Aleksei Unagaev
Senior Geospatial Engineer | Python | RS | GIS Automation | ML
Data Engineering
Spatial end-to-end ETL pipeline development and automation, data validation, workflow optimisation
GIS
QGIS, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, SNAP, GeoServer, FME (Safe), GeoDatabase, GeoJSON, ZARR, GeoPackage, COG, GeoTIFF, 3D, Geocoding
Remote Sensing & Earth Observation
Sentinel-1/2 (SAR & Optical), Landsat-8/9, PlanetScope, WorldView, UAV, LiDAR, Airborne imagery, Point Clouds, DEM, GPS/GNSS, Sonar / Multibeam echosounder
Programming, Geospatial Libraries & Machine learning
Python, GDAL, OGR, GeoPandas, Rasterio, Shapely, Fiona, NumPy, Pandas, SQL, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, AI, context engineering
Cloud & Infrastructure
AWS (S3, EC2, Lambda), Docker
Development & Collaboration
Git, GitHub, Bitbucket, Jira, Confluence, VS Code
CORE COMPETENCIES
• Spatial ETL & Data Pipelines
• Python Automation for GIS
• Geospatial Workflow Optimisation
• Spatial Database Design (PostGIS / PostgreSQL)
• Geospatial Software Development
• Remote Sensing & Satellite Image Processing
• Cloud-based Geospatial Data Infrastructure (AWS)
• Spatial Data management and data integration (Satellite, Field Data)
• Data governance, quality management and QA/QC processes, technical support
• Ability to generate new ideas and solutions, excellent planning, writing and communication skills
WORK HISTORY
Head of Geospatial Information Science & Geospatial Data Engineer | Deep Planet Ltd — London | Feb 2019 – present
• Designed and implemented scalable Python-based ETL data pipelines for geospatial data ingestion, transformation, validation, optimisation of storage and delivery of large-scale geospatial datasets (raster, vector, tabular).
• Built cloud-based geospatial data infrastructure (AWS S3-based data storage and data catalogue management), ensuring high-quality, production-ready data products.
Monitored and maintained data pipeline reliability, performance and operational stability, ensuring consistent delivery of geospatial data services, implemented structured data quality assurance, validation and testing frameworks for geospatial data products.
• Led the development of the company’s Vineyard Scan product – automation of ML mapping of vineyards and annual statistical estimates of area changes in Australia, USA and France regions, enabling estimates of wine production volumes for the winegrowing industry, reducing survey processing time by 3× and producing 30,000+ hectares of mapped crops.
• Automated geospatial data pipelines and processing workflows, optimised processing performance, improving system efficiency and reducing manual processing time by up to 70%.
• Integrated satellite imagery and in-situ field measurements to support soil sampling strategies and high-resolution soil organic carbon (SOC) modelling across 1,000+ hectares.
• Deployed GeoServer-based solutions on AWS EC2 to distribute the company’s geospatial datasets that reduced the time of the data delivery to the clients’ ArcGIS Online for more than 80%.
• Created ML workflows for agricultural crop, land cover mapping and ecosystem monitoring solutions, reaching 95% of mapping accuracy and used in projects with organisations such as the National Trust in the UK and Enonkishu Conservancy in Kenya, enabling rapid, near real-time statistical analysis of temporal changes of protected areas.
• Coordinated field data collection and soil sampling campaigns to improve machine learning model calibration and validation for around 1000 ha of agricultural fields, pastures and grasslands.
• Collaborated with product, research, customer teams and stakeholders to deliver high-quality geospatial data products and services, technical reports and documentation for 10+ agri-tech customers.
• Directed the company’s geospatial research and innovation initiatives, geospatial product development directions, published papers, participated in profile conferences, and applied AI/ML to geospatial data pipelines and analytics.
• Mentored junior engineers, supporting technical development within the team and supervised student GIS internships in collaboration with 2 leading London universities.
IT-specialist | PJSC “Planeta Travel” — St. Petersburg, Russia | Sep 2016 – Feb 2020
Supported development and maintenance of database-driven booking and pricing systems used by 2,000+ travel agencies.
Geospatial Researcher | John Snow Labs — Lewes, USA | May 2016 – Aug 2016
Maintained a national-scale database containing 1M+ US healthcare provider locations, developing efficient batch address geocoding solution.
Supervised the geospatial direction, curated and ensured geospatial data quality and consistency for healthcare analytics applications.
Senior GIS specialist | PJSC “Avtodor-SZ” — St. Petersburg, Russia | Oct 2015 – Apr 2016
Created geospatial databases of highways and roads for 200 km length in total using ArcGIS Desktop and developed FME-based ETL pipelines to process and transform the data.
Managed a geospatial asset database for the 140 km Saint Petersburg Ring Road infrastructure network using UAV imagery, LiDAR point clouds in ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS for Server.
Lead engineer | A.P. Karpinsky Russian Geological Institute — St. Petersburg, Russia | May 2012 – May 2015
Produced 100+ high-resolution DEMs, terrain models, and satellite-derived maps for geological mapping and environmental analysis.
Designed automated remote sensing workflows for monitoring land degradation and desertification in an area of about 100,000 sq. km using multi-temporal satellite imagery
Lead cartographer | PJSC “Limb” and PJSC “Aerogeodesia” — St. Petersburg, Russia | Sep 2008 – Aug 2011
Produced and updated 50+ high-quality large-scale digital topographic maps and plans.
Developed strong foundations in spatial data accuracy, projections, and GIS data standards.
EDUCATION
• Python for Geospatial Course | Cardiff, UK | 2019
• ESRI ArcGIS Course | St. Petersburg, Russia | 2012
• PhD (Geography | St. Petersburg State University | 2011
• MSc (5-year), Geography | Buryat State University | 2007
• BSc, Geography | Buryat State University | 2005