Biological Technician III - Advanced Technology - NOAA Fisheries Sea-Going Surveys

Sea-going job accessible to Falmouth/Woods Hole, MA (with assignments on NOAA and partner vessels throughout the Northeast U.S.)

@Orchard is hiring a Biological Technician (Level III) to support NOAA Fisheries’ Ecosystem Surveys Branch (ESB) Advanced Technology Program. The ESB conducts fishery-independent resource surveys and research that focus on collecting, processing, and analyzing fisheries-independent data to support stock assessments and ecosystem assessments, which inform fisheries management. The focus of this position will be to assist the Advanced Technology Program that supports the advancement of new sampling technologies and techniques. The Biological Technician will provide experience working with and maintaining electrical equipment, provide leadership on field programs, support data management, and assist with the processing of optical and acoustic data. Work includes at-sea survey participation (20 –30+ days annually) aboard NOAA research vessels and other survey platforms.

Responsibilities 

• Participate in sea-going surveys aboard NOAA and partner vessels.
• Coordinate and lead sea-going survey mobilization and demobilization.
• Stand scientific watches of up to 12 hours/day at sea.
• Provide leadership of field parties or watches of up to seven individuals at sea.
• Operate electronic data acquisition systems for fisheries and oceanographic sampling.
• Prepare and maintain active acoustics equipment and assist with calibrating active acoustics equipment on various vessels used for fisheries science and research.
• Assist with deployment, calibration, and maintenance of optical/camera systems and equipment, such as camera calibrations and camera system assembly.
• Conduct QA/QC of survey data using NOAA protocols; prepare documentation of sampling procedures and metadata.
• Annotate benthic imagery and optical survey data as directed.
• Maintain, repair, and inventory sampling hardware.
• Support cruise staging/de-staging, equipment prep, and vessel logistics.
• Summarize survey data, assist with reports, and contribute to outreach materials (manuals, protocols, blogs, newsletters).
• Work independently with little supervision to accomplish tasks.
• Contribute to the development of scientific protocols, data management practices, and testing of data collection.
• Operate a variety of scientific equipment and technical software for data collection and processing.

Qualifications

Your background will include (all levels):

• Experience working aboard research or commercial vessels.

• Ability to work 12-hour shifts at sea for trips lasting up to 3 weeks.

• Strong teamwork and communication skills in challenging field environments.

• Must meet NOAA OMAO sea duty health criteria and provide proof of recent TB test.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office; familiarity with data entry and QA/QC practices.

• Valid driver’s license.

• Minimum of two years of experience identifying fish and invertebrate species in the Northwest Atlantic.

• Minimum of two years of experience with electronic data acquisition systems.

• Experience leading watches/field teams of up to 7 at sea.

• Experience working with modern technology, such active acoustic and optical systems.

• Experience maintaining, operating, and troubleshooting advanced technologies

Preferred Qualifications:

• Two years or 100 days at-sea conducting fishery-independent marine research using advanced technology.

• Knowledge of electrical wiring and ability to troubleshoot electrical issues.

• Familiarity with specialized software for processing optical or acoustic data.

To learn more about this opportunity to serve the NOAA Fisheries mission of advancing Fisheries science, please apply.

Compensation will be based on experience and qualifications, and is expected to be in the range of $63,000-$69,000 per year.

Established in 2010, @Orchard has an exceptional reputation, providing staffing solutions to time-sensitive, talent scarcity issues to deliver better talent management ROI.  Our specialty lies in the critical area of program talent acquisition and resource management, not in one narrow skillset, but across many areas of technical and functional delivery. To learn more about our other exciting opportunities, visit our Jobs Page at www.atorchard.com.