Director of Remote Sensing

The climate crisis is the defining challenge of our time—but it's also the greatest opportunity for innovation, and a challenge we're proud to take on. At Overstory, we're harnessing cutting-edge technology to enable a resilient electrical grid that keeps communities thriving as our world changes.

The grid is the backbone of life as we know it. It powers hospitals, keeps food fresh, and ensures communities stay connected. But extreme weather, aging infrastructure, and growing wildfire risks are putting this critical system under pressure. All of this combined makes the electric utility industry the greatest opportunity for tackling climate change. 

One of the leading causes of catastrophic wildfires and power outages? Trees and brush coming into contact with power lines. 

That's where we help. At Overstory, we use AI and advanced satellite imagery to pinpoint and prioritize vegetation risks before they materialize. By giving utilities critical analysis on those risks, we're helping prevent outages, reduce wildfire risks, and accelerate the transition to a safer, more resilient grid.

Our team spans the Americas and Europe, and we work with utility partners across the Americas and beyond. We're outdoor enthusiasts, musicians, artists, athletes, parents, and adventurers—15 nationalities strong and growing. What unites us is a passion for solving complex problems, a commitment to climate action, and the belief that technology should be a force for good.

Join us to help us build a more resilient world together. 

About the Role

Overstory is hiring a senior leader to own and shape our external data ecosystem. This role is responsible for identifying, vetting, and securing the data sources that unlock Overstory's next generation of products — from vegetation risk and wildfire prevention to storm forecasting.

You will develop a deep understanding of how utilities actually use our outputs and translate that into smart data decisions: what we acquire, why it matters, what capabilities it unlocks, and what economics and quality thresholds we demand.

This is a product role grounded in external partnerships and technical evaluation. You will work at the intersection of innovation, business, and sensing, not as a buyer of data, but as a builder of the data advantage that fuels Overstory's roadmap.

What You'll Do

• Identify and evaluate new data sources across the satellite and aerial landscape
  
• Assess data impact on product outcomes: resolution, latency, revisit, coverage, seasonality, rights, pricing, licensing, exclusivity, SLAs
• Build and manage relationships with leading and emerging data providers — from established constellations to new EO startups
• Lead vendor selection and negotiate terms (supported by legal/finance when needed)
• Translate new data capabilities into clear product unlocks, cost efficiency, and accuracy gains
• Maintain a forward-looking view of the external data landscape — technology upgrades, regulatory risks, data sovereignty, commercial shifts
• Ensure data decisions map directly to customer value and operational outcomes
• Represent Overstory externally as a knowledgeable, trusted counterpart to the earth observation and climate data ecosystem

What Success Looks Like

• Faster innovation: new data sources move from "identified" to "in production" quickly. They're not just extended research projects. 
• Higher quality: measurable improvements in coverage, refresh, signal fidelity, seasonality balance, and hazard detection
• New product unlocks: data decisions directly enable new capabilities or new market segments
• Better economics: deals structured for sustainable, scalable access — paying for value, not volume
• Data as a moat: a strategic partner network that improves Overstory's defensibility and uniqueness over time
• Clear decision rigor: every data source has a clear why-now, why-this, and what-it-powers, not a vague "just in case"

Success is not "more vendors," but better decisions — faster, higher-quality innovation and new feature unlocks that matter for utilities.

About you

• Clear critical thinking and sound tradeoff judgment
• Strong product intuition paired with analytical rigor
• Creative approach to unlocking new data-driven capabilities
• Executive communication: crisp, transparent, and persuasive
• Proven experience leading teams through change, ambiguity, and new directions
  
• 8+ years in product, partnerships, business strategy, or management consulting (EO experience is a plus, not required)

Nice-to-haves

• Familiarity with emerging sensing domains: hyperspectral, thermal, fuels mapping, long-wave IR, SAR
• Experience working with utilities, wildfire intelligence, grid reliability, or regulated infrastructure markets
• Background in commercial strategy, platform partnerships, or data licensing for AI/ML product

Why this Role Matters

Overstory's product leadership depends as much on the data we unlock as the models we build. This role ensures our innovation pipeline is not gated by what the market offers, but driven by what we choose, shape, and integrate.

Data partnerships here are not transactional — they are strategic assets.

You will help Overstory move faster, deliver higher fidelity results, and continuously expand what's possible in vegetation intelligence and grid risk prevention.

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.
• A 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.

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

About our team

We are a group of 100 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, Ireland, Estonia, Portugal, France, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and Canada. We meet up once a year in-person for our unforgettable team gathering event. We also offer the option to occasionally meet up for in-person collaboration.

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, Cantonese, Estonian, Danish 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.

_________________________________

Use of AI in Our Hiring Process

We sometimes use AI tools to support parts of our hiring process, such as helping us manage applications more efficiently or ensuring job descriptions are clear and inclusive. But don't worry, all hiring decisions are always made by people, not machines. Any data processed by AI is handled securely in line with GDPR and our Privacy Notice.

---