Senior Data Scientist, Fisheries & Water Resources

ICF•San Francisco, CA

3d•$81,147 - $166,919

About The Position

ICF’s Fish and Aquatic Science and Technology Team is expanding and seeks a Senior Data Scientist to work with fish biologists, hydrologists, and project managers on quantitative analysis, decision-support modeling, and applied-science publications for water-resource clients. Initial assignments will primarily involve statistical and decision-support modeling and publication work on Chinook Salmon in California’s Central Valley, with opportunities to work in other regions. The role includes managing data; conducting scientific analyses; developing and maintaining models, data pipelines, and reproducible workflows; and contributing to proposals, study planning, fieldwork, reports, and manuscripts. The successful candidate will apply expertise in fish science and California water management, develop robust quantitative approaches, communicate scientific findings to technical and non-technical audiences, and manage multiple projects. The role also involves coordinating and mentoring team members, supporting client relationships and business development, and balancing scientific rigor with business needs. The position is available in San Francisco, California, with flexibility to work remotely.

Requirements

Master’s degree in fisheries biology, fisheries and wildlife, quantitative ecology, or an equivalent science-related field, or five years of increasingly complex assignments in fish data science.
Knowledge and experience with Northern California fish-management issues, including Chinook Salmon population dynamics, endangered species recovery, habitat restoration, flow management, and monitoring-program design.
Knowledge and experience with California water-management issues, 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 implications for fish populations, habitat, and management decisions.
Familiarity with California water policy and the legislative process.
Quantitative analysis skills to evaluate proposed client actions and 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.
Proficiency in R, Python, and SQL.
Ability to design and implement transparent, reproducible, collaborative scientific workflows consistent with U.S. federal Open Science and Open Data expectations.
Experience developing documented, version-controlled analytical workflows, maintaining data provenance, automating data processing, analysis, and reporting, and producing reusable data, code, and analytical products.
Ability to establish shared workflows and documentation that support collaboration, scientific review, knowledge transfer, and reuse across interdisciplinary teams and agency partners.
Peer-reviewed scientific publication record and experience presenting at professional conferences.
Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to translate scientific findings into policy recommendations and communicate analysis results to technical and non-technical audiences through reports, presentations, and interactive visualizations.
Project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple simultaneous long-term projects, budgets, staff coordination, client relationships, and deliverables.
Demonstrated team leadership, including high performance and quality standards, respectful collaboration, leveraging team members’ strengths, and mentoring junior colleagues through practices such as code review and documentation.
Ability to balance scientific and natural-resource expertise with business acumen, marketing, and expansion opportunities.
All candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Expert-level integration of complex data sets to facilitate analyses.
Demonstrated expertise in quantitative fish science.
Experience conducting scientific research using fisheries expertise.
Peer-reviewed publication record in quantitative fisheries science.
Experience applying hierarchical or Bayesian modeling tools, such as Stan or Template Model Builder, to fisheries data.
Experience supporting structured decision making for California water and fish management.

Responsibilities

Conduct analyses and lead or assist in writing scientific documents, technical reports, and peer-reviewed manuscripts for fish-related projects.
Develop, update, and document statistical, population, and decision-support models for fish and water-resource management, including Chinook Salmon recovery and flow decisions.
Build and maintain reproducible codebases and automated data pipelines connecting monitoring data to models.
Meet with water-resource clients to discuss technical aspects of planning, implementation, and monitoring of fish and water-resource management projects.
Communicate project information and analysis interpretations through writing, presentations, and interactive visualizations to broad audiences, including in contentious settings.
Conduct scientific research to develop knowledge that informs resource management.
Work with multidisciplinary technical staff to complete analyses and documentation on time and within budget.
Develop project scopes and budgets and write proposals.
Build and maintain client relationships.
Mentor junior biologists.
Manage several simultaneous long-term projects, including budget tracking, staff coordination, client relationship management, and completion of required products and reports.
Contribute to study planning and fieldwork.