NOAA Fisheries Is Hiring: Positions Available to Support the Inflation Reduction Act

NOAA Fisheries is hiring! The historic Inflation Reduction Act has allowed NOAA Fisheries and other agencies to increase the resiliency of our nation's marine resources against climate change impacts, and we are looking for qualified candidates to join us. This page will be updated weekly to make sure potential candidates can find job postings and application resources. You can also stay up to date through our careers directory. 

About the Inflation Reduction Act

NOAA Fisheries received an unprecedented investment to strengthen the agency’s core mission to provide science-based management and conservation of the nation’s marine resources as we confront climate change. Climate change impacts every aspect of our mission—from managing fisheries and aquaculture, to conserving protected resources and vital habitats. 

These funds allow us to prioritize several critical areas focused on tackling the impacts of climate change, including:

• Data acquisition and management 
• Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative 
• Conservation efforts around Pacific salmon, red snapper, and North Atlantic right whales
• Habitat restoration
• Support for salmon hatcheries and other tribal initiatives 
• Arctic research
• Facilities modernization
• Improved permitting efficiency

Open Positions

Please note that all job postings are only open for seven days or until the applicant limit has been reached. All positions are only eligible to U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals. When multiple positions are available, applicants are encouraged to list their desired position(s) in their cover letter.

Data Scientist

Open Period: 4/03/2024–4/09/2024 (This announcement will close when we have received 150 applications which may be sooner than the closing date)

Location: Remote

Salary: $62,107–$96,770 (The salary range indicated will be adjusted to include locality payment for the selectee's duty station.)

Job Description

• Work as a member of a multidisciplinary team, to curate and explore various optical imagery data for the design, development, evaluation and application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capabilities, edge computing, and new automated analytic workflows. Conduct research resulting in proof of concepts demonstrating the automation of Al workflows to automate image analysis, such as preprocessing, classification, detection, segmentation, and 3D reconstruction from underwater and aerial platforms for fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals. Work with a variety of data types, including underwater and aerial optical imagery (still and video).
• Apply expert scientific and technical knowledge to define requirements and develop research projects from idea creation to system evaluation, with emphasis on data curation in support of these projects. Provide technical guidance, evaluate technical merit, and test criteria of proposed solutions. Maintain awareness of—and employ and document state of the art solutions to automate processing and evaluation of large volumes of—said data, to support research project needs and fisheries and ecosystem optical survey data analysis in support of stock assessment.
• Evaluate available open-source codebases and models by application to NOAA underwater and aerial imagery. Develop or adapt software using (Python and/or C/C++). Establish, configure, document, test and maintain application software and data management tools.
• Interpret technical requirements in context of an overall system plan that makes the best working capability at the most reasonable cost. Execute technical research projects, track progress, and present technical material in a variety of forums (weekly team meetings, conferences, working groups, program reviews). Collaboratively publish study results in scientific journals and literature.

Apply for this remote Data Scientist position through USA jobs

Communications Specialist

Open Period: 4/3/24–4/9/24 (This announcement will close when we have received 150 applications which may be sooner than the closing date)

Location: Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Saint Petersburg, FL; Santa Rosa, CA; Santa Cruz, CA; San Diego, CA

Salary: $72,553–$140,713 (The salary range indicated will be adjusted to include locality payment for the selectee's duty station.)

Job Description

• Develop regional communications plans, strategies, campaigns, and outreach projects that effectively convey NOAA Fisheries' priorities and increase the awareness of the organization's science, research, policy, and management services. Create products to inform the public on agency actions and processes, including developing easily understood briefing materials aimed at congressional, tribal, stakeholder, or other audiences. Respond to requests for information and determine the nature of the information required. Collect and assemble material using appropriate format and style to develop presentations for senior leadership. Develop written materials (i.e., news and feature articles, fact sheets, media releases, etc.) on programs, projects or items of concern.
• Identify, recommend and prioritize digital strategy, to inform the public of the organization's operations, programs and activities, including executing typical day-to-day operations for websites and social media channels. Monitor and measure analytics in order to enhance the user experience.
• Collaborate with Inflation Reduction Act team and NOAA Fisheries headquarters staff on review and approval of high interest rollout plans.
• Provide support for agency communications across the offices by staying informed on issues as they relate to the agency, and how it applies to the public. Assist with the planning and coordination of outreach events and products. Work with a variety of constituents or groups, who may have opposing viewpoints. Use creative communication methods (e.g., multimedia) to find common ground, promote science and understanding, and conserve living marine resources.

