Staff Data Scientist

Overview

Position title

:

Staff Data Scientist

Location: Calgary or Remote

Position type:

Full-time & permanent

Schedule:

Flexible, with expected availability during regular office hours unless calendar blocked off

Reporting:

Director R&D

To apply and see other opportunities at Highwood please copy and paste this link into your browser to visit our careers page -

https://highwoodemissions.com/about-highwood/#careers.

About Highwood

Highwood Emissions Management is on a mission to make industrial emissions transparency the new default. Since launching in 2020, our team of engineers, scientists, and policy experts has helped energy producers representing 10% of global oil & gas output slash methane and carbon emissions—and earn OGMP 2.0 Gold Standard certification—faster and at lower cost.

We operate like a high-growth startup: rapid experimentation, continuous learning, and measurable impact. You’ll tackle complex climate challenges alongside industry pioneers, supported by a culture of respect, curiosity, and a good dose of fun. The pace is brisk and the problems are tough, but the rewards—professional growth, real-world impact, and equity in our success—are big.

If you thrive in ambiguity, value collaboration, and want your Monday morning to matter, let’s talk.

Highwood Emissions Management (Highwood) is an equal opportunity employer working to enable diversity in the workforce. We welcome all applicants regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We also value diversity of worldview, experience, and perspective.

Your Mission

Reducing GHG emissions from the oil and natural gas industry is one of the single greatest short-term impacts that we can make towards decarbonizing our economy. Incentivizing the production, transportation, and end use of low-carbon energy is critical.

Currently, Highwood is focused on building our Emission Intelligence Platform (EIP), which allows customers to understand their emissions in new and valuable ways.

Highwood’s R&D team sits at the center of this effort. Turning fragmented, imperfect operational data into defensible insights that stand up to scrutiny from clients, regulators, and partners.

We are seeking a Senior Data Scientist to help build the data foundations that our analytics and products depend on. Today, much of our challenge lies before advanced modeling: organizing disparate data sources, standardizing definitions, reconciling inconsistencies, and turning messy, real world data into something analysts and engineers can trust.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys working at the front of the analytical lifecycle, someone who is comfortable getting their hands dirty with raw data, understands oil and gas operations well enough to impose structure where none exists, and can explain why the data needs to be organized a certain way.

A Senior Data Engineer/ Scientist serves as a technical leader within Highwood, combining deep analytical capability with practical oil and gas knowledge to develop, validate, and communicate the methods that underpin our Emissions Intelligence Platform (EIP) and consulting work. This person leads scientific problem-solving in areas such as methane quantification, reconciliation, and uncertainty analysis, while also mentoring junior analysts, supporting client discussions, and helping translate prototype analytics in Python into robust, defensible methods and deliverables. This role is an exciting growth opportunity, where you will:

- Work with an unprecedented quantity of methane data

 – Between our software and consulting partners, Highwood works with many vendors and operators active in this space. This gives our team exposure to a variety of datasets.

- Own the early stages of the data lifecycle

, working with large volumes of messy, inconsistent operational and emissions‑related data (often delivered as flat files from multiple sources).

- Design and implement approaches to data cleansing, standardization, and reconciliation

, including defining consistent categories, naming conventions, and assumptions across datasets.

- Develop and document data frameworks

 that describe how disparate sources relate to one another, grounded in an understanding of oil and gas systems and operations.

- Work in a fast-paced, dynamic startup environment

 – The R&D team works collaboratively with the product, development, and senior leadership teams.

- Leverage your skills to set the standard for methane emissions reporting in oil and gas

– The expectations for how methane emissions are reported is changing rapidly, and Highwood is in a unique position to set the bar.

- Build Python‑based workflows and prototypes that transform raw data into structured, analyzable datasets.

- Apply statistical thinking and sound technical judgment when dealing with missing data, conflicting signals, uncertainty, and incomplete coverage.

- Translate complex data realities into clear explanations for internal stakeholders, helping align the team around how data should be interpreted and used.

Important:

 This is not a role focused on optimizing narrow ML pipelines or working exclusively with model ready data. Success here starts with organizing and making sense of the data itself.

The ideal candidate is intellectually agile, technically strong, and comfortable working across science, data, and client needs. They bring sound judgment in ambiguous environments and can quickly move between detailed technical work and high-level discussion. They understand oil and gas systems well enough to frame the right questions, challenge assumptions, and develop practical solutions grounded in operational reality.

Expectations:

- Help shape and prioritize research and analytical initiatives based on product needs, client value, and scientific rigor.

- Lead the development of statistical and analytical frameworks for methane quantification, reconciliation, and uncertainty estimation.

- Design and scope new approaches to measurement-informed inventory and emissions data analysis, working closely with the broader R&D team to prototype and refine solutions.

- Work closely with junior analysts to guide Python-based prototype development, review technical approaches, and strengthen the quality of outputs, plots, and statistical analyses.

- Translate exploratory technical work into clear, defensible methods and client-ready deliverables.

- Communicate analytical reasoning clearly in written and verbal form to clients, colleagues, and non-technical stakeholders.

- Stay current with relevant scientific literature, measurement technologies, and developments in methane accounting and policy.

- Represent Highwood through conference presentations, webinars, and technical discussions with external audiences.

- Effectively manage multiple priorities and navigate technical complexity and uncertainty with sound judgment.

- Provide mentorship and technical leadership to junior team members.

The Benefits

At Highwood, we are committed to the physical and mental health of our employees and of their families. Here are some of the reasons why our employees love it here:

- Our benefits package is among the best. Each year it includes $1,500 in dental coverage and more for prescription drugs, vision, massage, physiotherapy, psychotherapy, and much more.

- Our benefits package includes your spouse and all children.

- We offer $5,000/year to help cover non-essential educational pursuits of your choice.

- We have an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) – and you don’t need to pay to be a partial owner of Highwood – and share in the success we achieve.

- We encourage employees to take breaks – especially vacation.

- If that’s not enough – our core value is ‘People First’. Check out our Team Promise below.

- Finally, you get to work with the brightest and friendliest colleagues in the business!

About You

Here are some of the things we’re looking for. Note that we don’t expect you to have all of these qualifications, experiences, and/or skills. We often choose to train someone with the right attitude over hiring the wrong person with the right skills.

Experience and Expertise:

- Master’s degree or higher in Remote Sensing, Statistics, Energy Systems Modelling, Physics, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field.

- Experience working with messy, real-world datasets and turning them into structured, usable data.

- Proven experience using empirical data to solve complex technical problems in a scientific, analytical, or applied research setting.

- Strong oil and gas knowledge, ideally including experience related to methane, emissions inventories, measurement, operations, or production systems.

- Strong quantitative and technical skills, including experience developing or evaluating analytical, statistical, or scientific methods under uncertainty.

- Proficiency in Python, including experience working with data manipulation and analysis libraries such as Pandas and NumPy.

- Experience participating in client-facing work, technical workshops, or other external engagements.

- Experience mentoring junior technical staff or providing informal technical leadership is an asset.

- Experience with methane measurement technologies, reconciliation, or uncertainty analysis is an asset.

- Strong problem-solving skills, including the ability to identify opportunities, propose practical solutions, and respond thoughtfully to challenges or objections.

- Careful attention to detail, particularly when reviewing emissions datasets and analytical outputs from emerging measurement technologies.

- Positive attitude and willingness to contribute across a range of work, from detailed technical execution to broader strategic thinking.

- Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and thrive in a fast-paced environment.

To apply and see other opportunities at Highwood please copy and paste this link into your browser to visit our careers page -

https://highwoodemissions.com/about-highwood/#careers.