Offshore Wind Environmental Monitoring Project Associate

California Marine Sanctuary Foundation

California Marine Sanctuary Foundation

United States
Posted on Thursday, November 2, 2023

To Apply

  • Send your cover letter and resume to jobs@californiamsf.org. This position will remain open until filled.
  • Note: Applications will not be accepted through LinkedIn.

About the Offshore Wind Environmental Monitoring Project

In California offshore waters, sustained northwesterly winds have been identified as a key energy resource which could contribute substantially to California’s renewable energy mandate. The state’s ambitious goals for floating offshore wind (OSW) will consider impacts to ecosystems and species in a myriad of new ways, since our wind energy projects will be in deeper waters, further from shore than ever before. Also, predicting, understanding, and mitigating specific risks and impacts will require new methods and data streams, given the diverse and unique marine taxa on the West Coast.

CMSF is leading a large multi-institutional effort to create a systematic, strategic, and multi-disciplinary guidance for the environmental monitoring of OSW construction, operations, maintenance, and decommissioning in California. This guidance will address 1) sources of potential impact, 2) current monitoring capacities, 3) information required for permitting and adaptive management, 4) priority questions and protocols for data sharing, integration, and analysis, and will create a clear 5) monitoring guidance that can be applied immediately.

About the Role

Reporting to California Marine Sanctuary Foundations (CMSF) Executive Director in coordination with CMSF’s Marine Spatial Ecologist, the Project Associate will:

  • Support synthesis of science publications addressing environmental monitoring for OSW and help create a bibliography and searchable database of citations;
  • Help develop a database of California’s current ocean monitoring efforts across government agencies, universities, NGOs, and research labs;
  • Help research opportunities to reduce impacts from OSW development;
  • Synthesize information derived from scientific working groups;
  • Help craft emails, memos, and reports pertaining to OSW; and
  • Help organize both virtual and in-person meetings and workshops.

About You

CMSF is looking for candidates who have:

  • A Masters, Ph.D., or equivalent experience in marine science or marine conservation;
  • Experience with GIS and working with complex datasets;
  • Significant experience creating science papers, reports, or white papers;
  • Strong scientific background, ability to synthesize information well;
  • Outstanding communication and organizational skills;
  • Proven experience coordinating both in-person and virtual meetings and workshops;
  • A can-do, forward-thinking attitude.

Salary and Location

  • This is a 20-hour/week part-time position with an hourly rate of $35/hour. This position accommodates a remote and flexible work schedule. Some travel throughout California will be required and expenses will be reimbursed.

About the Organization

The California Marine Sanctuary Foundation (CMSF) has worked to protect the state's coastal ecosystems while strengthening coastal resilience since 1995. In collaboration with a variety of local communities, including government agencies, tribal communities, harbors and marinas, and NGOs, we focus on five thematic areas: water quality protection, marine resource protection, coastal restoration, climate change mitigation, and community engagement. We strive to engage stakeholders, members of the public, and experts in these areas to identify and implement practical and effective solutions to reduce human impacts on and increase the resiliency of, California’s coastal resources.

For more information about our collective work please visit: https://www.californiamsf.org/

Diversity Statement

  • CMSF is committed to dismantling the longstanding racial, gender, and socio-economic boundaries that exist in the field of environmental conservation. When bringing on new staff and interns, we adhere to equitable recruiting policies and promote anti-discrimination within our work and with our partners in the local and conservation communities. We acknowledge that environmental conservation is woven with rich diversity including Indigenous Knowledge and Traditional Ecological Knowledge and we will do our best to amplify all the voices that contribute to conservation. Lastly, we commit to continued listening and learning, adapting to the needs of our community, and being inclusive.