The Opportunity

If you are a quantitative-minded individual interested in applying and growing your advanced knowledge of environmental sciences, then this posting is for you!

As a quantitative ecologist, you will work on environmental projects related to adaptive management, climate change adaptation, fisheries and aquatic resource management, ecosystem restoration, cumulative effects assessment, and decision support system development.

To be considered, your training and skills will include statistical analysis, modelling (including programming/coding), and experimental design blended with strong written and verbal science communication. We are particularly interested in someone with experience in at least two of (1) developing predictive habitat suitability models and analyzing interactions between fish and/or wildlife and their habitats, (2) carbon budget modelling and (3) climate analytics. Knowledge developing (coding) related decision support tools, including spatial user interfaces for these tools is a significant asset (e.g., R/Shiny, and preferably others).

This is a full-time opportunity based in either Vancouver or Ottawa. You will have access to our staff benefits, which offers competitive compensation, medical benefits, flexible working arrangements (hybrid workplace and opportunities for future home office placement), support for professional development, interoffice travel support to visit colleagues outside of Vancouver and Ottawa, and three weeks of paid vacation plus paid time off between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

About Us

ESSA Technologies Ltd. (ESSA) is an employee-owned Canadian environmental consulting company with offices in British Columbia and Ontario. We envision a world where creativity, a focus on learning, and systems thinking are the foundation of innovative solutions to environmental challenges. Our corporate mission is to “bring together people, science and analytical tools to sustain healthy ecosystems and human communities”. We achieve this mission by helping clients deal with tough, emerging problems, applying a neutral, thorough evaluation of evidence, encouraging diverse participatory processes, and collaboratively guiding our clients to make informed decisions that are designed to learn over time. Learn more about us at www.essa.com.

At ESSA, we are passionate about what we do and enjoy working with professionals who share our values and mission. ESSA’s staff are purpose-driven problem solvers, big-picture critical thinkers, evidence-driven and motivated by an aspiration to become trusted advisors to our clients and make a difference in the world. The magic of ESSA’s mission is “bringing together” diverse groups of clients around our three pillars: people, science and tools. ESSA is a bridging organization with progressive values focused on providing impartial, rigorous scientific advice striving to maximize our positive impact in the world. With our staff and clients, we do this by being inclusive of a diversity of perspectives and ways of knowing that may vary depending on experience, race, gender identity, age, disability status, sexual orientation, and religion amongst others.

You will be surrounded by a rich intellectual inheritance, and colleagues committed to collaboration and team-building that are:

• Working on a wide variety of inter-disciplinary research focused on complex interactions in biological and human systems, taking a holistic rather than reductionist perspective in organizing and understanding knowledge and data,
• Delivering rigorous professional-level advice to our clients and internally to our own staff, and
• Resolving scientific uncertainty by combining analytical methods and technical facilitation, often with an Adaptive Management mindset.

Your Responsibilities

This position will involve playing supporting roles in both project work and business development. We outline some example responsibilities below:

Project support:

• Working on projects spanning a range of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
• Collaborating with clients and project contributors to understand, develop, and apply statistical analyses, models, tools and experimental design to inform decision making in a variety of applied resource management contexts.
• Developing, implementing, and presenting geospatial analysis, across broad spatial scales from landscape to local scale, for a variety of purposes (e.g., predictions of habitat suitability to support species recovery / ecosystem restoration, assessment of the cumulative effects from multiple human stressors, climate change vulnerability analysis / projections)
• You can work independently in at least two of the following areas:
  • Developing, implementing, and presenting predictions between fish and/or wildlife models to colleagues and clients, with application of climate change projections.
  • Modelling carbon storage and sequestration in terrestrial and marine ecosystems, with an emphasis on forest carbon budget modelling in harvested timberlands.
  • Working with climate data to develop climate analytics which may include climate change scenario selection, working with climate downscaling tools, manipulating climate variables and large climate data sets, and integrating climate indices into climate-informed habitat tools (e.g., bioclimatic envelope, stream temperature, and/or hydroclimatic modelling).
• Reporting on project progress and results during workshops and client meetings using strong written and verbal science communication.
• Mentoring other ESSA staff working on complex technical projects, enabling other individuals to do their best and grow.
• Occasionally travelling to attend and participate in client meetings, workshops, and study site visits in North America and abroad (no fieldwork).

Business development support: 

• Contributing to business development efforts and proposal writing (e.g., developing the study design or approach for a proposed project).
• Contributing to the development of training materials.
• Developing business opportunities through networking (e.g., by attending conferences) as you advance.

Requirements

• You possess or are about to complete a Master’s or Ph.D. degree in environmental sciences, ecology, biology, resource management.
• You have real-world experience (i.e., non-course-based) applying quantitative methods and frameworks in natural resource management.
• While we envision that these responsibilities can be handled by and will be rewarding to an intermediate quantitative ecologist (i.e., 3-5 years of prior relevant work experience following a Master’s degree and/or a PhD); we encourage exceptional junior candidates to also apply. In light of our teaming needs (successful candidate will be reporting to other project leads and assigned intermediate level tasks), we are unlikely to consider candidates with more than 12 year’s experience following obtaining their Master’s or Ph.D.

Your differentiating skills may include the following:

• Prior experience (at least 3-5 years) in a private consulting environment or research institute.
• Registration or eligibility for registration with the College of Applied Biologists within six months.
• Experience with forest carbon budget modelling (e.g., Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector, Forest Vegetation Simulator, other), and willingness to train on forest carbon modelling methods.
• Software development / coding knowledge beyond R/Shiny.
• Spanish-language or French-language skills

Applying

We offer a welcoming, inclusive workplace and commit to working with staff to help them thrive and prosper.  Our total rewards program for employees provides competitive compensation, medical benefits, flexible working arrangements, and vacation, plus support for ongoing professional development.

Please email a cover letter and résumé to careers@essa.com by January 31, 2024 with “Quantitative Ecologist” in the subject line. We will review applications and contact selected candidates by February 5, 2023. Interviews will be conducted between February 12-16, 2024. The target start is March 11, 2024.

All applicants must be eligible to legally work in British Columbia and/or Ontario at the time of applying.

Salary range: $75,000-$110,000.