Internship in Data Lab

Job Posting Organization:
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent research organization dedicated to improving people's lives, protecting and restoring nature, and stabilizing the climate. Established with a mission to leverage data, expertise, and global reach to influence policy and catalyze change across various systems, WRI employs over 2,000 staff members who work on the ground in more than a dozen focus countries and collaborate with partners in over 50 nations. The organization is committed to advancing gender, racial, and social equity in its mission and applies this principle to its organizational and programmatic practices. WRI provides numerous internship opportunities throughout the year, aimed at current students, recent graduates, and other candidates eager to gain knowledge in specific areas of its work. The organization values integrity, innovation, urgency, independence, and respect, and strives to attract diverse candidates passionate about sustainability and development.

Job Overview:
This internship is hosted within WRI’s Data Lab, which serves as the core data innovation and product delivery unit of the organization. The Data Lab supports various programs, including the Food, Land, and Water (FLW) Program and the Land & Carbon Lab, by providing essential technical infrastructure, geospatial analytics, and applied data science. The internship will focus on agricultural and forest-monitoring analytics, contributing to efforts aimed at conserving and restoring forests and ecosystems critical to people, nature, and climate. Interns will engage in data labeling and geospatial workflows, integrating equity into their work while collaborating with a distributed international team of GIS analysts, researchers, and data scientists. This hybrid position requires interns to work in the Washington DC office at least 8 days per month, and applicants must have existing work authorization as WRI cannot sponsor visas for this role.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The internship entails a variety of responsibilities, primarily focused on labeling and annotation (60% of the role), GIS analysis and content development (30%), and documentation (10%). Interns will use digital tools to annotate field boundaries and agricultural features in satellite imagery, adhering to structured standards and quality control practices for training and validation data generation. They will prioritize labeling tasks across various use cases in Colombia, Mexico, Kenya, and Brazil, and collaborate with experts from WRI’s Toolkit for Traceability and partner research groups. In terms of GIS analysis, interns will assist with processing field boundaries and land cover datasets using tools like Geospatial Python, ArcPro, and Google Earth Engine, conducting spatial analysis to support country-office needs, and contributing to data visualizations and cartographic products. Additionally, they will document workflows and help build reproducible annotation pipelines while engaging with WRI country office staff to understand analytical needs and translate them into labeling or GIS tasks.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must be currently pursuing or have recently completed a degree in agriculture, geographic information systems, remote sensing, economics, international development, natural resource management, environmental studies, or a related field. Coursework in geospatial analysis or data science is required, along with familiarity with GIS software such as QGIS or ArcGIS. Candidates should also have an interest or experience in digital sketching, labeling, and annotation work, and exposure to programming languages like Python or JavaScript in Google Earth Engine for geospatial analysis. Creativity, adaptability, and a genuine interest in sustainable agriculture and land use are essential qualities for this role.

Educational Background:
The ideal candidate should have a degree in a relevant field such as agriculture, geographic information systems, remote sensing, economics, international development, natural resource management, environmental studies, or forestry. While a graduate program is preferred, undergraduates are also welcome to apply. Coursework in geospatial analysis or data science is mandatory, ensuring that candidates possess the necessary foundational knowledge for the internship.

Experience:
Interns should have some level of experience in time series analysis, geospatial agricultural analysis, and working with remote sensing data. While specific years of experience are not mandated, familiarity with the relevant tools and methodologies is crucial for success in this role.

Languages:
Proficiency in written and spoken English is mandatory. Additionally, knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is preferred, and proficiency in French is considered a plus, enhancing the candidate's ability to engage with diverse teams and projects across different regions.

Additional Notes:
This internship is a full-time, 3-month opportunity with a flexible start and end date. Compensation for the internship is $20/hour for undergraduates, $22/hour for graduates, and $24/hour for PhD students. The position is hybrid, requiring interns to work in the Washington DC office at least 8 days per month. Applicants must submit a resume and cover letter by the deadline of July 16, 2025, through the WRI Careers portal to be considered. The organization may close applications sooner if a high volume of qualified candidates is received.