IGARSS 2026 Preview: Disruption in Civilian Government Job Market Yields Opportunities

By Kevin P. Corbley

Periods of uncertainty often look like disruption in the moment. Looking back, they become turning points. The geospatial profession is entering one of those turning points today, and the leaders who recognize that transformation will shape the workforce of 2030.

According to remote sensing scientist Dr. Zorana Jelenak, today’s hiring environment, especially in the civilian sector of the U.S. government, is part of a much larger story that is playing out globally. The demand for geospatial professionals is not disappearing; it is evolving in the U.S. and around the world.

“For decades, government largely defined the direction of the geospatial profession,” Jelenak said. “Government will continue to lead many of our nation’s highest-priority missions, but an increasing share of innovation, data services, and operational capabilities will be developed through commercial companies and public-private partnerships.”

These changes will be the focus of Jelenak’s remarks during the featured IGARSS 2026 panel, “Geospatial Workforce 2030: Industry Demand, Leadership Perspectives, and the Next Generation of Talent.” The panel, which will be moderated by Dr. Shawana Johnson GISP of Global Marketing Insights, will be held at 11 am EDT on Tuesday, August 11.

The panel will provide IGARSS attendees with a “forward-looking assessment of the geospatial employment market through 2030 while candidly addressing one of the industry’s most urgent issues: how to attract, prepare, and retain the next generation of geospatial professionals,” said  Dr. Johnson.

Dr. Johnson continued, “The geospatial workforce challenge is not confined to one country. From North America and Europe to Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East, employers need professionals who can combine strong geospatial foundations with AI literacy, critical thinking, and the ability to operate across cultures and borders. Every country is in search of this talent. There is a chasm in some countries between the cost to become experienced and well-educated and the beginning salaries.”

Jelenak points out the current mandate in the U.S. government is to use more commercial data, which is having an international impact that geospatial students around the world should understand.

“Opening doors for commercial data into government operations will have a far-reaching impact on both a national and international scale, and this administration supports that. I personally believe that orienting a career around any single government isn’t the right bet for someone just entering the field,” she said. “The Earth observing system is already international, and so are the careers. The national meteorological services – ESA, EUMETSAT, JMA, KMA – and the commercial Earth observation sector that operates across borders is where a great deal of this happens. Today any graduate who can show a national water agency, or an insurer, or a port authority what Earth observation does for their decisions is not only looking for a job; they may be creating one. This is harder than applying, [but] it is also more durable.”

Evolution is a Necessity

Results of the worldwide study align with what Jelenak has seen in her more than two decades of experience supporting NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). As project scientists employed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), Jelenak believes the profession is evolving – because it must. In the past the government was driven primarily by government missions and now they are moving toward a broader ecosystem in which government, commercial industry, academia, and end users all play increasingly important roles.

“Government will continue to define many of the nation’s critical missions, from weather forecasting and climate monitoring to disaster response and national security,” she said. “But Earth observation is becoming just as important to industries such as insurance, energy, transportation, agriculture, finance, and climate services. As these sectors increasingly rely on geospatial information to support business decisions, they will become major drivers of innovation and demand alongside government.”

“The question is no longer whether there will be jobs in geospatial,” Jelenak said. “The question is whether we are preparing and upskilling people for the jobs that will exist in 2030 rather than the jobs that existed in 2010.”

Jelenak believes this shift has profound implications for leadership in both government and academia. She doesn’t hesitate to offer advice to university professors and government department heads from the U.S. and around the world, many of whom she hopes will be in attendance at the IGARSS Workforce session.

“Leadership isn’t simply about creating jobs,” she said. “It’s about anticipating where our profession is headed and ensuring the workforce is ready before the need becomes critical.”

Preparing that workforce, she argues, is a shared responsibility across universities, government, and industry. While technical expertise remains essential, tomorrow’s professionals must also understand how measurements become information, how information supports decisions, and how to work across organizational boundaries throughout their careers.

“We also need to rethink how we develop experience,” she said. “Professional apprenticeships shouldn’t begin after graduation, they should be an integral part of technical education. By the time students graduate, they should already understand how their work supports real missions, real users, and real decisions.”

Rather than viewing today’s changes as a challenge, Jelenak sees them as an opportunity.

“We’re witnessing the evolution of the geospatial profession,” she said. “The organizations that recognize this transformation and invest in multidisciplinary talent today will define the future of our field.”

Learn More at IGARSS 2026

At the August 11 IGARSS session, Jelenak promises to offer additional insights on building the international geospatial workforce and preparing students to work in it. She invites students and professors to attend.

Dr. Johnson will be presenting detailed results of exhaustive worldwide market studies her company has conducted into the status of the Geospatial Workforce during the panel. [She presented earlier results of this study at GeoWeek 2026, and GRSS published a synopsis here: www.grss-ieee.org/resources/news/global-research-reveals-geospatial-workforce-sk… 

The Workforce panel is part of the IGARSS 2026 Technology Industry Education (TIE) agenda. Find more details at 2026.ieeeigarss.org/tie_events.php#geospatial-workforce-2030 .