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Senior Environmental Scientist/Environmental Scientist.
San Francisco, CA, USA
Posted on Aug 28, 2026
Job Description and Duties
The California Coastal Commission is seeking an experienced Environmental Scientist or Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist) to join its Ecology Team (Technical Services Unit) at its Headquarters Office in downtown San Francisco. This position will primarily focus on the relationship between wildfire and coastal ecology as relates to vegetation management for fuel reduction, ecological restoration, and resilience work across a range of ecosystems, including forests, shrublands, grasslands and wetlands throughout the coastal zone, which extends inland from the shoreline at variable distances up to more than five miles in some areas.
The Commission is a small State agency that is charged with protecting coastal resources and managing coastal development in California. The Commission’s mission is to implement the Coastal Act and to protect, restore, and enhance coastal and marine resources for the continuing benefit of current and future generations. It carries out this mandate through regulatory and planning actions related to development within offshore waters and on land along the California coast. The Commission also has authority under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act to review federal and federally-permitted activities such as dredging, military training exercises, wildland management, and highway projects that affect resources of the coastal zone.
The Ecology Team generally supports the Commission and its staff with technical review and analysis of potential effects on the coast’s sensitive natural resources associated with proposed development projects. Under the direction of the Ecology Team Manager, the successful incumbent will be integrated into the existing team of five ecologists and work with Commission staff to address ecological issues raised in the Commission’s policy, planning, and regulatory work as relates to wildfire resilience and risk reduction efforts. This work will focus on understanding and addressing the ecological effects of vegetation management for fuel reduction and wildfire resilience, including through ecological restoration, throughout the coastal zone. It will necessitate cooperation with other scientific and technical teams such as Mapping and Water Quality, coordination with the Commission’s Statewide Planning Unit, and provision of scientific support to staff and the Commission. Duties will be adjusted commensurately to the level at which the position is filled. Generally, the incumbent will be expected to: review and analyze a variety of technical reports including CEQA/NEPA documents, technical surveys and memoranda, restoration and mitigation plans, and scientific literature; conduct research and investigations often involving complex environmental conditions and circumstances; identify problems including potential adverse impacts to coastal resources and means to avoid and minimize these; factor in climate change dynamics relative to environmental considerations; coordinate with other federal, state, and local agencies; and, make recommendations for conformance with the natural resource policies of the Coastal Act and relevant certified plans.
Key functions of the job include: analyzing proposed fire resilience and risk reduction work for consistency with applicable Coastal Act policies; tracking topical scientific literature including white papers and peer-reviewed publications; guiding related policy based on scientific understanding of the issues and existing frameworks; developing recommendations on how to avoid and minimize adverse impacts to native habitat (including for communities and species) associated with fuel reduction and vegetation management efforts across the landscape while advancing ecological resilience; contributing to the development of recommendations for Commission regulatory action, including staff reports, permit conditions, and planning documents; communicating with project proponents; updating and maintaining a spatial database of authorized fire resilience and risk reduction work and conducting geospatial analyses; reviewing monitoring and mitigation plans and reports; participating in site visits and inspections to evaluate on-the-ground ecological conditions; writing technical memoranda to support and accompany staff reports and recommendations; and providing technical presentations at public meetings. The incumbent may also represent the Commission staff on multi-agency work groups, task forces, and similar entities; and coordinate with staff of local, state, and federal agencies; the legislature; stakeholder groups; and the broader public.
The position offers considerable opportunity for developing and contributing expertise on a range of ecosystems as well as relevant and emerging issues related to coastal ecology and wildfire resilience in California’s coastal landscape.
This position is Limited-Term (the appointment may be extended and/or may become permanent). Though the position is being listed under both classifications; only one position will be filled, as consistent with the qualifications of the selected individual.
You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement.