Job Description

*Position is Subject to Contract Award

*Onsite Position at SEFSC Laboratory or at Sea in Panama City, FL

SEFSC-PEMD personnel are critical collaborators in restoration work responding to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, surveying mesophotic and deep benthic reef communities (50–1,800 m) via ROV/AUV platforms, acoustic mapping, and ground-truthing. This role serves as Survey Coordinator, Field Party Chief, and/or Survey Watch Stander for MDBC surveys and participates in other PEMD resource surveys as requested.

Key Responsibilities

Task #1 - Survey Duties

• Assisting MDBC Project Management Leads with survey preparation, execution, and completion, including schedules, supply/equipment coordination, and selection of survey vehicles (e.g., AUV).
• Ensuring cruise instructions/reports and participant clearance forms are completed and submitted on time.
• Ensuring adherence to MDBC data-collection SOPs; executing at-sea mapping and ground-truthing missions as Field Party Chief or Watch Leader.
• Pre- and post-survey inventory and maintenance of equipment and gear.
• Coordinating daily vessel activities, personnel, vessel position/movements, ports of call, and weather/sea conditions.
• Conducting data collection and sampling per prescribed MDBC SOP.
• Reporting weekly progress (or issues requiring plan changes) to MDBC Project Leads.
• Completing incident reporting procedures per NOAA Small Boat Program requirements (small boat operations only).

Task #2 - Laboratory Duties

• Subject-matter expert identifying marine fishes in all life stages from mesophotic and deep reef habitats.
• Video annotation, review, and data QA/QC of ROV-based footage; review of data entry.
• Management of review/tracking sheets; updating project management and annotation tracking tools.

Task #3 - Data Management Support

• Developing a data management strategy, including data-entry template design with NCEI and NCCOS Biogeography Branch.
• Ingesting existing bathymetric data (U.S. EEZ Gulf of Mexico, 50–1,800 m) into the MDBC database.
• Helping manage the MDBC database, applications, and survey SOP (including metadata).
• Managing data backups/security with OMI personnel.
• Integrating new automated data outputs to meet AI/ML interoperability standards.
• Managing video data annotation entry projects and project management tools.

Task #4 - Analytical Support

• Collating existing biological data and mining acoustic/bathymetric data for mesophotic and deep benthic reefs in the U.S. Gulf of America EEZ.
• Prioritizing new and repetitive locations for surface and subsurface acoustic mapping.
• Maintaining knowledge of relevant literature; supporting data analyses and summaries.
• Managing analysis projects; developing reports, publications, and presentations per SEFSC procedures.
• Coordinating abstracts, presentations, and publications with the GCRF Branch Chief.
• Attending professional meetings and publishing in peer-reviewed literature.

Task #5 - Outreach & Education

• Participate in public outreach and education efforts, e.g., school programs, science fair judging, facility/ship tours, and outreach booths.

Task #6 - Scientific Meetings

• Prepare for and present, facilitate, or participate in position-related workshops, scientific meetings, symposiums, and public forums, presenting scientific results as required.

Qualifications (Required)

• MS degree (or higher) in Marine Science or a related field, or BS degree plus 5 years of relevant experience.
• Computer literate with common word processing, database, statistical, and graphics programs, including PRIMER, Microsoft SQL, and ArcGIS (Spatial, Geostatistical, and 3D Analyst extensions); capable of college-level reports and oral presentations.
• Proficient in fish, invertebrate, and protected species identification; knowledge of mesophotic and deep reef taxa.
• 10 years of experience in at-sea data collection using ROVs, HOVs, and AUVs.
• Ability to collect, process, label, and track marine specimens for analysis or museum vouchers, including barcode label creation.
• Expert knowledge of acoustic mapping methodologies, including multibeam, side-scan, and synthetic aperture sonar analysis (e.g., ArcGIS, Caris, Seabird, Fledermaus).
• Knowledge of procedures for encountering endangered or threatened species.
• Sea-going contractors on OMAO NOAA ships must submit a NOAA Health Services Questionnaire (Form 57-10-01) and Tuberculosis Screening Form (NF 57-10-02) annually/biennially, and must have a current tetanus vaccine (within 10 years).