Manager for Urban Conservation

New York Botanical Garden•New York, NY

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager of Urban Conservation is the glue that holds the urban conservation program together. This position conducts scientific analyses and curates datasets and other assets; coordinates and ensures the timely, on-budget, and effective development of tools and applications; helps administer the program including marketing, legal, and financial matters; and assists with outreach and communications internally and externally. The manager will help facilitate and contribute directly toward the production of an inter-connected set of scientific studies, tools, and media, including books, peer-reviewed papers, websites, apps, services, public presentations, workshops, and exhibitions related to addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental justice in cities. These outreach communications will leverage the substantial georeferenced, historical ecology for New York City from the Mannahatta and Welikia Projects. Though focused on New York in the short-run, applications will be designed with transferability in mind to other culturally important urban centers on a global scale.

Requirements

A Bachelor’s degree (preferably in environmental science; geography and/or landscape ecology; computer science; business administration; or equivalent) required, Master’s degree preferred.
Project management experience is essential.
Proven experience in scientific outreach and project development required.
Experience building and managing relationships with internal and external partners is required; ability to work with garden staff, contractors, funders and partner organizations is required.
Demonstrated ability to keep multiple creative and complex projects focused, on-track, and aligned with institutional goals and mission while prioritizing and delegating appropriately, required. Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail is essential.
Strong writing skills, including grant writing; and experience overseeing publication development, including outreach efforts, required.
Facility with GIS (ArcGIS, QGIS, Geopandas, etc.) required.
Facility with Microsoft Office (word processing, spreadsheets, slide presentation), Teams, OneDrive and Sharepoint, CoPilot, or their equivalents, required.
A commitment to and understanding of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental justice issues is essential.
Kindness, collegiality, flexibility, and a sense of humor required.

Nice To Haves

Background in urban ecology, urban planning, ecological restoration or related disciplines and activities, preferred.
Project management certification or equivalent experience a plus.
Research experience, especially on geographic or ecological topics, highly preferred.
A scientific publication record, preferred but not required.
Development of application across multiple platforms is a plus, notably mobile and web.
Preferred experiences include working with: scientific researcher; conservation practitioners; website/app developers; designers; funders and fundraisers; and city and government agencies, preferred.
Financial and legal management experience, preferred.
Experience supervising students, technicians, and other personnel, a plus.
Experience with databases and database management (SQL, PostGres, etc.) preferred.
Facility with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and other Adobe Creative Cloud products, preferred.
Facility with artificial intelligence tools such as CoPilot, ChatGPT, Claude, or other AI tools, preferred.
Facility with HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, SQL, and associated computer languages and frameworks preferred.
Facility with Github, preferred; experience with project management software (e.g. Asana, Trello, MS Planner, etc.) a plus.
Experience managing accounts and performance with cloud computing resources (e.g. Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services) desired.
Experience in video game (e.g. Unity, Unreal Engine, etc.), landscape visualization (e.g. Virtual Nature Studio, Vue, World Creator, etc.), soundscape development and/or interactive exhibition design, all desired.
Knowledge of and concern for urban planning and conservation issues, highly desired.
Preference for New York City-specific experience.
Love of plants and nature, highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Manage research, development, and explication of scientific assets related to urban conservation. Conduct scientific analyses as assigned and suggest new analyses to advance the urban conservation strategy. Develop research tools and metadata. Supervise student interns.
Work with scientists and other technical staff to ensure accurate, timely, impactful presentation of scientific and scholarly work. Curate synthesized map layers, text descriptions, model outputs, images, and other scientific and artistic products. Prepare data-driven tables, figures, text, and presentation materials. Present on urban conservation findings and approaches to internal and external audiences. Ensure a consistent voice and set of themes.
Manage the conception, development, and maintenance of outreach applications supporting urban conservation, including websites, apps, services, exhibitions, events, and merchandise. Monitor the urban conservation email list and prepare the urban conservation newsletter (monthly).
Coordinate across administrative, technical, and scientific staff within the Urban Conservation team and across NYBG departments, notably Finance, Legal, Marketing & Communications, Exhibitions and Public Programming, Information Technology, and Science. Support financial management, including purchasing, budgets, and reporting. Support on user agreements, grant agreements, and other legal matters. Help develop proposals, track budgets, submit invoices, manage receipts, adapt standard contracts, track approval processes, and other administrative tasks as needed.
Stay informed in best practices and innovations regarding urban conservation issues, conservation project management, technological developments, and communications.
Time allocations vary week to week based on project needs, deadlines, etc., but generally this position is approximately 45% research, 30% communications, and 25% administration.
Perform other tasks as assigned.