Remote Sensing Analyst [Contractor]

GiveDirectly has delivered more than $1B in cash directly to 2+ million people living in poverty across 15 countries since 2011. We believe cash transfers are one of the most scalable, cost-effective, and dignified forms of aid, with the research to back it up. Our work has been covered by The Economist , NPR , TED , and The Washington Post . We are one of Time100’s Most Influential Companies of 2026. Our culture is candid, analytical, and non-hierarchical. We support high ownership and real professional growth. Curious about what it's really like to work here? Read our values and hear from the people who do . If they resonate, this could be a great fit! Location: Remote About this role GiveDirectly is launching an exploratory research initiative to understand the market-level economic effects of cash transfers—moving beyond household impacts to measure how cash circulation affects local markets, prices, firm dynamics, and economic activity. To advance this ambitious research agenda, we're seeking a Remote Sensing Analyst to lead a three-month pilot project that will test whether satellite imagery and geospatial analysis can serve as cost-effective, scalable proxies for measuring market transformation in cash transfer contexts. You will work closely with our research team to design and implement a feasibility study using satellite imagery, telecom data, and geospatial analysis tools to track agricultural patterns, infrastructure changes, and population movement as indicators of market-level economic effects. This is a rare opportunity to help pioneer a novel methodology for development research in-house at an implementing organization—one that could unlock new ways to measure economic multiplier effects and structural transformation in low-income settings. You'll own the technical execution of the pilot, from sourcing imagery and developing analysis scripts to documenting findings and recommending next steps for the potentially larger application of these methods. Level: Analyst Contract Duration: 3 months (approximately 50% capacity) Travel Requirement: No travel required; this is a fully remote position. What you'll do: Lead geospatial analysis design: Work with the GiveDirectly research team to translate research hypotheses about market effects into testable geospatial proxies (e.g., agricultural intensification, road quality, population clustering, infrastructure development). Candidates should have access to a high-performance computing environment (or cloud computing resources) capable of processing and analyzing large-scale satellite imagery and geospatial datasets. Source and evaluate imagery options: Identify, assess, and procure satellite imagery or telecom data from various sources (open-source platforms, public datasets, etc.) for study areas; evaluate data quality, temporal resolution, and suitability for hypothesis testing. Conduct exploratory analysis, and interpret findings: Execute spatial analysis on smaller samples of pilot data to detect changes in agricultural composition, cultivation intensity, infrastructure, and spatial patterns of economic activity, based on the rollout of GiveDirectly’s past programs. Synthesize technical results into clear insights about whether remote sensing can effectively detect market transformation; assess validity of proxies against conceptual models of economic multiplier effects. Develop repeatable analysis scripts: Build reproducible, well-documented code (Python/R/GIS tools) for automated detection and quantification of landscape and infrastructure changes over time, making methodology transparent and shareable across GiveDirectly. Document and communicate: Create clear technical documentation, methodology notes, and findings summaries suitable for both technical and non-technical audiences; contribute to defining a scope of work for potential scaling. What you'll bring: Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: intel