Careers at BWI

The upstream team is dedicated to conceiving and developing systems for hydrology-related data acquisition, in particular a demonstration mission of radar altimetry satellites with high temporal revisit.

The ideal candidate will have a solid background in remote sensing, with expertise in analyzing, correcting and manipulating satellite data. We are seeking a candidate capable of conducting studies autonomously and proposing and developing new ideas for the mission center processing chains. The candidate will also collaborate with downstream software developers, in charge of coding.

Main tasks:

• Propose and develop algorithms to process new generation radar altimetry data (L0 to L1)
• Propose and develop algorithms to implement geophysical corrections and provide Water Surface Elevation product (L1 to L2)
• Process and analyze data from radar altimetry satellites to qualify the proposed processing chains performance
• Collaborate with upstream team members to ensure satisfactory system performance
• Provide technical expertise and guidance to software developers
• Create clear documentation and specifications

Skills and requirements

Must-haves:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in remote sensing, signal processing or a related field
• Proficiency in data processing and programming tools (Python and relevant libraries, Git, Jira)
• Ability to propose and develop new research ideas
• Strong teamwork and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Analytical and problem-solving mindset
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment
• Professional level in English and limited working proficiency in French

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience in using remote sensing data for hydrology or oceanography
• Knowledge of satellite missions specific to radar altimetry
• Experience with developing algorithms and handling large data volumes
• Professional level in French

The FDS engineer will be a part of our radar altimetry satellite project, which goal is to demonstrate the capability of providing high-revisit hydrology data. As a member of the upstream team, the engineer will contribute to the global performance of our mission.

This is a role suited for an ambitious professional wanting to solve complex problems and develop state of the art precise orbit determination for small satellites. The FDS engineer will be in charge of both the Orbit dynamics analysis and the orbit restitution ground software development.

Main tasks:

• Orbit analysis and selection according to mission needs
• Functional expertise support for satellite mission center and in-flight validation
• Propose injection and transfer strategy
• Propose and develop algorithms to process GNSS data, in order to determine precisely the satellite orbit
• Develop flight dynamics ground software for orbit restitution
• Review all satellite and ground system component designs that contribute to orbit determination performance
• Collaborate with subcontractors to manage interfaces with the Satellite Control Center

Skills and requirements

Must-haves:

• Master’s degree level or equivalent in aerospace engineering, with specialization in spaceflight dynamics
• Knowledge of space orbital mechanics and software development
• Experience with orbit determination tools (such as Orekit)
• Proficiency in data processing and programming tools (Python, Java, Git, Jira)
• Strong teamwork and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment
• Professional level in English and limited working proficiency in French

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience in the domain of Flight Dynamics software development
• Knowledge of satellite missions specific to radar altimetry
• Professional level in French

Company Description

BWI, short for Blue Water Intelligence, is a Toulouse-based company established in June 2022, specializing in monitoring inland surface water reserves globally. The company integrates in-situ data, spaceborne observations, and machine learning to provide hydrological and hydrodynamical forecasts for clients. BWI’s online subscription services focus on delivering scalable hydrological data to address climate change-induced water stress and improve water management.

Reason for hiring

Blue Water Intelligence is at the forefront of cutting-edge hydrological research and innovation. We combine advanced mathematics, physics, and computational expertise to address complex challenges in hydrology, environmental science, and water resource management. We are seeking a dynamic and highly skilled Software Engineer to join our team, bridging the gap between science and software development.

Job Title: Senior Software Engineer

Location: Paris (or Toulouse), France

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and optimize mathematical and physical models for hydrological and environmental applications.
• Implement robust, scalable, and maintainable software solutions to support operational workflows.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams of scientists, engineers, and domain experts to understand requirements and deliver high-impact solutions.
• Perform data analysis and visualization to validate models and interpret results.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in scientific computing, hydrology, and related fields to integrate cutting-edge techniques into projects.
• Document methodologies, code, and research findings comprehensively and transparently.

Qualifications:

Academic Background:

• Advanced degree (Master’s or Ph.D.) in Mathematics, Physics (Pure or Applied), Computer Science, or a closely related field.
• Strong foundation in numerical methods, differential equations, and computational modeling.

