Careers in GIS

In today’s data-driven environment, there are growing opportunities to specialize as a GIS professional and to enrich other career paths with GIS skills such as data visualization and spatial analysis.

  • Analysts and technicians

    Analysts make sense of data to support decision-making. Technicians often participate in data collection, digitization, and analysis.

  • Data scientists

    Data scientists use GIS to incorporate spatial data into their analysis. They find insights that can be used for market analysis, urban planning, logistics, and more.

  • Developers

    Developers use GIS to build location services and mapping capabilities into products, solutions, apps, business systems, and websites.

  • Environmental engineers

    Focused on sustainability and balancing environmental and economic needs, these engineers use GIS to analyze and manage environmental data.

  • Cartographers

    Cartographers and photogrammetrists work closely with GIS to create accurate, interactive, visually appealing maps, and can go beyond mapping into analysis.

  • Communications professionals

    Maps are a visually compelling way to communicate plans and gather feedback from groups such as city councils, business leaders, or the public.

  • Civil engineers

    GIS helps civil engineers ground their designs in real-world context, integrating design and construction data from BIM and CAD with digital maps.

  • Surveyors

    Surveyors use GIS to compare real-world landscapes with land records and aerial imagery, inputting information digitally while in the field collecting data.

  • Planners and designers

    Planners can use GIS to create informed, sustainable development, modeling what designs for buildings or indoor spaces would look like in the real world. 

  • Researchers and scientists

    From oceanographers to conservationists and climate scientists, GIS underpins virtually all scientific disciplines to help us better understand our world.

  • Consultants

    Consultants add GIS to their toolbox to support organizations with onetime or ongoing projects that require geospatial intelligence and GIS expertise.

  • Project managers

    Project managers use GIS to consolidate project phases and their associated information in one place, optimizing resources and timelines.

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Real-life GIS heroes

Get inspired by exploring profiles of people who have made GIS their career. Read about what they’re accomplishing today.

Explore their stories
A photo collage shows a selection of real people who are featured in stories about GIS heroes from Esri’s ArcNews publication.

Careers at Esri

Esri employees support organizations around the world as they use GIS to solve complex challenges. Explore positions in engineering, app and product development, customer service, education, operations, marketing, sales, and more.

Discover careers at Esri
A diverse group of three Esri employees gather to have a conversation at Esri Headquarters in Redlands, California.