L

Lynker

Government contracting for environmental science services

Environmental Data Scientist

Full-TimeDeadline 7/31/27
$75k - $105k+ Spot bonuses + Recognition bonuses + 401(k) match + Employee Stock Ownership Plan
Mid
Master's
Boulder, CO, USA
RemoteColorado Front Range presence is expected for periodic in-person collaboration.
Data & AnalyticsData Management

About the job

Requirements
  • A Master's degree in environmental science, ecosystem science, water resources, hydrology, earth science, environmental data science, or a related field; or a Bachelor's degree plus two years applying data science to environmental problems; or equivalent hands-on experience.
  • A strong environmental and data science background, with the ability to reason about how environmental evidence should be represented and combined.
  • Proficiency in a data science language such as R or Python for data wrangling, analysis, and modeling.
  • A working sense of geospatial data science, including experience with GIS tooling and spatial datasets such as R, ArcGIS, QGIS, or Google Earth Engine.
  • Ability to think structurally about data schemas, inputs, and outputs, and translate domain logic into clear, testable rules.
  • Strong technical and scientific writing skills.
Responsibilities
  • Organize, catalog, and structure heterogeneous environmental and geospatial datasets using consistent metadata and controlled vocabularies, with clear provenance, so they can be combined consistently and reproducibly.
  • Help define how rules and analytical logic are represented, versioned, and evaluated against layered datasets, with traceable analytical lineage from inputs to results.
  • Define what analytical inputs and outputs should contain, including data, results, and metadata, the schemas that represent them, and how those schemas evolve over time.
  • Apply environmental and hydrologic domain knowledge to how data is weighted, interpreted, and encoded into rules.
  • Develop checks, test cases, and validation logic to confirm that rules produce correct, explainable, and consistent results.
  • Document data schemas, analytical logic, and data sources; collaborate across the Science, Engineering, and Platform teams to keep the system understandable, accessible, and maintainable.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience designing data schemas, structured formats, or APIs, and defining inputs and outputs for downstream consumers.
  • Familiarity with rules-based or decision-support systems and how to make their logic transparent and explainable.
  • Experience integrating multiple public and agency data sources, such as USGS, NOAA, and PRISM, for watershed or environmental analysis.
  • Exposure to machine learning or statistical modeling applied to environmental data.
  • A track record of scientific writing, publication, or open-source contribution.
  • Colorado Front Range presence for periodic in-person collaboration.

About the company

Lynker delivers professional, scientific, and technical services to the U.S. government, with NOAA as its primary client. It supports weather and climate science, marine and ocean science, systems integration, and environmental policy, using forecast models, data assimilation, and scientific computing, as well as operating maritime observing networks. The firm stands out through deep domain expertise, an employee-owned team, and long-term federal contracts including NOAA task orders and OASIS+ awards. Its goal is to help NOAA and other agencies improve weather, oceans, and environmental monitoring to enhance public safety and economic resilience.

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Leesburg, Virginia

Founded

2007

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Lynker won NOAA's Office of Coast Survey geospatial support contract in 2025.
  • NOAA recognized nine Lynker employees with National Ocean Service awards in 2026.
  • HigherGov forecasted Lynker as incumbent on a NOAA renewal worth up to $5 million.

What critics are saying

  • NOAA concentration leaves Lynker exposed if ProTech recompetes shift after 2026-09-30.
  • FLOAT's 2026 bid protest dismissal shows Lynker still fights for contract access.
  • Headcount fell to 356 in Q1 2026, signaling margin pressure or lost work.

What makes Lynker unique

  • Lynker's NOAA ProTech footprint spans Weather, Ocean, Fisheries, and Satellite contracts in 2026.
  • Joe Linza kept strategy and M&A control while Scott Rayder became CEO on 2026-04-13.
  • Lynker Space sells tailored space-weather dashboards for utilities, aviation, and satellite operators.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • Paid Vacation
  • Paid Holidays
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • 401(k) Company Match
  • Company Equity
  • Flexible Work Hours
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Short- and Long-term Disability Insurance
  • Life and Accident Insurance