Freshwater Science Associate

Arlington, Virginia, USA

The position is full-time, fully remote, and can be based in any country where TNC is registered as a Non-government Organization and established employer in Africa (Angola, Gabon, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia), Latin America (Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru), and the Caribbean (The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, USVI).

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The mission of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is to conserve the lands and waters upon which all life depends. As a science-based organization, we develop innovative, on-the-ground solutions to the world’s toughest environmental challenges so that people and nature can thrive. Our work is guided by our values, which include a and respect for people, communities, and cultures. From a rewarding mission to career development and flexible schedules, there are many reasons to love life #insideTNC. Want to know more? Check out our   to hear stories from staff or visit  .

One of TNC’s primary goals is to cultivate an inclusive work environment so that employees around the globe have a sense of belonging and feel that their unique contributions are valued. We know we’ll only achieve our mission by hiring and engaging a diverse staff that reflects the communities in which we work. Recognizing that people bring talent and skills that have been developed outside the scope of a job, we take a holistic approach to recruitment that considers life experience in addition to the professional requirements listed in our postings. Please apply – we’d love to hear from you. To quote a popular saying at TNC, “you’ll join for the mission, and you’ll stay for the people.”

The Freshwater Science Associate supports engagement teams with critical science outputs for place-based watershed projects on behalf of the Nature for Water Facility (‘N4W’). Housed within The Nature Conservancy’s , the Nature for Water Facility is a technical assistance outfit that provides hand-in-hand support to local champions seeking to develop watershed investment programs. N4W aims to support 40-60 place-based engagements globally over four years via a mixture of pro-bono and fee-for-service partnerships. For additional background on the program, please see the About, Services, and Portfolio sections of the .

The position is full-time, fully remote, and can be based in any country where TNC is registered as a Non-government Organization and established employer in Africa (Angola, Gabon, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia), Latin America (Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru), and the Caribbean (The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, USVI).

The Freshwater Science Associate (‘Associate’) provides critical science inputs as part of broader N4W engagement teams that work with local organizations and agencies to build watershed investment programs that deliver water security and healthy ecosystem outcomes. The Associate’s work involves executing primary freshwater analyses, project coordination, information gathering and analysis from local, national, and global datasets, obtaining inputs from partner subject matter experts, incorporating feedback from local stakeholders, and ensuring the quality of finalized scientific outputs. This position provides technical execution support for projects promoting Nature-based Solutions for water security, including hydrology, geographic information systems, prioritization & optimization algorithms, land use / land cover evaluation, and monitoring & evaluation program establishment. The position requires occasional domestic and/or international travel, including to remote field locations (anticipated travel burden of 20%).

Roles and Responsibilities

• Prioritize watershed nature-based solution (NbS) implementation options to deliver targeted water security objectives.
• Application of commonly used spatial analytical tools and hydrological models.
• Projecting land use/land cover scenarios
• Developing implementation management dashboards via relational database visualization tools
• Assisting engagement Science Leads with the coordination of science workstreams
• Collaborating with partners from diverse backgrounds and geographies to incorporate their perspectives and develop interdisciplinary scientific products.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's Degree in water resources, ecology, hydrology, civil or environmental engineering, environmental science, geography, or a related field and one year of professional experience or equivalent combination
• Experience in geo-spatial analysis, hydrological modeling, and remote sensing /earth observation
• Experience synthesizing, interpreting, and communicating scientific information.        
• Experienced in project management planning and techniques, including elaborating clear work plans and managing deadlines.
• Experience writing and speaking in the English language.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 3+ years of professional experience, preferably within water sector consultancies and/or water resource management.
• Ecology expertise across a diversity of ecosystem environments.
• Geo-spatial and remote sensing analysis expertise (Desktop and cloud-based), including ArcGIS, QGIS, and Google Earth Engine.
• Hydrological modeling expertise, such as: SWAT, WEAP, HEC-HMS, InVEST, MODFLOW.
• Programming/statistical/data science expertise, such as: Python, R, MATLAB.
• Visualization expertise, including Tableau, ArcGIS Online, Power BI.
• Professional experience in NbS project design and implementation.
• Record of peer-reviewed publications and grey literature (non-peer reviewed) specific to the field of water resource management and NbS.
• Communication skills in articulating complex scientific concepts/outputs to non-technical audiences.
• Stakeholder engagement, facilitation, and human-centered design skills.
• Experience working in data-poor environments.
• Experience providing capacity building /training to staff/officials from different backgrounds and professional levels on basic to advanced hydrological modeling, GIS, and remote sensing.
• Experience in geospatial and remote sensing field data collection and processing.
• Ability to work efficiently and effectively on multiple concurrent projects.
• Multi-language skills (in particular, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Swahili)

Since 1951, TNC has been doing work you can believe in. Through grassroots action, we have grown from a small non-profit into one of the most effective and wide-reaching environmental organizations in the world. Thanks to more than 1 million members, over 400 scientists, and the dedicated efforts of our diverse staff and partners, we impact conservation around the world! 

TNC offers competitive and comprehensive benefits packages tailored to the individual countries where we work. These may include health care benefits, retirement benefits, parental leave, paid time off, life insurance, and disability coverage as well as an employee assistance program and other life and well-being benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our on nature.org/careers. 

We’re proud to offer a flexible work environment that supports the health and well-being of the people we employ.

To apply for job ID 54227, submit your materials online by using the Apply Now button at by 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, November 26th. Need help applying? Visit our page or contact .

The Nature Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our commitment to diversity includes the recognition that our conservation mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and culture. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority and we encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military, protected veteran status or other status protected by law.

The successful applicant must meet the requirements of The Nature Conservancy's background screening process.

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TNC is committed to offering accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please send a note to with Request for Accommodation in the subject line.

An attractive salary and benefits package is part of TNC’s value proposition to our employees. TNC strives to provide competitive pay and bases salaries on the geographic location of the role committing to being equitable across groups and providing hiring salary ranges when possible.

Since we support flexible and remote work for our employees, many positions have a flexible location within countries where we’re registered as a Non-government Organization and established as an employer. This may mean we’re unable to provide a hiring salary range in the posting for some of our positions. However, candidates invited to be part of our interview process will be provided their location specific range upon request.