Role Purpose:
The Remote Sensing & Precision Agriculture Executive will lead research, validation, and
applied development of drone, satellite, remote sensing, and AI technologies to
support precision agronomy, early disease detection, and data-driven decision making for
oil palm upstream operations.
This position is designed to convert advanced spatial and analytical technologies into
research-validated, field-ready solutions that reduce input cost, protect yield, and
strengthen early intervention capability across estates, nurseries, and infrastructure
planning.
Requirements:
- Education: Bachelor's Degree in Science with a specialization in Remote Sensing.
- Experience: Minimum 5–8 years of relevant experience, preferably in the oil palm plantation, agriculture, or large-scale land-based systems.
- Technical Expertise: Proven experience in drone operations, photogrammetry, GIS platforms, spatial analytics, multispectral and thermal data analysis, and AI/machine learning applications for agriculture or environmental systems.
- Core Skills: Strong competency in GIS mapping and spatial analytics, remote sensing, oil palm health monitoring, geospatial database management, and precision plantation management.
- Monitoring & Analysis: Ability to utilize GIS, drone imagery, remote sensing, and AI-based analytics to monitor oil palm health, detect early disease symptoms, and integrate geospatial, agronomic, and multispectral data for precision crop management.
- Decision Support & Data Management: Experience in developing data-driven decision-support models and optimizing the Oil Palm Management System (OMP) database to support plantation operations, agronomy, and site-specific management.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead research-driven drone mapping programs using RGB, multispectral, thermal, and LiDAR technologies for precision oil palm monitoring.
- Develop and validate remote sensing models to detect nutrient deficiencies, drought stress, diseases, and canopy health using drone-derived vegetation indices.
- Integrate drone, soil, leaf, yield, and agronomic data to support precision fertilization, site-specific crop management, and optimized field interventions.
- Develop early Ganoderma detection systems through drone-based analytics, disease risk mapping, spatial epidemiology, and integration with agronomy and microbiology research.
- Conduct stand structure, missing palm, and water stress analyses to improve plantation productivity, irrigation planning, and drainage management.
- Produce terrain, elevation, and infrastructure models using drone photogrammetry and LiDAR to support drainage optimization, flood mitigation, and irrigation design.
- Research and evaluate precision drone spraying technologies for nursery pest and disease control, focusing on spray efficiency, chemical reduction, environmental safety, and SOP development.
- Establish drone governance standards, including SOPs, flight protocols, calibration procedures, and data quality assurance to ensure reliable and repeatable research outcomes.
- Develop AI and machine learning solutions by integrating weather, soil, canopy, and agronomic data to automate fertilization recommendations and enable variable-rate nutrient application.
- Manage geospatial and research data governance, ensuring data integrity, version control, traceability, and integration with estate operations, agronomy trials, and climate monitoring systems.
- Collaborate with IT teams, technology partners, and vendors to develop scalable digital platforms while ensuring cybersecurity, system reliability, and long-term technology deployment.
- Drive innovation and organizational capability by supporting research proposals, pilot projects, technology validation, knowledge transfer, staff training, and strengthening in-house expertise in remote sensing and precision agriculture.