You?Three people at Coolpath, and one empty chair.
Heat Cartographer · Coolpath · Ahmedabad, hybrid · ₹28–36L · 15 people
- Climate · extreme heat
- Street photography × Satellite thermal mapping
- Closes 20 Jan
Meet the crew. There's a seat for you.
- You?This seatHeat Cartographer
Anjali Rao · Founder, your manager
“City officials don't change budgets for heat maps. They change them for a photo of a grandmother at a bus stop at 46 degrees. You'll bring both.”
On a bad day: calls the planning office twice in one hour.
A day in May
Peak heat season
- 06:00Dawn walk with a thermal camera
- 09:00Process the overnight satellite pass
- 12:00Heat hours: rest, no fieldwork
- 15:00Edit photos and layer them on the map
- 17:00Meeting with the city planning office
- 19:00Chai on the roof
Why this seat matters
“At two in the afternoon the road is 61 degrees. Your map showed the city. Now there is a tree over my cart.”
Rekha Patel, fruit seller, Ahmedabad
Cities plant shade where it looks good. It should go where people are getting sick.
Coolpath maps urban heat street by street for city governments in India. Their maps decide where trees, shade structures and cooling centres go. Six cities use them today.
Satellite data alone misses people. The Heat Cartographer adds photographs and walks on the ground, so each map shows where heat is hitting people, not just pavement.
Where this role takes you
Coolpath's 2030 goal, and where the work is today
6cities mapped
10% of the way to the goal60cities by 2030
Week 1
You walk it at 2pm.
Spend a week walking Ahmedabad with Farah and a thermal camera at the hottest hour. Photograph where people wait, work and rest, then compare it with the satellite map.
With
61°Croad surface at 2pm
Is this you?
If two or more of these sound like you, you're worth talking to, whatever your CV says.
- You've spent a whole day photographing one street.
- You notice where people stand when there's no shade.
- You want to know what a satellite can see that you can't, and the other way round.
- You can handle a 45-degree afternoon, and you know when to stop.
What life is like
- Summer
- No outdoor work from 12 to 4. Field shifts start at dawn.
- Every month
- Photo walk and critique, open to the whole team.
- Equipment
- Camera and thermal camera, yours to keep.
- Diwali
- Ten days off for everyone.
What you'll do
- Combine satellite heat data with street photography
- Lead ground-truth walks in each new city
- Train and work with community photographers
- Present heat atlases to city officials
What you bring
- A street or documentary photography portfolio
- GIS or remote sensing experience, or a clear plan to learn
- Gujarati, Hindi or Marathi
- Comfort working outdoors in hard conditions
- No remote sensing degree. Vikram runs a six-week course.
Your part in it
- WALK
- each city at 2pm with Farah and a thermal camera.
- SHOOT
- where people wait, work and rest in the heat.
- LAYER
- your street photographs on Vikram's satellite heat maps.
- PRESENT
- each heat atlas to the city planning office.
- TRAIN
- community photographers to document their own neighbourhoods.
What success looks like
- DAY 30
- you've walked Ahmedabad at the hottest hour and started Vikram's six-week course.
- DAY 60
- you've photographed Pune's hottest streets and matched them to the satellite layers.
- DAY 90
- the Pune heat atlas, with 2,000 street photographs, is with Pune's planning office.
What you’ll need
- A street or documentary photography portfolio
- GIS or remote sensing, or a clear plan to learn
- Comfort working outdoors in hard conditions
Nice to have, not required
- Experience teaching or training photographers.
Where you’ll work
- OFFICE
- Ahmedabad, for satellite processing and planning office meetings.
- REMOTE
- Editing days can be from home. Walks and city meetings are in person.
- FIELD
- Dawn walks in Ahmedabad, and ground-truth walks in Pune and each new city.
- HOURS
- India Standard Time. Dawn walks at 06:00, and no outdoor work from 12 to 4 in summer.
Languages
| Language | Need | Why |
|---|---|---|
| English | Required | The team language, and the language of every atlas. |
| Gujarati | One of these | The streets and chai stalls of Ahmedabad. |
| Hindi | One of these | Understood in most of the cities we map. |
| Marathi | One of these | Pune, where the next atlas is. |
The essentials
Heat Cartographer · Coolpath
- Salary
- ₹28–36L
- Where
- Ahmedabad, hybrid
- Leave
- 24 days + Diwali
- Kit
- Camera + thermal camera
How you'll interview · about 2 weeks
- 1 · Chat with Anjali
- 2 · Portfolio review
- 3 · Map one street (paid)
- 4 · A walk with Farah
Your first stop
A 2pm walk through Ahmedabad
Not ready to apply? Talk to Farah for 15 minutes.
No CV needed. Ask about the work, the people, or what a hard week looks like.