Bioacoustic Research Scientist II

AIS•Honolulu, HI

1d•Onsite

About The Position

A.I.S., Inc. (AIS) is seeking a Bioacoustic Research Scientist II to support NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center’s (PIFSC), Protected Species Division’s Passive Acoustic Studies of Cetaceans program. This role serves as a senior analyst and task lead, independently executing complex passive acoustic analysis projects for cetacean population assessments and ocean soundscape characterization. The position oversees all aspects of PAM data analysis, metadata management, data archiving, and scientific dissemination, working closely with the PIFSC Project Lead across seven task areas including cetacean detection and classification, Sea glider data processing, acoustic metadata database maintenance, soundscape analysis, fishery vessel acoustics, and participation in scientific working groups.

Requirements

Master's degree in statistics, marine science, or a related field with at least 3 years of relevant experience.
Comprehensive working knowledge of underwater acoustic theory and practice, including acoustic propagation, sound measurement, and advanced signal processing.
Expertise in developing, testing, and validating automated detectors and classifiers for cetacean species and anthropogenic sound sources.
Proven ability to design, execute, and interpret advanced statistical analyses of animal abundance, occurrence, and habitat (e.g., density estimation, spatio-temporal modeling).
Experience with acoustic localization techniques including automated algorithms in PAMGUARD and custom processing code.
Extensive experience processing acoustic data to extract soundscape/ambient noise measurements at hourly to yearly timescales.
Prior experience as lead contributor/author for peer-reviewed manuscripts and technical reports.
Proficiency in both MATLAB and R, including MATLAB-based acoustic analysis software (Triton).
Proficiency with open science practices, version control, and managing code in publicly accessible repositories (e.g., GitHub, NMFS GitHub Enterprise).
Proficiency with passive acoustic metadata databases including TETHYS and Makara.
Current MS Office skills.
Ability to obtain Public Trust background investigation clearance prior to beginning performance.
Must be able to work in the U.S.

Nice To Haves

PhD in marine science, bioacoustics, or a related discipline.
Experience with Python coding platforms and cloud-based data processing workflows.
Familiarity with NOAA Fisheries data archives including NCEI and InPort metadata systems.
Experience with fisheries acoustics or working with confidential fishery data under NDA.
Prior experience presenting at major scientific conferences (ASA, Marine Mammal Conference, DCLDE).

Responsibilities

Develop automated approaches for detection, classification, and localization of cetaceans using MATLAB, Python, R, PAMGUARD, and other appropriate software.
Characterize call features and examine behavior, occurrence, abundance, seasonality, and habitat of cetacean species based on their acoustic call types.
Perform quantitative analyses of acoustic datasets requiring statistical treatment for use in stock assessments (occurrence, abundance, seasonality, habitat).
Lead and support analysis of Sea glider passive acoustic data, including species classification, propagation modeling, and cloud-based processing workflows.
Lead data processing and archiving efforts, converting RAW acoustic files to WAV format and ensuring proper QA/QC and archiving to NCEI and partner institutions.
Maintain PIFSC acoustic metadata databases (TETHYS, Makara, NCEI) and develop standard procedures for data ingestion, quality checking, and uploading detection data.
Lead soundscape analyses using fixed and drifting acoustic recorder datasets to evaluate ambient noise and cetacean/anthropogenic sounds at hourly to annual scales.
Analyze underwater and in-air recordings from fishery vessels to detect vessel/gear sounds and cetacean detections; conduct acoustic propagation analyses.
Participate in and present at working group meetings and scientific conferences (NCEI, PAM SI, DCLDE, ASA, Marine Mammal Conference, Glider Meetings).
Lead and contribute to peer-reviewed manuscripts and technical reports; manage analysis code in publicly accessible repositories (NOAA Fisheries GitHub Enterprise).
Log data issues, maintain dataset logs, and report project status to the NOAA COR on a monthly basis via progress reports.
Develop and approve projects in coordination with the PIFSC Project Lead; provide training to staff as needed.