Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Kpler is a company providing maritime intelligence and data solutions. The OSINT Analyst supports the Maritime Domain Awareness team by resolving vessel identities that automated detection cannot confidently determine, investigating spoofing and evasion, and producing evidence-based identification records. The role also contributes labelled ground truth to improve detection models and maintains high standards of sourcing and data integrity.
Responsibilities
- Adjudicate the identifications that automated detection cannot resolve: attach a verified identity to dark, spoofed, or low-confidence contacts, with sourced evidence and an explicit confidence level
- Investigate identity manipulation and evasion: AIS gaps and dark periods, GNSS and position spoofing, duplicated or borrowed MMSI, name and flag changes, and vessel substitution
- Apply open-source intelligence tradecraft: interpret satellite and optical imagery, work ship-photo databases and vessel registries, corporate and beneficial-ownership records, port-state and terminal records, classification and insurance sources, and open reporting
- Reconstruct pattern-of-life and ownership-over-time, building the history that turns a single detection into an explained vessel
- Produce structured identification records with clear provenance: every conclusion traceable to its sources, confidence stated plainly, and reporting language disciplined and defensible
- Feed the model-improvement loop: return ground truth and edge cases to the data science team, and help define where automation should focus next
- Uphold sourcing and data-integrity standards across the team, keeping the record accurate, current, and trusted
Skills
- • 3+ years in intelligence, investigations, maritime analysis, or a related open-source (OSINT) research discipline, with a track record of turning fragmentary evidence into defensible conclusions. • Working knowledge of the maritime domain: vessel types and particulars, AIS, registries, flag and ownership structures, and shipping operations. • Genuine OSINT tradecraft: source discovery and evaluation, cross-referencing across independent sources, and disciplined handling of uncertainty and provenance. • Confidence interpreting imagery (satellite, optical, and ideally SAR) well enough to reason about what a detection is showing. • Meticulous, evidence-led documentation and clear written assessments, with careful use of confidence and caveat language. • Rigorous and evidence-led, with an instinct for corroboration and a low tolerance for unsupported claims. • Comfortable with ambiguity, and able to reach and defend a judgement when the picture is incomplete. • Structured, methodical, and able to prioritise a queue of investigations under time pressure. • Strong communicator, able to write for analysts, compliance teams, and senior stakeholders alike. • Curious and collaborative, with a continuous-improvement mindset and a willingness to strengthen the tools around you. • Bachelor's or Master's degree in international relations, security or intelligence studies, maritime studies, geography, data or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
- • Familiarity with sanctions, trade compliance, and evasion typologies (shadow-fleet behaviour, ship-to-ship transfers, chokepoint activity). • Experience contributing labelled data or ground truth to machine-learning workflows, or working alongside a data science team. • GIS and geospatial tooling, and comfort with large datasets. • Additional languages relevant to major shipping and registry jurisdictions
Company Overview
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