Survey Coordinator / Analyst – Level III (Mesophotic Deep Benthic Communities)

Think Tank•Panama City Beach, FL

4d•Onsite

About The Position

Lead survey coordination and scientific analysis for the MDBC survey program (50–1,800 m), supporting DWH oil spill restoration. Serve as Survey Coordinator and/or Field Party Chief for ROV/AUV-based mesophotic and deep benthic reef surveys, and drive data management strategy and peer-reviewed publications.

Requirements

MS Degree or higher in Marine Science or related field, OR BS Degree plus 5 years of relevant experience.
Advanced proficiency in PRIMER, Microsoft SQL, ArcGIS (Spatial, Geostatistical, and 3D Analyst extensions); college-level writing and oral presentation skills.
Proficiency in fish, invertebrate, and protected species identification; knowledge of mesophotic and deep reef taxa from the Gulf of America.
10 years of experience in at-sea data collection using ROVs, HOVs, and AUVs.
Ability to collect, process, label, and track marine specimens; barcode label creation experience.
Expert knowledge of acoustic mapping methodologies; proficiency with multibeam, side-scan, and synthetic aperture sonar data and associated software (ArcGIS, Caris, Seabird, Fledermaus).
Knowledge of procedures when encountering endangered or threatened species.
Must meet NOAA OMAO sea-duty medical fitness requirements; current tetanus vaccine required.

Responsibilities

Coordinate all aspects of MDBC survey preparation, execution, and completion including scheduling, supply/equipment needs, and survey vehicle selection (ROV, AUV).
Ensure cruise instructions and cruise reports are completed on time; manage participant clearance paperwork.
Execute at-sea mapping and ground-truthing missions as Field Party Chief or Watch Leader per MDBC SOPs.
Coordinate daily vessel activities, personnel, movements, ports of call, and weather monitoring.
Report weekly progress updates to MDBC Project Leads; complete incident reports per NOAA Small Boat Program requirements.
Serve as subject matter expert in identifying fishes from mesophotic and deep reef habitats.
Annotate ROV video using C-Vision tools; perform QA/QC review and Oracle database ingest.
Develop data management strategy in coordination with NCEI and NCCOS Biogeography Branch.
Manage MDBC database, data backups, and security; support AI/ML data output standards.
Conduct collation of biological data and acoustic bathymetric data mining; prioritize mapping locations.
Prepare manuscripts and presentations for peer review; attend professional scientific meetings.
Participate in public outreach and education activities.