Senior Aquatic and Water Quality Scientist

Stantec • Sacramento, CA

11d

About The Position

Grounded in safety, quality, and ethics, our experts lead their fields and guide our work with rigor, a creative spirit, and vision for growth. We draw from more than 20 technical specialties around the globe and are committed to fostering an inclusive community of diverse talents, backgrounds, and expertise. We’re a place to apply your passion and collaborate with top environmental talents on work that’s critical to our clients and the communities they support. Join a team that has the environment down to a science. Your Opportunity Stantec is seeking a Senior Aquatic and Water Quality Scientist to join our Environmental Services practice based in the Sacramento, CA region. Stantec offers flexible work locations, flexible work hours, and a robust compensation and benefits package. Your role on our professional consulting services team is to be part of an interdisciplinary team identifying and assessing potential water quality and flow-related project impacts on aquatic resources, evaluating avoidance, mitigation, and enhancement measures, contributing to large environmental documents, and evaluating field study results and preparing technical reports. You will work with a multidisciplinary team of accomplished senior scientists, environmental engineers, ecologists, and planners on a variety of complex water-related projects in California and throughout the United States. Projects include water supply and infrastructure projects including the Bay-Delta; dam decommissioning, hydroelectric relicensing and compliance; and river restoration projects. You will be responsible for participating in and leading multi-disciplinary groups to successfully and efficiently execute projects. You will present project activities and results in client and stakeholder meetings, cultivate relationships with client organizations, provide work leadership and training to more junior professional and technical staff, and provide technical guidance to less experienced professionals or technicians assigned to work on water resources and infrastructure projects.

Requirements

• Over 10 years of professional experience, including at least 10 years serving as the primary technical contributor and/or lead in preparing aquatic, fisheries, hydrology, and water quality sections for CEQA, NEPA, and ESA documents related to water resources and infrastructure projects.
• Demonstrated expertise integrating water quality and quantity issues into aquatic ecosystem analyses.
• Strong background in: Northern California watersheds and the California Bay-Delta fisheries Central Valley Project/ State Water Project operations and competing water interests Water temperature and water quality issues and analyses Anadromous fish species NEPA, CEQA, and federal and local and state permit processes Water quality expertise for Clean Water Act issues, including CWA 303(d), 305(b), 402, and 404. Federal regulatory interests in Northern California
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, impact analysis experience, and report writing demonstrated capabilities, including for biological assessments/biological opinions.
• Familiarity with R and working with GIS products
• Experience/ability to lead mid-level and junior aquatic biologists
• Self-starting, team-oriented professional with excellent written and communication skills that can manage multi-disciplinary teams comprised of internal staff and subcontractors.
• Experience with proposal writing and business development
• Willing and able to travel to project meetings and field site visits
• Ability to work well independently and with a diverse, multi-disciplinary team
• High function in detail-orientation skills.
• Positive and energetic attitude
• Master's Degree or PhD in aquatic ecology, water resources, or environmental sciences/management/engineering or related science.
• A minimum of 5 years as a primary technical contributor to and/or lead of aquatic/fisheries/hydrology/water quality CEQA/NEPA document sections.
• Experience in the support of delivering high quality work products.

Responsibilities

• Perform advanced technical tasks, including report writing and impact assessments, on assigned projects under minimal supervision, including reports, presentations, and required applications to regulatory agencies.
• Serve as a principal contributor and lead in developing technical reports and authoring specialized sections related to water quality and quantity and aquatic/fisheries resources for documents required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and both federal and California Environmental Species Act (ESA) regulations.
• Perform quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) of field data collection, data analyses, and documents.
• Develop project scopes of work and budgets for projects.
• Support marketing and business development in positioning for potential projects, writing technical portions of proposals, participating in client interviews, and supporting negotiations for project contracts.
• Collaborate with stakeholders in client meetings and with internal and/or external consultants, sub-contractors, and vendors in preparation and coordination of project work.
• Collaborate with senior technical resource specialists, planners, legal experts, and economists to address complex water-related environmental issues.
• Keep informed of new technical methods/analyses and apply these advanced principles and practices to project activities.
• Support the development and management project budget and staff schedules in conjunction with Project Manager(s).

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees