Company Background

We are a distributed, passionate and fun team based in Canada/USA and incubated by IBET to

create commercially scalable gigaton solutions to the climate crisis. This critical role will join the Skyward team to prevent lightning-caused wildfires, just as the team moves from lab to the cloud!

Why Fire? Why Lightning? In 2023 alone, Canada’s wildfires burned 5% of its forests (an area the size of Washington State) and released ~5% of global emissions (almost as much as India’s 2023 emissions and 3 times Canadas). Over 60% of fires are caused by lightning strikes, and 93%-97% of the burn area and emissions are lightning-caused, with ignitions predicted to increase sharply with global warming. Wildfires currently cost US and Canadian taxpayers hundreds of billions, with no end in sight. While efforts are being made to counter megafires through beneficial fire and improved forest management, Skyward can prevent lightning now, on-demand, and thus avoid forest fire emissions and buy humanity more time to solve our climate crisis.

The Skyward Solution is an integration play building on existing hardware, data, algorithms, and materials, all of which are safe and extensively reviewed for environmental and health impacts by governments. Because nobody has ever avoided fires this way, we are trailblazing. The Province of Alberta, which had 1,092 fires in 2023, impacting 48 communities, with 38,000 evacuations and 2.2m ha burned, has asked us to prevent fires this summer 2024 during peak lightning season.

Job Overview

As the Chief Science Officer (CSO), you will be a key leader in our company, responsible for overseeing the development and deployment of cutting-edge weather modeling, intervention siting and targeting, and lightning forecasting technologies. You will lead efforts in building predictive models for fire risk, lightning prediction, and weather forecasting, as well as targeting interventions and siting deployments. You will develop licensable software and intellectual property. This role is crucial in shaping the company’s technological strategy and ensuring our solutions are both innovative and highly effective so governments, citizens, and industry partners can count on us.

Key Responsibilities

• Model Development: Lead the development and implementation of advanced AI and ML models for accurate weather forecasting, lightning prediction, cloud modeling, wildfire risk assessment, and intervention siting and cloud deployment.
• Commercialization: Design and deploy cloud-based solutions with client-facing interfaces
• Team Building: Build, manage, and mentor a high-performing data science team, fostering an environment of innovation and excellence.
• R&D: Drive the creation of licensable software products and manage intellectual property development aligned with strategic business goals.
• Collaboration: Engage with cross-functional teams including R&D, operations, and business development to ensure technology alignment with business needs.
• Innovation: Stay abreast of the latest technology trends and advancements in AI, ML, and meteorological science to continuously innovate and improve our solutions.
• Quality: Ensure accuracy and reliability in predictive models and data-driven decisions.
• Communication: Present complex technical information to stakeholders and external partners in a clear and effective manner.