Staff Engineer (Contract - 6 Months) | Overstory (2024)

Working to solve our climate crisis is the most important mission of our time, and the most exciting problem to be working on. Overstory’s mission is to help solve our climate crisis by providing real-time intelligence about the planet’s vegetation. In our first step toward this mission, we are applying machine learning to satellite imagery to track forests and vegetation. Today, we proudly partner with 40+ leading utilities worldwide, including 4 of the top 10 US utilities, to help reduce wildfire risk and increase grid reliability to prevent power outages.

We have already proven our business model and we’re all united behind our ambitious vision to scale up this model to help humanity and the planet. We closed a $14 million Series A, led by B Capitaland welcomingThe Nature Conservancy to our collective of climate-minded investors. This milestone includes additional investment and continued support from Convective Capital,Semapa Next,Bentley iTwin Ventures,Pale blue dot,CapitalT,Moxxie Ventures, andOverwater Ventures

If you want to have a real impact and solve some of the world's most complex challenges with advanced technology, come work with our talented and passionate team. Overstory is a remote-first company, with people living all over the U.S. and Europe.

Your responsibilities

As a Staff Engineer, you will work within the Vegetation Management Experience team to evolve a suite of web tools that enable utility companies to more effectively manage risks associated with climate change, wildfires and storms.

We are seeking improvement in the following areas:

  • Performance & Scalability: ensure that our product can handle 3x YoY growth
  • Accelerate time to value of new product capabilities
  • Reduce the amount of manual work required to ingest vegetation analysis into our customer facing tools

Here at Overstory our Staff Engineers are hands-on technical leaders whose influence extends beyond their team either through leading cross team initiatives, making technology choices for critical aspects of our technology platform or solving for critical technical challenges within teams enabling our business to achieve our rapid scaling plans (growing 3x YoY).

This role will start off being primarily team scoped solving critical scaling challenges. There is scope to expand remit as we grow.

What you will do

Technical Skills:

  • Broad and deep understanding of system design with an ability to select the correct paradigm/technology given the situation and constraints.
  • Develops a deep understanding of our business domains and how technology can be applied to drive business impact.
  • Innovates and introduces new technologies or methodologies.
  • Resolves complex technical challenges with innovative solutions.

Ownership:

  • Leads cross-team initiatives or leads on architectural system design at team level
  • Drives pragmatic technology choices/decisions making sensible trade offs in order to balance current and future business needs.
  • Defines coding standards and engineering best practices.
  • Evaluates and recommends new tools and technologies.
  • Hands-on contribution

Leadership:

  • Mentors and coaches engineers.
  • Influences technical decisions at the organizational level.
  • Collaborates with product managers and CTO to inform how technology can influence or enable the product strategy.

About You

  • Experience of working in a high growth scaleup environment
  • Product minded and able to demonstrate significant impact you have had on a business through the application of technology
  • Proven experience of full stack development across the following (or similar) technologies: React/Typescript, Python/fastAPI, Postgres DB, Data pipelines)
  • Comfortable working in a build it, run it environment (GCP, cloud run, grafana, k8s) - or similar.
  • Ability to design and implement scalable and resilient systems.
  • Strong leadership skills with the ability to mentor and coach engineers at all levels.
  • Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively in a cross-functional team environment.
  • Passion for learning and staying updated with evolving technologies and industry trends.
  • You are based in GMT/ CET time zone. Open to US ET for those that are able to have significant overlap with GMT/ CET working hours.

If you don’t meet all of the above yet feel you have lots to offer, please apply.

Nice-to-haves

  • You can demonstrate experience scaling large distributed architectures.
  • You have experience in working in a remote-first environment.
  • You have worked with satellite data and/or imagery.

What you get

  • To be part of truly mission-driven work that reduces wildfires, protects earth’s natural resources and helps solve our climate crisis.
  • Flexible working environment with a lot of autonomy. We build our work days around our lives, not the other way around.
  • Other benefits like a remote working budget, an educational budget and time to develop new skills.
  • To be surrounded by an excellent, vibrant, smart team who have each other's back and believe in a culture of openness, tolerance and respect.
  • Equity and a competitive salary.

About our team

We are a group of 62 people from all over the world. Fifteen nationalities are represented in our team. We work remotely from nine different countries and we are looking for candidates that are also living and working in one of these countries: United States, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Estonia, Portugal, France, Sweden and Canada.

Diversity & Inclusion

We place enormous value on diversity and inclusion and strive to continually bring in people of all genders, races, creeds, ethnicities, abilities and backgrounds. We believe that the best ideas emerge when people with different perspectives and approaches work together on a problem.

We’re always looking to diversify our team further, but we’re proud of the fact that four out of the nine people on our leadership team are female, 46% of the overall team are female and 20% of the team are people of color. Our team speaks fifteen languages: English, Dutch, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Luxembourgish, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Indonesian, Cantonese, Estonian and Korean.

