Senior Ecologist

Our organisation

Territory Natural Resource Management (TNRM) is a not-for-profit organisation. We are the custodian of the NT Natural Resource Management (NRM) Plan, and work to advance strategic and sustainable natural resource management to protect the NT's environmental, production and cultural assets for the future. We develop and deliver NRM projects and activities across the Northern Territory in partnership with First Nations landholders, community groups, organisations, and government.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Ecologist to join our team and help deliver ecological and agricultural projects across the Northern Territory. This position requires an organised, self-motivated all-rounder with project and staff management experience. The ecologist will work alongside ecological project officers in a busy and dynamic environment in a role that includes planning and undertaking threatened fauna and flora monitoring, threat assessments, providing recommendations and assisting on-ground in appropriate management actions, data management, GIS, stakeholder engagement, and reporting.

The position will be based at the Territory Natural Resource Management office in Darwin, with regular field trips to remote areas around the NT.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Design and implementation of ecological surveys and monitoring to detect change in response to management activities.
2. Staff management of ecological project officers and project management administration to ensure timely delivery of project outcomes in relation to Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) plans whilst adhering to budgets.
3. Working with First Nations ranger groups, Traditional Owners, pastoralists, university researchers, National Parks staff, and other stakeholders across the NT to deliver conservation projects.
4. Data collection and collation, analyses, curation, and integrity management.
5. Utilising QGIS software for spatial analysis and mapping.
6. Preparing quarterly, annual, and final reports on activities undertaken for each project.
7. Application of and reporting for permits (animal ethics, Government, and Land Councils).
8. Development and delivery of community engagement and awareness raising activities and materials, social media content, and facilitating community participation in NRM projects.

Selection Criteria

Essential:

• Tertiary qualification in ecology or an equivalent field.
• At least five years' experience designing and undertaking flora and fauna monitoring programs for detecting change in relation to management activities, with at least one year experience in managing staff.
• Strong GIS experience with capacity to collect, maintain and analyse GIS data and create high quality mapping outputs.
• Highly developed data skills with capacity to design monitoring programs to enable statistical analyses and oversight of all aspects of data management to ensure integrity.
• Demonstrated project management skills, including the capacity to support the development, delivery, evaluation and reporting of projects to meet funding and contractual requirements.
• Experience in engaging and working effectively with key conservation stakeholders, and ability to support people from diverse backgrounds to work together.
• Demonstrated capacity to coordinate, organise and lead remote field work safely and effectively.
• Strong written, oral and cross-cultural communication skills, and the ability to tailor communication for different audiences.
• Willingness to travel to remote areas of the NT and work away from home for up to two weeks at a time.
• Australian residency, current manual drivers licence.

Highly desirable:

• Post-graduate qualification in ecology or an equivalent field.
• Experience working in NT ecosystems, particularly Top End.
• Experience working with First Nations people in a two-way science approach.
• Experience in remote fieldwork with limited or no amenities and use of 4-wheel drive vehicles.

We offer a competitive remuneration package including six weeks annual leave.