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Paid Technician: Conservation Impact Data Specialist (remote)

Island Conservation (IC) is seeking a dedicated Conservation Impact Data Specialist to join IC’s Conservation Impact Team. The Data Specialist will be focused on developing and maintaining IC’s conservation impact databases, as well as acquiring, organizing, analyzing and sharing relevant data. This position will remain open until filled.

Agency/Organization: Island Conservation

Location: This is a fully remote position, ideally stationed in one of IC’s most active regions (preferably the USA or New Zealand, with Chile, Ecuador and Palau open for consideration). While primarily operating remotely from their home duty station, the position will require some (up to 10%) domestic and international travel, occasionally including multiple consecutive weeks away from the duty station.  

Website: https://www.islandconservation.org/position-title-conservation-impact-data-specialist/

Job Description: We are seeking a dedicated Conservation Impact Data Specialist to join IC’s Conservation Impact Team. Our team is dedicated to measuring, enhancing and sharing the impact of IC’s work across project, program, organizational and partnership scales. Reporting to the Conservation Impact Director, the Data Specialist will be focused on developing and maintaining IC’s conservation impact databases, as well as acquiring, organizing, analyzing and sharing relevant data. They will collaborate with IC staff and partner organizations to help lead the development of new database tools, coordinate data collected in situ, prepare data for analysis, and provide training and support regarding data management, workflows and analysis. This position will also play a crucial role in developing a new project selection framework, funded by a grant from NASA, that ensures IC focuses future investments on high priority island sites.    

Specifically, this person will: 

  • Collaborate with IC staff, as well as data specialists at partner organizations, to develop new and refine existing databases and tools that ensure effective data management, analysis and sharing. 
  • Acquire, organize and archive standardized conservation impact datasets including terrestrial, marine, biodiversity, climate, and community impact monitoring data from IC projects and partners. 
  • Support data analysis and sharing of results, largely via producing impact monitoring reports and dashboards that demonstrate the effectiveness and multiple benefits of IC’s conservation initiatives. 
  • Perform data preparation, transformation and management for in situ data collection efforts; assist with in situ data collection, as needed (10% or less each year).  
  • Develop, update and maintain data standards, metadata and digital repositories to support open-source digital data archiving and scientific analysis. 
  • Provide training and support to IC staff and partners for the implementation of data storage and analysis techniques as well as machine-learning-assisted workflows and analysis of field survey, visual and acoustic data. 
  • Support the collection, analysis and calibration of environmental variables derived from drones and satellite imagery to improve remotely sensed estimates of biomass and other ecological metrics. 
  • Help design and manage new tools and frameworks to help IC’s Conservation Impact Team prioritize impact monitoring and active restoration activities. 
  • Update and maintain IC’s organizational datasets, including IC’s global project portfolio pipeline, our standardized metrics database and our strategic and organizational accomplishments tracking tools. 

Qualifications:

Minimum qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Natural Science, or a related scientific or technical field. 
  • Strong database development and management skills, including data modeling, database design, data entry and storage workflows and query development; preferably with experience using Microsoft Access. 
  • Demonstrated experience in data acquisition, organization and analysis, including metadata management and digital data archiving. 
  • Proficiency in R for scientific computing and analysis. 
  • Proficiency in machine learning and data analysis techniques. 
  • Experience in GIS, remote sensing and/or remote data science more broadly. 
  • Experience in database development and management. 
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. 
  • Learning mindset. 
  • Ability to collaborate effectively with diverse teams and partner organizations. 
  • Detail-oriented, with a commitment to data accuracy and quality. 
  • Ability to spend up to 10% of time away from remote office location. 

Desirable qualifications

  • Experience consulting on scientific projects or working within a scientific team. 
  • Knowledge of Python and SQL programming for automating data analysis, data visualization and database management. 
  • Knowledge of using online versioned repositories for data storage and code (e.g., Github, Zenodo). 
  • Experience analyzing remote sensed data (eg. satellite, camera trap, acoustic) to generate estimates of species and/or ecosystem change. 
  • Applied experience in building and using machine learning and modeling pipelines (e,g, MegaDetector). 
  • Experience collaborating meaningfully with indigenous or other under-represented communities and non-traditional conservation partners with diverse interests and perspectives. 
  • Familiarity with applied field work in conservation, invasive species management and biosecurity, wildlife management, ecology, forestry, marine biology or similar 
  • Additional foreign language skills, especially Spanish or French 

Wage: Island Conservation offers a salary and benefits package competitive with other international not-for-profit conservation organizations. The salary range for this position will be between $45,000 to $65,000, depending on experience, education and duty station location. The compensation package also contains a full benefits package including insurance and retirement contributions, which depend upon employee tenure and remote duty station cost of living index. 

To apply: Applicants who fail to follow these guidelines will not be considered. Only principals should apply; recruiters, please do not contact. Please, no phone calls about this position and we ask that you not contact the job poster about other services, products, or commercial interests.

Qualified candidates should apply to jobs@islandconservation.org (with the email subject line containing the job title and your last name). Application materials should include a letter of interest and your resume. The letter of interest must describe your personal and professional motivations to apply for the position and demonstrate how your skills and experience make you the ideal candidate. The letter should also state your salary expectations and desired duty station location.

Application Deadline: This position will remain open until filled

Start Date: N/A

Contact: David Will (david.will@islandconservation.org)