Solafune Inc.

Solafune is a Japanese tech company providing a satellite/geospatial data analysis platform, hosting global competitions for developers to solve real-world problems (agriculture, disaster, urban planning, resources) using satellite imagery, and offering API access for data-driven solutions, with a mission to "Hack The Planet" and build a sustainable future. They enable quick development of solutions for social & business challenges (B2G, B2B) like illegal mining, traffic monitoring, and environmental sensing through their platform and data science contest.

Homepage: https://company.solafune.com/

This role sits at the intersection of geospatial research and engineering for mid-level candidates who seek continuous learning in a startup environment. Success in this role means delivering reliable geospatial analytics that move from research to production and are actively used by customers.

Responsibilities

• Develop new technologies for R&D projects using satellite data and Python
• Design and implement satellite-data processing pipelines (ingestion → analytics → storage)
• Translate research ideas into scalable, production-ready systems
• Develop geospatial models (e.g. change detection, classification, forecasting)
• Build and deliver high-quality presentations, reports, and recommendations to management

Required Skills

• Ph.D. in a given discipline OR equivalent level of work experience and skills with a degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI, Physics, Mathematics (negotiable)
• Research experience, preferrably with a focus on geospatial information or remote sensing
• Solid programming experience with Python (typically 2-5 years)
• Experience in working with satellite data, geospatial data (e.g. Rasterio, PyStack, GeoPandas, Shapely)
• Experience with geospatial data formats and tools (GeoTIFF, COG, STAC, GDAL)
• Experience with SQL and database management (PostgreSQL, PostGIS)
• Experience in AI, Machine Learning, Computer Vision (e.g. scikit-learn, scikit-image, TensorFlow, PyTorch), or a related field is preferable
• Strong analytical thinking, problem-solving skills, and the ability to work independently

Great if you also have:

• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure)
• Experience in MLOps or DevOps, but not essential
• Experience building interactive data applications or dashboards (e.g. Dash/Plotly, Streamlit) is a strong advantage
• Engineering practices, or a habit of writing clean, maintainable code
• Strong interest or experience in remote sensing and ground monitoring

Tools

• Geospatial & remote sensing: GDAL, Rasterio, STAC, COG, PostGIS
• Cloud service platform: AWS, Azure, GCP
• Data & ML: NumPy, GeoPandas, Pandas, scikit-learn / PyTorch / TensorFlow
• Systems: Docker, APIs
• Database: PostgreSQL, PostGIS
• Collaboration: Github, Slack, Notion
• GIS tools like QGIS
• AI tools: Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, etc.

Benefits

• Diverse and inclusive culture
• Remote work (100%) possible, depending on your experience and location (preferrably APAC region)
• Visa for Japan is possible, based on experience and performance, and after the trial period (3 months)