Senior Data Scientist, Fisheries & Water Resources

Responsibilities

The Senior Data Scientist will conduct quantitative analysis, develop decision support models, and manage data pipelines to assist water resource clients. They will also lead scientific documentation, mentor junior staff, and collaborate with interdisciplinary teams on fish and water management projects.

Requirements

Candidates must hold a Master's degree in fisheries biology, quantitative ecology, or a related field, or possess 5 years of increasingly complex experience in fish data science. Proficiency in R, Python, and SQL, along with experience in statistical modeling and scientific publication, is required.

Skills

• Data Science
• Fisheries Biology
• Statistical Modeling
• Decision Support Modeling
• R
• Python
• SQL
• Bayesian Modeling
• Machine Learning
• Hydrology
• Data Pipelines
• Scientific Writing
• Project Management
• Data Visualization
• Reproducible Research
• Water Resource Management

About this role

ICF’s Fish and Aquatic Science and Technology Team is in an exciting period of expansion and invites applications for a Senior Data Scientist position. The Senior Data Scientist will work closely with fish biologists, hydrologists, and project managers to assist water resource clients with quantitative analysis, decision support modeling, and publication of applied science. Most immediate assignments will focus on statistical and decision support modeling and publishing work on Chinook Salmon in California’s Central Valley, though there will be opportunities for future work in other regions. Generally, the Senior Data Scientist will manage data and conduct scientific analysis, develop and maintain models and data pipelines, and contribute to proposal writing, study planning, fieldwork, and final deliverables, including report and manuscript preparation.

This position is available in San Francisco, CA, with the flexibility to work remotely.

The successful applicant will demonstrate the following:
Fish Data Expertise with knowledge of and experience with key issues confronting fish management in Northern California, including Chinook Salmon population dynamics, endangered species recovery, habitat restoration, flow management, and monitoring program design.
Water Management Expertise with knowledge of and experience with key issues confronting water management in California, including reservoir and conveyance operations, water supply and allocation, environmental flows, and drought and flood management. Ability to understand and interpret water operations, hydrologic and hydraulic information, and their implications for fish populations, habitat, and management decisions. Familiarity with California water policy and the legislative process.
Quantitative and Problem-Solving Expertise: Knowledge and aptitude for quantitative analysis to evaluate the effects of clients’ proposed actions; ability to design and apply sophisticated, robust, and creative analytical approaches, including hierarchical and Bayesian statistical models and machine learning; ability to interpret hydrologic, hydraulic, and telemetry modeling outputs and integrate them into fish population and decision-support models; ability to conduct and interpret advanced statistical analyses; and proficiency in R, Python, and SQL.
Open and Reproducible Data Science: Demonstrated ability to design and implement transparent, reproducible, and collaborative scientific workflows consistent with U.S. federal Open Science and Open Data expectations. Experience developing documented, version-controlled analytical workflows; maintaining clear data provenance; automating data processing, analysis, and reporting; and producing reusable data, code, and analytical products. Ability to establish shared workflows and documentation that facilitate collaboration, scientific review, knowledge transfer, and reuse across interdisciplinary teams and agency partners.
Excellent Verbal and Written Communication Skills: Peer-reviewed scientific publication record and experience presenting at professional conferences. Strong ability to accurately and effectively translate scientific findings to inform policy recommendations in workshops and structured decision-making processes.
Ability to express results of analyses to technical and non-technical audiences, including multi-agency stakeholder groups, through technical reports, presentations, and interactive data visualization tools (e.g., R Shiny applications), sometimes in stressful and contentious settings.
Project Management Skills: Ability to manage several simultaneous long-term projects, including budget tracking, staff coordination, client relationship management, and completion of all required products/reports.
Team Leadership Skills: Demonstrated track record of setting high personal performance and quality standards and enabling the team to be successful; viewing all team members as critical and treating team members with respect and professionalism; collaborating and leveraging team member strengths; and mentoring/developing junior team members, including through code review and documentation practices.
Science-Business Balance: Expertise and passion for science, natural resources, and resolving complex fish problems while balancing the need for business acumen, marketing, and expansion opportunities.

Specific job duties will include:
Conducting analyses and leading or assisting with writing scientific documents, technical reports, and peer-reviewed manuscripts for fish-related projects
Developing, updating, and documenting statistical, population, and decision support models for fish and water resource management (e.g., Chinook Salmon recovery and flow decisions)
Building and maintaining reproducible codebases and automated data pipelines that connect monitoring data to models
Meeting with water resource clients to discuss technical aspects of planning, implementation, and monitoring of fish and water resource management projects
Describing projects and interpretation of analyses through written and oral communication and interactive visualizations to a broad audience, sometimes in contentious environments
Conducting scientific research leading to develop of knowledge to inform resource management.
Working with a team of technical staff from multiple disciplines to complete analyses and documentation on time and within budget
Developing scope and budget and writing proposals
Building and maintaining client relationships
Mentoring junior biologists

Education/Minimum Qualifications
Master’s degree in fisheries biology, fisheries and wildlife, quantitative ecology, or equivalent science-related field or
5 years of increasingly complex assignments in fish data science

Additional Desired Qualifications
Ability to demonstrate expert-level integration of complex data sets to facilitate analyses
Demonstrated expertise in quantitative fish science field
Experience conducting scientific research using...

About ICF

Marketing Services · 1,001-5,000 employees · headquartered in Reston, Virginia