Our values

Tackling the climate crisis is our greatest mission.

We act with urgency.

Our curiosity fuels our growth.

We recognize that change is constant, and we find joy and power in exploration.

We’re rooted in diversity.

Just as ecosystems need biodiversity to thrive, our resiliency comes from our differences.

We care for each other.

We love the power of machines but we nurture each other as humans.

Trust is fundamental.

We assume the best in everyone, and we share ideas openly so that we have a positive impact.

Staff Engineer (Contract - 6 Months) | Overstory (2024)

FAQs

What does a 6 month contract to hire mean? ›

Contract to hire is a short-term job that allows both parties to try out a role before committing to full-time employment. Also known as “temp to hire,” contract to hire agreements typically set out the length of time the contractor will work for the employer.

Is it a 6 month contract or 6 months contract? ›

Here, "six-month" in an adjective, and adjectives in English are not pluralised, so the correct form is "a six-month contract".

Why do companies do 6 month contracts? ›

Fixed term contracts can be a great option for employers, giving them the flexibility they need to fill short or long-term employment needs: Whether it's for support on a specific project or as maternity cover.

Does contract work look bad on a resume? ›

Contract work is legitimate experience, so don't forgo it on your resume. Just make sure you're listing it correctly. In this article, you'll learn how to put contract work on your resume in a way that emphasizes your flexibility, adaptability, professional skills, and achievements.

Can I quit a 6 month contract? ›

Yes, you can always quit, but your contract might stipulate how. Always review your contract to see what steps to take to quit your contract job. Giving notice is a must. Aim for at least two weeks.

What is a 6 month contract called? ›

Fixed-term contract: This is a contract that has an end date. This means that towards the end of the contract, it will need to be renewed if you intend to keep the employee hired through us. In some countries, the minimum contract duration is 6 months.

Can I terminate my contract after 6 months? ›

So, can you resign after 6 months? Yes, you can resign from a limited contract in the UAE after 6 months, provided you follow the proper legal steps mentioned above. However, there might be financial implications depending on the terms of your contract and the reason for your resignation.

What is the probation period for a 6 month contract? ›

A six-month probation period is a trial period where an employer determines if you're a good fit for the job and vice versa. It's an opportunity to prove yourself, learn and grow and make a good impression.

How long is 6 month in a contract? ›

How is Six months defined in a legal contract? Six months means a period of one thousand forty hours when considered in the context of operating experience. Seen in 10 SEC filings. Six months means the identical calendar date of the sixth consecutive month (for instance, from January 1, to July 1).

Is it bad to leave a company in 6 months? ›

If you receive a job offer from another company promising you better pay and a more advanced position, this is a feasible reason for leaving after six months. If you like the company you currently work for, see if they can offer you a similar position and pay, if not, don't feel guilty about taking another job offer.

Is a contract position worth the risk? ›

If an opportunity presents itself, give contract work a chance to learn a new skill or try a new industry. Just remember that there are risks. While contract jobs offer flexibility and higher pay, they have inherent uncertainties. Weighing these uncertainties is critical before deciding to take on a contract.

Is a contract to hire a good idea? ›

Contract to hire positions allow more flexibility for both parties. Often it is easier to reach workable terms for the employer and employee that can be outlined in the contract. You don't need the same guidelines or expectations you might have with other types of employees.

Can I leave my contract job early? ›

If your contract doesn't have a resignation stipulation, giving your employer two weeks' notice before leaving a role is a traditional practice. Consider giving more notice if: You've been working in this contract role for a long time, such as an extended or long-term contract position.

Why does contract work pay more? ›

Contractors often earn a higher hourly wage than full-time employees due to a lack of some benefits and shorter employment terms. Contractors also offer their specialized abilities to fill a need in an organization.

Is contract work good for experience? ›

Test out an industry

Contract work may allow you to experience different industries before deciding on a full-time position. For example, as a writer, you could take contract positions in entertainment, education, environmental studies and human resources and see what types of material you enjoy working with the most.

What is a 6 month term contract? ›

If you hire an individual on a 6 month fixed term contract it doesn't mean that you lose that employee when the 6 months are up. Employees can have their fixed term contract extended when it is nearing completion, or be offered a permanent role at any point during the contract.

What does work for hire mean in a contract? ›

A work for hire, or work made for hire, refers to works whose ownership belongs to a third party rather than the creator. Under general copyright principals, a copyright becomes the property of the author who created the work.

Why do companies hire contract instead of full-time? ›

Simply put, money doesn't grow on trees and hiring full-time employees can be a costly endeavor if they're only needed for a known period of time. Between the hiring manager's time and the cost of full-time employee benefits, it simply doesn't make financial sense for many firms to hire permanent employees.

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