Rainforest Connection is a San Francisco-based nonprofit building open-source solutions to illegal logging and poaching. Our flagship project is the world’s first real-time forest monitoring system, built from recycled Android smartphones.
We have a number of pilot deployments that will begin shortly. We’re looking to build an engineering team to join us and bring our platform to the next level throughout the stack.
Let us know what you can do and your requirements. We ourselves have been working on this project for 1.5 years without being paid, so we’re not afraid to ask others to dive in. If we’re successful, money is unlikely to be a problem. Our basic philosophy is that technology and innovation should be used to solve real world problems, rather than creating “shiny objects” or harnessing the best minds in the world to say ... democratize cab service across town.
We appreciate fast learners with a sense of humor.
For the purpose of taking our system to the next level we are currently looking for experience and advice in the following areas of software development:
- Designing/Maintaining RESTful APIs
- AWS (Elastic Beanstalk) Application Container
- Node.js streams, particularly audio streams
- Worker-based audio analysis
- Familiarity with older Android APIs (API Level 10, Gingerbread, and up)
- Background Services, Intent Services
- Offline/Low-Connectivity Operation
- Client side transmission of significant data payloads
- JUnit, Unit Testing
We are also looking for long term partners, funders and any expertise in extending connectivity in areas where there is little or no GSM coverage, through innovation and use of antennas.
One of our pilots in Brazil is a really amazing opportunity to work with indigenous communities who are defending their native rainforests against massive black market illegal logging. Cell towers exist but coverage can be spotty and we need expertise in extending it.
We’re a small team. You’d be joining us on the ground floor. Additionally, If you like to travel there are also opportunities where we cover all expenses to bring you onsite to work with us in Africa and the Amazon.
If you are interested, please send us some information about yourself, your background and/or a resume to dave@rfcx.org as soon as possible. Thanks!
Topher White: Physicist, software engineer, founder and inventor of RFCx. Topher has been building systems large and small for startups as well as international science projects—most recently four years working on nuclear fusion at ITER, in France.
Dave Grenell: Cofounder, COO and lead project manager with 10 years of environmental policy experience, working to create national models on crime reduction and environmental policy.
Nishant Bagadia: 10 years of building high-impact start-ups that align business models with impactful product/service solutions. Nishant's experience as an ex-Deloitte Consultant helps him focus on taking RFCx to the next level.
Teddy Ryerson: a former senior executive at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Teddy is an environmental lawyer and public policy expert with national leadership experience. She has co-authored ground-breaking environmental legislation and prosecuted major violations of environmental laws. Most recently, she served nearly five years as the senior policy advisor to the EPA chief executive in the Pacific Southwest for four states, the Pacific Islands and 148 Tribal Nations. Teddy became an environmental lawyer in part due to her studies of massive global extinctions while she was a Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley.
Neil Calder: a lifelong master of science and innovation communication, Neil is current Vice President for Communication & Public Relations for OIST, in Japan. He has previously served as Director of Communications for several of the world's largest international science laboratories, including CERN (France/Switzerland), SLAC (California) and ITER (France).
Nick Ellis: Founder of Job Rooster, a mobile app for job search that has been used by millions of Americans. Nick is an expert in mobile technology applications. He concentrated in technology and design interaction at Stanford and London School of Economics, with a focus on developing nations.
Henry Oh: Henry has extensive experience with open source development and technology. He studied the interplay between technological evolution and social change at UCLA, the London School of Economics and Stanford Law School. A serial social entrepreneur, Henry is passionate about using technology to promote social good. He has volunteered to localize Creative Commons licenses in non-US jurisdictions.