Senior Scientist

• Analyze and interpret data to identify key conservation challenges in Sonoma County’s ecosystems and landscapes and inform Sonoma Land Trust’s land management decisions, conservation priorities, and programmatic activities.
• Act as an advisor to the staff and board, aligning strategy with science initiatives.
• Collaborate with program teams to develop, refine and conduct applied research on the Land Trust’s preserves to gather data on ecological conditions and biodiversity, in order to design key conservation strategies.
• Guide the strategic development of data, methods, tools, and integrated information products that result in enduring benefits in the conservation of biological and ecological diversity.

Project Management

• Plan, manage, and implement research projects in partnership with program teams to meet timelines within budget targets.
• Lead and/or collaborate on funding proposals and grant applications to secure financial resources for scientific research and conservation projects.
• Collaborate with program teams to design and implement durable conservation strategies and land management practices.

Communication and Partnership

• Communicate the scientific findings of field research to diverse internal and external audiences through reports, articles, and presentations.
• Represent the organization in external forums such as meetings with the conservation science community, partners, policymakers, elected officials, donors, and institutional funders.
• Collaborate with the Public Policy and Funding Manager to ensure the integration of science into policy development and advocacy campaigns, providing evidence-based rationales for the Land Trust’s policy positions.
• Build and maintain relationships with regional and national academic institutions, natural resource management agencies, and peer conservation NGOs to foster research, collaboration, and knowledge exchange.
• Engage with local communities, landowners, and tribal government representatives to ensure that conservation research projects recognize the rights and perspectives of community members, provide a benefit to community partners, and make ethical use of data that may be shared with Sonoma Land Trust.
• Serve as a consultant to the Community Engagement and Marketing and Communications Teams in their work to develop scientifically robust educational programming and messaging.

Scientific Leadership

• Identify, evaluate, and prioritize research initiatives and key scientific conservation issues to align with the organization’s mission and drive impactful conservation outcomes within Sonoma Land Trust preserves and throughout the region.
• Ensure the senior leadership team and staff stay informed about and understand current scientific research, consensus, developments, and their implications for and application to the organization’s mission and strategy.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to organize the scientific foundation and direction for Sonoma Land Trust’s conservation priorities and organizational strategy and ensure that evidence-based science informs all aspects of the organization’s work.