick leave.
• Full medical, dental, vision benefits covered for you and dependents. It’s a great plan with a very low deductible. With an insurance company called Premera that is beloved in the Seattle region.
• Stock options.
• NORI tokens, proportional to the stock options.

Additional requirements for this position

This position will be located in Seattle, WA in our Ballard office. We are an office-centric culture with flexibility around remote work and daily schedules.

The expected salary range for this role is between $78,300 to $108,900, depending on experience. We use detailed benchmarking tools to establish salary and equity offers, and everyone at the company is paid in the 55th percentile for their experience and role. For this reason, we’re transparent about what we can pay you, and we don’t negotiate on compensation.

How to apply to join our team as our Crop Modeling Analyst

Please fill out the form below. Once submitted, you can expect to hear back from our team in the coming weeks.

Please note that this opportunity does not provide visa sponsorship.

Thank you in advance for your time!