Indigo Ag transforms on-farm regenerative agricultural practices into durable new revenue streams for farmers and agribusinesses, creating a more resilient world with thriving farmers and more sustainable and environmentally prosperous companies. Since 2013, Indigo’s mission has revolved around three key principles:

• Helping farmers enhance their profitability and soil health

• Improving the quantity, quality, and traceability of the food available to consumers

• Protecting the environment by reducing and removing harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by storing it in agricultural soils, while incentivizing sustainable land stewardship practices from large corporations

Our people build partnerships, lead the science, and engineer the technology to help grow the future of sustainable agriculture. The only way to achieve it is through a unique combination of expertise – from Fortune 500 to academia, soil science and agriculture, to tech start-ups.

About the Role

The Science & Modeling team connects advancements in science and research with quantification methodologies at scale through deeply cross disciplinary work. It includes ecosystem modelers, data scientists, and remote sensing experts. We define the science requirements behind high-quality carbon credits and scope 3 emissions reporting to help farmers get paid for sustainable practices, collaborate with scientists across academia and industry, and work on world class data sets and experiments to advance the science around sustainability and agriculture.

To quantify impact rigorously and cost effectively we collect data on farming practices, remote sensing, and other data sources that we combine with direct measurement data to model and analyze GHG and soil carbon outcomes and other sustainability attributes. We are using science, agriculture, data, technology, and software engineering to fight climate change and support grower success when making sustainability-driven decisions. This role is responsible for the scientific foundation of our technology platform and reports to the VP of Product and Data.

As a Principal Sustainability Scientist at Indigo, you will:

• Manage a team of scientists and provide thought leadership for soil carbon and GHG emissions modeling activities within Indigo.

• Oversee the scientific and technical reporting for Indigo’s Scope 3 programs.

• Provide hands on scientific review and interpretation of quantification results to drive high quality reporting.

• Provide expert guidance on expansion of Indigo’s quantification platform to new agroecosystems, management practices, and geographies.

• Serve as a scientific partner for the Policy Team to ensure our quantification platform is aligned with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Land Sector and Removals Guidance in accounting for and reporting emissions and removals from land management.

• Collaborate with engineers, data scientists, policy experts, agronomists, and commercial team members to optimize our quantification platform to support requirements for Carbon credit and Scope 3 programs.

• Contribute thoughtful business recommendations using effective communication of findings (through synthesis and visualization of quantitative information).

• Communicate findings to the scientific community through presentations and peer-reviewed journals.

• Support and enhance a team culture that values inquiry, scientific curiosity and rigor, and care for each other.

You might be a good fit if you:

• Are an expert in ecosystem modeling and have a track record of intellectual contributions (PhD in ecosystem science, soil science, agricultural science or a related discipline providing experience in biogeochemical modeling and 5+ years of experience working in a professional environment)

• Have experience operating in a business setting and performing cost/benefit analyses

• Have experience with one or more soil biogeochemical models (DNDC, DayCent, RothC, etc.)

• Skilled in translating outcomes from complex analyses into interpretable results, both visually and verbally. Can communicate key findings and the ‘so-what’ to a non-technical audience

• Stay current on the latest scientific findings and can translate results from the literature to inform business decisions

• Are an experienced people manager who can balance individual technical contributions with management.

• Proficient with modern web technologies and project management software (e.g., Jira, Confluence)

• Comfortable in SQL and reading Python

• Enjoy collaborating across multiple disciplines, including commercial, product, design, engineering and data science

• Are detail-oriented with strong documentation skills

• Energized by tackling challenging, complex problems. Solution oriented mindset

• Know how to communicate and manage in a remote-first environment

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced and highly dynamic environment

How We'll Take Care of You

• Base salary of $175,000 - $194,000 annually

• Equity options & annual cash incentives

• Generous paid time off, including Flexible Time Off, 5 sick days, and 12 annual company holidays as well as one week between Christmas and New Year’s for a company-wide annual break, parental leave, and bereavement leave.

• Robust wellness benefits for employees and their eligible dependents including medical, dental, vision, mental health, and basic life and disability insurance

• Optional benefits available include Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Health Savings Account (HSA), identity protection, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance

• 401K savings plan

Pay Transparency Statement

Indigo is committed to competitive and equitable pay for all employees. The listed pay range for this role is a good faith estimate of the hiring range for this position. Compensation offered will be determined based on several factors including an individual’s experience, qualifications, and geographic location.

Benefits Statement

All regular, full-time, permanent employees who work 30 hours or more each week are eligible to enroll in Indigo’s benefits. Additionally, all full-time employees and some parttime employees are eligible for paid time off as outlined above. Based on their role, employees may also be eligible to receive long-term equity incentives and annual cash incentives.

At Indigo Ag, we understand that talent is not a one-size-fits-all. We want candidates who are passionate about our mission and aligned with our Core Values. That’s why we encourage you to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements listed above. So let us know what skills you bring to the table and how you will add to our culture!