Technical Skills:

• Proficiency in OO Python.
• Experience with software engineering practices, including version control, code reviews, and testing frameworks.
• Familiarity with data analysis tools and libraries (e.g., NumPy, pandas, SciPy) and visualization frameworks (e.g., Matplotlib, Plotly).
• Knowledge of parallel computing and performance optimization is a plus.

Domain Expertise:

• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement mathematical models.
• Background or strong interest in hydrology, environmental science, or fluid dynamics.
• Background or strong interest in neural networks, machine learning, or artificial intelligence.

Soft Skills:

• Strong problem-solving skills and intellectual curiosity.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex ideas to diverse audiences.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams and independently as needed.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience working in hydrology, water resources, or related scientific domains.
• Familiarity with geospatial data processing and analysis.
• Experience with cloud computing platforms or high-performance computing environments.

What We Offer:

• The opportunity to contribute to meaningful scientific advancements addressing global water challenges.
• A collaborative and intellectually stimulating work environment.
• Professional growth and learning opportunities at the intersection of science and software engineering.
• Competitive compensation and benefits package.

Hiring Process:

• Technical interview with our CTO (can be a visio)
• Technical interview with another team member, if need be (can be a visio)
• Motivational interview with our CEO (telephone or visio)
• Offer
• Deal

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Join us in advancing the science of hydrology through innovative software and impactful work!

About the Company:

BWI – which stands for Blue Water Intelligence, was established in June 2022 in Toulouse, France. BWI clients like to see us as their basin digitization company. BWI specializes in the monitoring of inland surface water reserves around the globe. BWI brings together in-situ data, spaceborne observations and machine learning to feed and empower hydrological and hydrodynamical models, and provide clients with data and insights on their points of interest. A provider of online subscription-based services, BWI aims to make scalable – across space and time – hydrological forecasts to address climate change induced water stress. Improvements in the prediction of water availability, water quality, floods, and droughts at local and regional scales will help the population and businesses build climate resilience, as well as enable scientists to understand the water cycle deeper.

Key responsibilities:

– Terraform IaC for dev/stage/prod (modules, remote state, reviewable plans).

– Operate Kubernetes (managed cloud K8s): cluster lifecycle, upgrades, autoscaling, scheduling, Operators/CRDs. – CI/CD & GitOps: Bitbucket (Cloud) + Bitbucket Pipelines → GitOps deployments using Helm (Argo CD or Flux compatible Helm charts).

– Docker/OCI: secure, minimal images, multi-stage builds, image scanning. – Observability & SLOs: Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, Loki, alerting.

– Security: IAM, mTLS/service auth, secrets management (Vault/Kubernetes secrets sealed), vulnerability scanning, network policies. – Data pipeline ops: batch/stream (Spark, Dask, Prefect or Airflow), large-file transfers to S3‑compatible storage, checkpointing and retry patterns.

– Cost optimization: rightsizing, spot/preemptible strategy, storage lifecycle. – Runbooks, on‑call, incident response and documentation.

– Managing heterogeneous company workstations (Linux, Windows, Apple,…) from the craddle to the crave, all along their lifecycle.

Must-have skills:

– Production Kubernetes operations (managed cloud).

– Terraform with modular patterns and remote backends.

– Bitbucket Cloud + Bitbucket Pipelines experience; Helm-based deployments.

– Docker/OCI image best practices and image scanning workflows.

– Observability stack: Prometheus/Grafana/OpenTelemetry.

– Python for automation; Bash for ops.

– S3-compatible object storage experience; familiarity with Scaleway advantageous.

Nice-to-have tools | knowledge | skills:

– GDAL, xarray, satellite/altimetry pipeline experience, pyarrow.

– GPU scheduling in K8s.

– tensorflow serving | 1password | fastapi | uvicorn.

– Self-hosting LLM + opencode integration.

– Python OOP skills a huge plus.

Logistics & apply:

– On-site Toulouse, ideally, or Paris.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

We are committed to diversity and inclusivity.