We’re expanding into the Philippines and Thailand — and we’re building the team to take us there.
This is a rare chance to bring your skills to something that genuinely hasn’t been done before — and leave a mark on people and the planet.
We’re looking for individuals who are energized by complex problems, comfortable with ambiguity, and care about water, nature, and climate.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
The Science Lead assists local N4W and partner field programs in a range of geographies with designing, implementing, and evaluating conservation investment programs that deliver water security and healthy ecosystem outcomes. This work involves conducting primary scientific analyses, project management against defined timelines, coordinating inputs from partner subject-matter experts, incorporating feedback from local stakeholders, and ensuring the quality of finalized scientific outputs. In particular, this position will provide project management and technical execution support for projects promoting Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for water security, including hydrology, geographic information systems, prioritization & optimization algorithms, land use / land cover evaluation, and monitoring & evaluation program development.
This role will lead science project management workstreams to support NbS for water security outcomes; in particular, spatial analyses of watershed management options, hydrological modeling and associated ecosystem service evaluation, NbS portfolio prioritization studies, inputs to return-on-investment analyses, and design of monitoring & evaluation programs. The Science Lead will integrate multiple scientific workstreams and ensure the overall integrity of data and modeling architecture. Furthermore, this role will be an expert in applying commonly used hydrological modeling and spatial analytical tools. Collaboration is a key aspect of this role, as the Science Lead will work with partners from various backgrounds and geographies, particularly watershed stakeholders, to incorporate their perspectives and develop interdisciplinary scientific products. Effectively communicating scientific results to both technical and non-technical audiences is essential.
The Science Lead will be adept at delivering project outputs across a range of geographic and data-quality contexts. This includes managing contract vendors by issuing terms of reference, overseeing contractor workflows, and guaranteeing the quality of final outputs. Presenting technical scientific findings in stakeholder meetings, publications, and conferences will be a regular part of the duties. This role will also collaborate with the Nature for Water Facility knowledge management staff to continuously refine standard processes, procedures, and templates. The role may require frequent domestic and international travel, and evening and weekend work hours. Additionally, the Science Lead will be responsible for providing technical information and metrics to update TNC’s Shared Conservation Agenda (SCA) HUB, as well as performing project updates within the HUB itself.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE
- Master’s degree in civil or environmental engineering, hydrology, environmental science, environmental geography, or related field and 5+ years of professional experience, or equivalent combination.
- Experience coordinating and structuring scientific workstreams, including defining analytical frameworks and managing inputs across multiple contributors.
- Experience synthesizing, interpreting, and communicating scientific information.
- Experience preparing reports of findings.
- Experience working and communicating with a wide range of people.
- Experience in project management planning and techniques, including elaborating clear work plans and managing deadlines.
- Experience in hydrological modeling.
- Proficient in the English language, both written and spoken.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE
- 7+ years of professional experience, preferably within water sector consultancies and/or water resource management, including experience in a senior or coordinating role.
- Experience specifically in watershed and river basin analysis, as distinct from urban drainage, pipe infrastructure, or sewer systems engineering.
- Hydrological modeling expertise, including MIKE 11, MIKE 21, DHI MIKE, SWAT, WEAP, HEC-HMS, InVEST, or MODFLOW.
- Programming / statistical expertise, including Python, R, MATLAB, Google Earth Engine.
- Spatial analysis expertise, including ArcGIS, QGIS, Google Earth Engine.
- Visualization expertise, including Tableau, ArcGIS Online.
- Professional experience in NbS project design and implementation.
- Record of peer-reviewed publications and/or grey literature (non-peer reviewed) specific to the field of water resource management and NbS.
- Ability to communicate complex scientific concepts and outputs to non-technical audiences.
- Stakeholder facilitation & human-centered design skills.
- Ability to work effectively on multiple concurrent projects.
- Proficiency in additional languages is highly desirable, particularly Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia/Malay, Thai, or Filipino/Tagalog
This description is not designed to be a complete list of all duties and responsibilities required for this job.
