Application Timeline: Rolling, position open until filled
Location: Remote, Western US
Reports to: Senior Project Scientist
Employment Status: Full time
Salary: $84k-$100k, depending on experience
Preferred Start Date: As soon as possible; priority application deadline 8/30/23
About Blue Forest
Blue Forest is a climate finance non-profit grounded in conservation science to enable financial innovation for sustainable solutions. We do this by developing financial products that support ecosystem restoration based on identifying, quantifying, and valuing the positive environmental, economic, social, and cultural outcomes. Blue Forest’s first financial tool – the Forest Resilience Bond (FRB) – was developed in partnership with the US Forest Service and the World Resources Institute to overcome the funding gap for forest restoration. As a public-private partnership, the FRB enables private capital to catalyze land management on public and private lands by valuing the multiple ecosystem services of healthy forests, thereby reducing wildfire risk and promoting ecological sustainability.
Blue Forest recognizes that the fields of science, finance, and environmental conservation have histories of exclusion and discrimination based on race, ability, gender, socioeconomic background, and sexual orientation. Blue Forest is actively working to dismantle discrimination and racism in our team and environmental work.
Position Summary
To increase ecosystem resilience in the face of intense and frequent hazards - such as fire, water scarcity, and flooding - there is a need for greater and targeted investment in nature. Blue Forest seeks a water quality specialist to further discover, develop, and deploy qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand the value of landscape-scale environmental management on water quality throughout the watersheds and water distribution systems across the Western U.S. and beyond. The Water Quality Specialist is a high-impact position that will work with both our Science and Project Development teams and external partners to help build the case for investment in restoration of freshwater ecosystems such as fire-impacted forests, post-fire landscapes, salmon and aquatic habitat, tropical forests, and coastal/intertidal systems. You will not be an expert in all these ecosystems. While we are largely focused on restoration of frequent-fire forests in the Western U.S., being successful in this position will require the flexible application of your background, knowledge, and approach to a variety of conservation finance projects being developed at Blue Forest. Your main role will be to perform scientific analyses, such as building or coordinating water quality models, in support of project development. This will involve evaluating the potential water quality impacts from forest restoration (avoided wildfire) to aquatic restoration (floodplain reconnection) projects, and communicating the results to diverse audiences.
Responsibilities & Duties
Water Quality Analysis: 40%
Project Development: 40%
Develop a community of practice: 20%
Qualifications
Desired Skills
Benefits:
Additional Information
Blue Forest is a fully remote company with staff located across all four continental U.S. time zones. The Specialist will generally be expected to be online during their respective standard working hours, with some flexibility required for travel (30% or less), including occasionally to remote and rural areas throughout the West. Blue Forest also hosts an in-person team retreat each year.
COVID VACCINE REQUIREMENT
All Blue Forest staff are required to be “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines that term. Proof of full vaccination shall be a condition of employment and must be provided prior to starting work, except where prohibited by law. Blue Forest is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and the company will engage in the interactive process regarding reasonable accommodations for candidates who cannot be vaccinated due to a disability/medical condition; a sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance; or a claimed exemption under applicable state law.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply to this position, please submit an application through recruitee. People from historically underrepresented populations and candidates with non-traditional career paths are especially encouraged to apply. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, and those submitted by 8/30/23 will be given priority consideration. If participating in the interview process would require you to incur additional expenses to participate, such as childcare, please let us know and we are happy to reimburse for reasonable expenses incurred up to $30/hour for twice the length of each interview in which you participate. There will be space to request this reimbursement upon offer of an interview.
Blue Forest provides equal employment and opportunities for advancement, compensation, training, and growth according to individual merit, without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, genetic information, disability, veteran-status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable Federal, state, or local law. Applicants must have authorization to work in the U.S.
Blue Forest is a mission-driven, non-profit organization, leveraging financial innovation to create sustainable investment solutions to environmental challenges. We are an interdisciplinary team of scientists, financial experts and engineering professionals with extensive infrastructure, public sector and Wall Street experience. We are harnessing financial innovation and building partnerships with investors, non-profits, private companies and the public sector to design sustainable solutions to systemic climate resilience challenges faced by vulnerable communities. Our principal financial product, the Forest Resilience Bond (FRB), deploys private capital to finance forest restoration projects on public lands that reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and enhance landscape resilience. Blue Forest brings together public and private stakeholders that benefit from restoration to share the costs of reimbursing investors over time.