Research Associate
State of Florida
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Office
Location: St. Petersburg • Florida • 🇺🇸 United States
Visit company websiteSalary
💰 $45,000 per year
Job Level
JuniorMid-Level
About the role
- Leads or assists with the coordination of salvage and recovery of marine mammal carcasses for the Northwest field station.
- Serves as member of FWC’s manatee necropsy team leading or assisting with field and laboratory necropsies on manatee and other marine mammal carcasses, record observations and complete associated necropsy reports.
- Responsible for carcass disposal, and cleaning of equipment and instruments.
- Recover marine mammal carcasses for necropsy from the Northwest region (coastal and inland waterways of Manatee County to Escambia County) of Florida.
- Leads or assists in manatee rescue and transport operations in the Northwest region including open water captures using a manatee capture boat.
- Assists the MMPL supervisor with the coordination of manatee rescue and capture operations away from designated area as needed and leads rescues in those areas as needed.
- Manages cetacean stranding data for MMPL responses.
- Manages NOAA stranding database and completes routine uploads to NOAA-NMFS data diplomat.
- Completes and updates level A cetacean information.
- Responsible for cetacean data requests.
- Manages samples collected from stranded cetaceans.
- Assists with manatee necropsy report editing.
- Supervises assigned staff. Duties include but are not limited to: recruitment, training, planning and directing work, reviewing performance with employee, and ensuring compliance with Commission and FWRI rules, policies, and procedures.
- Serves in regional on-call status between 8am and 5pm on holidays in rotation with other MMPL staff members and on occasional weekend days as needed for the purpose of responding to manatee emergencies.
- Serves in statewide on-call status between 5pm and 8 am Friday through Thursday and all day for state holidays during assigned week in a weekly rotation with other FWRI field staff.
- Responds to marine mammal strandings outside of normal work schedule as needed or assigned.
- Responsible for the oversight of repairs and maintenance of MMPL laboratory and field equipment including repairs and general maintenance of vehicles, boats, and trailers.
- Maintains state purchasing credit card. Responsible for purchases as assigned by MMPL supervisor.
- Prepares grant reports and budget reports when needed.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
- Participates in public outreach events as appropriate.
Requirements
- 5 years professional experience in a closely-related biological field or laboratory program is required.
- A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a major in one of the biological sciences and one year of professional biological experience in a field or laboratory program;
- A master's degree from an accredited college or university in one of the biological sciences can substitute for the required experience.
- Ability to lead safe and efficient open water manatee captures and live marine mammal transports.
- Ability to effectively lead high quality marine mammal necropsies and collect the necessary samples and data to determine cause of strand/death.
- FWC boat operator certification.
- FWC trailer certification.
- Employment in this position is contingent upon a satisfactory Level 1 background check at no cost to the candidate.
Benefits
- Health Premiums $25.00- Single / $90.00- Family Biweekly
- No Cost $25,000 Life Insurance
- Nine Paid State Holidays, One Personal Holiday per year
- 4 hours Annual Leave and 4 hours Sick Leave accrued Biweekly
- Retirement Plan Options
- State University and College Tuition Waiver Program
- On the Job Trainings
- Support for family planning, including paid maternity leave, adoption benefits, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Family Supportive Work Program (FSWP), and paid leave for family and medical responsibilities for eligible employees.
- Paid administrative leave for mentoring, volunteering, voting, and other reasons because we understand the importance of giving back to the community.
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
necropsymarine mammal rescuedata managementcetacean strandingsample collectionreport writingequipment maintenancefield researchbiological analysismarine mammal transport
Soft skills
leadershipcoordinationcommunicationtrainingplanningperformance reviewpublic outreachteamworkproblem-solvingadaptability
Certifications
FWC boat operator certificationFWC trailer certificationLevel 1 background check