Maven Exploitation Specialist/ Imagery Scientist (EO Focused) Expert

Job Duties

• Integrate emerging sensors and platforms into existing Maven or G going through their experimentation/pre-IOC (Initial Operating Capability) phase prior to final full operational status.
• Develop pipelines and relevant data structures to incorporate new sensor source into existing data workflows.
• Conduct assessment of potential differences between new sensor characteristics and capabilities compared to currently utilized platforms.
• Assess potential differences in metadata, data format, and data structure characteristics in regards to changes to databases, schemas, APIs, and other ETL related processes for the ingestion and movement of data when integrating into the existing data operations pipeline.
• Determine how to acquire new data, potential latency associated with acquisition, data formats, and security domains.
• Determine how to pre-process and standardize the data to match existing data standards or to be transformed into a usable state for labeling and model development purposes. This may involve converting between file format types or tiling full-size images into specified sizes or geospatial bounds.
• Investigate any gaps in the emerging sensor capability that may need to be supplemented by other sources.
• Collaborate with SAR Imagery Scientist to provide coincident EO imagery. Provided EO coincident imagery should align with the areas and temporal windows of emerging sensor's collection.
• Develop and implement mathematical conversion models to transform data labels from multiple imagery types (e.g., PNG, NITF), as well as between orthorectified and non-orthorectified imagery.
• Develop methods to execute tiling and pre-processing of full-size raw imagery into specified sizes and data formats (e.g., PNG) while maintaining metadata and data integrity.
• Develop and implement mathematical conversion models to transform pre-processed tiles between image types and generate tiles with specified, precise geospatial boundaries. These methods should account for orthorectification and other geospatial aspects to ensure edges of the tile remain geospatially accurate. Generate tiles from full-size image collects that match specific pixel dimensions or geospatial boundaries.
• Analyze and assess image quality and sensor metadata to make recommendations and curate imagery acquisition in alignment with Government directed priorities. Experience in NIIRS, information theoretic-based image quality metrics, and sensor metadata describing impacts of geometry on phenomenology.
• Execute day-to-day management of all imagery curation, acquisition, and pre-processing of imagery, such as image tiling, generation of pre-labels (i.e., labels generated from intelligence reporting, machine-derived observation, human observation, or other method that indicates the geospatial location and classification of an object according to a defined ontology used to tip and cue human labelers to an object of interest), and converting between file types in accordance with NGA Maven data strategies.
• Manage daily imagery operations including: Curation, acquisition, and pre-processing activities, Image tiling and file type conversion, Generation of pre-labels derived from: Intelligence reporting, Machine-derived observations, Human observations, other methods identifying geospatial location and object classification. Pre-labels must conform to defined ontology standards and serve to tip and cue human labelers to objects of interest.
• Provide EO imagery coincident with any SAR delivered imagery within a specified geographic and temporal range.
• Provide EO imagery coincident with any SAR delivered imagery within a specified geographic and temporal range.
• Identify methods to curate imagery according to Government directed prioritization. Examples of curation methods include using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to extract information from Intelligence Reporting, develop automated or semi-automated machine-based technologies to maximize likelihood of imagery with objects of interest or connect to intelligence repositories via API.
• Monitor and prioritize data holdings to support data diversity needs defined by the Government (e.g., different geographic regions, temporal windows, metadata characteristics, scene characteristics, image sensor platforms).
• Oversee weekly deliveries of processed imagery and conduct ad-hoc deliveries as needed for quick-tum operations support.

Education/Experience

• 4+ years as an EO expert with understanding of collection, phenomenology, image formation process, and exploitation products.
• Exhibit experience exploiting the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g., electro-optical) to determine the occurrence and location of objects of interest.
• Exhibit experience developing, testing, and evaluating new algorithms, processes, methodologies, and products using EO imagery including experience utilizing advanced processing tools (e.g., Python, MATLAB, Google Earth Engine, etc.) to automate scientific processes of EO imagery data to aid analysis.
• Exhibit experience communicating with a variety of technical and non-technical audiences on availability and capabilities of EO imagery products, methodologies, procedures, and algorithms to enhance analysis.
• Exhibit a deep understanding of the principles of remote sensing and imagery processing and advanced exploitation methods.

Desired Skills

• Exhibit experience applying CV and machine learning (ML) techniques to EO imagery and data to address intelligence problems.