Applied Scientist – Forest Lidar & 3D ML

Sylvera helps organisations make confident decisions in carbon and commodity markets. We independently assess the quality of carbon projects, track market pricing and supply signals, and provide geospatial and carbon intensity data — giving our clients the clarity they need to invest in real climate action. We're a team of 130+ scientists, engineers, and market experts based across London, New York, São Paulo, Singapore, and Tokyo. Our work spans market intelligence, geospatial analytics, multi-scale lidar research, and policy analysis. We partner with governments and policymakers to raise the bar for transparency and rigour across carbon markets.

We’re looking for a mission-driven Applied Scientist – forest lidar & 3D ML to join our Earth Analytics (EA) team. In this role, you will principally tackle a fundamental research challenge within a high‑impact commercial setting: automating the segmentation of individual trees from complex terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds. This work will directly impact and power Sylvera’s unique Biomass Atlas product, which is being widely adopted for carbon accounting applications throughout carbon markets. You will have exclusive access to our world‑leading ground‑truth, labeled dataset of 3D forest point clouds collected from forests around the world.

Specific responsibilities:

• Develop, train, and deploy 3D deep learning models (e.g., sparse convolutions, PointNet, TreeLearn or other similar architectures) to automate tree instance segmentation and Quantitative Structure Model generation.
• Translate experimental ML research into robust, reproducible code, working closely with our production engineering team to deploy models at scale.
• Collaborate with field teams and scientists to ensure model outputs align with biological reality and accurately capture complex forest structures.
• Take full ownership of an open applied research problem — scoping, prototyping, and iterating quickly to find solutions where no guaranteed blueprint exists.
• Work in the lidar team to improve existing data products and methods to more efficiently undertake existing and ongoing manual segmentation and quality assurance.
• Beyond segmentation, work with the wider EA team to solve other complex technical challenges involving point cloud and geospatial data, e.g., retrieving metrics characterising forest structure from high‑density aerial lidar, forest carbon modeling, uncertainty quantification, and automated tree species recognition.

We’re looking for someone who:

• Has deep expertise in 3D point cloud processing and machine learning applied to 3D spatial data.
• Is highly proficient in Python and the modern spatial/lidar software stack (e.g., PDAL, laspy, Open3D).
• Brings domain knowledge in forest ecology.
• Cares deeply about the climate and ecosystems of the earth.
• Is a self‑starter who thrives in constantly evolving environments, ideally with early‑stage experience.

We’d like someone highly ambitious, motivated and eager to propel their career forward. We prioritise grit, positivity, and the willingness to get stuck in, and encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't exactly match this job description.

Benefits:

• Equity in a rapidly growing startup.
• Private health insurance and life assurance.
• Unlimited annual leave – and encouragement to actually use it.
• Enhanced parental leave.
• Up to 20 days paid sick leave.
• No corners cut in providing the best tech for your work.
• Access to mental health support.
• Monthly team socials.

Location: London, Old Street. We work flexibly but encourage people to come to the office regularly, especially for 1‑2‑1 meetings, retrospectives, and divisional meetings.

Our values:

• Own it – we make mistakes, learn from them, and build on our wins.
• Stay curious – we adopt a growth mindset towards our work, customers, and market opportunities.
• Do what’s right, even when it’s hard – we focus on the long‑term, accepting short‑term challenges.
• Collaborate with empathy – we deliver through active collaboration, invest in each other’s success, and strengthen the company long‑term.
• Empower customers – we strive to exceed expectations, helping to direct investment into real climate impact.

Equal employment opportunity: Sylvera is an equal‑opportunity employer: we value diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.