Geospatial Data Engineer
National Digital Twin for Australian Agriculture
About ASII
The Australasian Space Innovation Institute (ASII) is an independent, enduring, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to scaling the impact of space innovation nationally and across the Australasian region. At the ASII, we are building technologies that will enhance digital infrastructure to transform agriculture, mining, defence, climate resilience, and community safety, all with the ultimate goal of serving the public good and advancing the national interest.
About the program
The Australasian Space Innovation Institute (ASII) is building a national Digital Twin for agriculture: a shared platform that uses satellite imagery, AI, and geospatial data to transform how agricultural research is designed, tested, delivered and adopted by the industry at scale.
Agriculture in Australia is a $100B+ industry spanning beef, grains, horticulture, dairy, and more. Today, research and innovation depend on expensive, time-consuming field trials, and each industry body builds its own separate digital tools in isolation.
ASII is changing that model. We are building a common platform through which research from any agricultural program can be developed, virtually tested, validated, and delivered to advisors and agronomists: a shared R&D engine for Australian agriculture, powered by satellite data and AI.
At its core, the Digital Twin is a virtual replica of the Australian farming landscape. It pulls in satellite imagery, weather data, soil information, and farm records into a single environment. Researchers run "what if" simulations, testing a disease management strategy or fertiliser approach across thousands of virtual paddocks before a single field trial begins. Research modules will be designed as reusable, pluggable products: a disease detection algorithm built for beef producers can be adapted for grain farmers without rebuilding from scratch.
Building on the capability of SmartSat CRC, ASII's first program is a partnership with Meat & Livestock Australia. The platform is being built from day one to serve multiple industries and commodities.
Purpose of this role
The national Digital Twin needs someone who can build and keep running the EO data pipelines, spatial databases, AI/ML model infrastructure, and cloud DevOps that make it real. You are the person who turns the architecture into a working system — and keeps it operational as the program scales across commodities and industries.
You will be responsible for developing the software platform as the technical backbone of a small, highly capable team working at the frontier of EO data engineering, spatial AI, and cloud-scale virtual R&D.
If you want to work on problems that don't have off-the-shelf solutions, with direct access to rare EO + agriculture + AI expertise, and with a flexible, remote-friendly arrangement, this role was built for you.
What you will do
Build and maintain EO data ingestion pipelines for satellite imagery and other geospatial layers, from raw acquisition through to Analysis-Ready Data, catalogued via STAC
Design and operate spatial ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) workflows: Python spatial libraries (GDAL, Rasterio, GeoPandas), PostGIS database operations, and spatial data integration using FME or Apache Camel
Deploy, version, and maintain containerised AI/ML models: packaging trained models (PyTorch, scikit-learn) in Docker, registering them in MLflow, and making them redeployable without rebuilding
Build and maintain the MLOps pipeline: model versioning, automated retraining triggers, performance monitoring, and integration with the scenario execution environment
Configure and manage cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, or potentially NECTAR Research Cloud): Kubernetes clusters, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and cloud DevOps best practices
Maintain version-controlled code repositories (GitHub/GitLab), automated testing frameworks, and deployment pipelines from day one
Configure modelling environments (Python/Jupyter/cloud) for virtual R&D scenario runs and ingest validated models into the DT environment
Integrate external tools, datasets, and partner data systems into the DT via OGC service layers and standardised REST APIs
Work under the Geospatial Systems Architect during the design phase, then operate the platform independently as the permanent technical lead once the architecture engagement ends
Qualifications
A degree in Geography, Geospatial Science, Computer Science, Spatial Information Systems, or a related field is well regarded. Equivalent professional experience will be given equal consideration. What matters is what you have built.
How to apply
Complete the form below and submit a CV and a covering letter (no more than four pages).
Use your covering letter to describe your skills and experience against the Required and Desirable criteria above. Please include examples of specific pipelines or spatial data systems you have built, what the data sources were, the technical challenges you navigated, how you handled model deployment or DevOps, and how the system has held up in production.
Applications close 4 May 2026.
Any enquiries should be directed to Fabrice Marre who can be contacted via email at: Fabrice.Marre@smartsatcrc.com