Apply for this Communications Specialist position through USA jobs

Data Scientist

Open Period: 4/3/24–4/9/24 (This announcement will close when we have received 150 applications which may be sooner than the closing date)

Location: Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Narragansett, RI; Newport, OR; Silver Spring, MD; Woods Hole, MA; Miami, FL

Salary: $72,553–$128,956 (The salary range indicated will be adjusted to include locality payment for the selectee's duty station.)

Job Description

• Work as a member of a multidisciplinary team, to curate and explore the design, development, evaluation, and application of analytic workflows and data life-cycles. Conduct research resulting in operational workflows to support open science, protected resources, and climate, ecosystems, and fisheries initiatives within National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. Use reproducible workflows including version control via Git and GitHub.
• Apply expert scientific and technical knowledge to define requirements and develop research projects from idea creation to system evaluation, including data curation in support of these projects. Provide technical guidance, evaluate technical merit, and test criteria of proposed solutions.
• Evaluate available open-source codebases and models. Develop or adapt software using various languages (R, Matlab, Python and/or C/C++). Establish, configure, document, test and maintain application software and data lifecycle methods (XML tagging, SQLite applications).
• Execute technical research projects, track progress, and present technical material in a variety of forums (weekly team meetings, conferences, working groups, program reviews). Communicate results and products via written reports, presentations, tutorials, and workshops.

Apply for this Data Scientist position through USA jobs

Research Social Scientist

Open Period: 3/25/24–4/1/24 (This announcement will close when we have received 150 applications which may be sooner than the closing date)

Location: Newport, OR; Seattle, WA

Salary: $72,553–$126,585 (The salary range indicated will be adjusted to include locality payment for the selectee's duty station.)

Job Description

• Collaborate with a team of social, ecological, and biophysical scientists within NOAA Fisheries to develop comprehensive social, economic, cultural, and coupled social-ecological analyses for ecosystem-based fisheries management on the U.S. West Coast.
• Research and examine the impacts of climate, commercial and recreational fishery management regulations, and other factors on fishing behavior, fisheries, and coastal fishing communities. Contribute to ecosystem status reports, climate vulnerability assessments, and related decision-support materials. Coordinate and facilitate participatory research, qualitative modeling and scenario planning activities to support climate models and inform proposed management strategies.
• Support the incorporation of social science research findings into the Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative decision support tools, management strategy evaluations, and stock and ecosystem assessments. Draft grant proposals to secure supplementary funding for research endeavors. Create a variety of basic materials to communicate research findings. Document and archive research methodologies and data to ensure replicability.
• Participate on regional and national working groups pertaining to the Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative, ecosystem-based fisheries management, integrated ecosystem assessments, and other relevant topics. Contribute to the formulation of amendments to fishery management and ecosystem plans by providing analytical insights and data to support the evaluation of the social and/or economic impacts of proposed management alternatives. Ensure that socio-economic sections of fishery management plan amendments adhere to the best available scientific standards.

Apply for this Research Social Scientist position through USA jobs

Other Positions

Positions supporting the Inflation Reduction Act that will post soon: 

• Biological and Physical Science Technicians
• Communications Specialist
• Contracting Officer
• Data Scientist
• Electronic and Software Engineers
• Fishery Management Specialist
• Grants Specialist
• Natural Resource Specialist
• Oceanographer
• Ocean and Spatial Modelers
• Operations Research Analyst
• Research Biologist
• Social Science Specialist

Applicant Resources

Use these tips and resources when applying for positions at NOAA Fisheries.

Stay Up to Date on Job Postings

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Check Your Time Zone

All job postings and deadlines for these positions will be in Eastern Time. We will not grant requests for extensions.