At WRA, you’ll work alongside a close-knit group of biologists and regulatory specialists to support a wide variety of projects—from residential and commercial development to habitat restoration, mining, utilities, and open space planning. Our clients include land developers, attorneys, planners, agencies, and private landowners, and our work spans the greater Bay Area, Central Valley, and Sierra Nevada foothills.
This is a great opportunity for someone with hands-on experience conducting botanical surveys and wetland delineations who also enjoys the challenge of project management and working collaboratively in a team setting. You’ll play a key role in helping our clients achieve their goals while ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.
To be considered for this role, candidates must reside within approximately 45 minutes of one of our Northern California offices (San Rafael, Petaluma, or Emeryville). This position involves regular in-office collaboration and periodic field site visits, so we’re looking for someone who’s comfortable with a consistent commute and ready to be an active member of our team.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Effectively manage small to medium projects.
- Lead or conduct field surveys, including biological resources site assessments, wetland delineations, stream and riparian mapping, vegetation community mapping/classification, rare plant surveys, and habitat mitigation monitoring.
- Provide oversight of field work to be completed by junior staff.
- Prepare a variety of technical reports, including biological site assessments, jurisdictional delineations, due diligence and constraints analyses, CEQA impact analyses, and rare plant surveys.
- Prepare aquatic resource regulatory permit applications.
- Assist with small to medium proposal efforts by preparing scopes of work and budgets.
- Regularly meet with senior project managers and clients to discuss project requirements and expectations.
To be successful in this role, you will need:
- A Bachelor’s degree in biology, ecology, environmental science, or related technical field is required.
- Minimum of 3 years of environmental consulting experience.
- Direct experience preparing high quality technical biological reports to support CEQA environmental review and regulatory permit applications (e.g., biological resources technical reports and wetland delineations).
- Direct experience managing projects and interacting with clients and regulatory agency staff.
- Strong time management skills and ability to complete tasks on time and within budget.
- Attention to detail, willingness to proactively ask for guidance when needed.
- Proficiency with Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS) field data collection.
- A valid driver’s license and reliable transportation (while WRA has fleet vehicles that can be reserved for field use, during busy field seasons a truck may not always be available).
- The ability to walk, hike, and work outside for long periods of time.
Other experience you may have that we would welcome on our team includes, but is not limited to:
- Wetland delineation training and certification.
- Identification and ecology of Northern and Central California flora (San Francisco Bay Area, Central Valley, and Sierra Nevada Foothill regions).
- Aquatic resource permitting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Coastal Commission, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation Development Commission.
- Resource agency engagement and negotiations during environmental review and permit processes.
- Stream and riparian habitat restoration (knowledge of the planning and permitting processes, appropriate species, and implementation/monitoring plans and pitfalls).
- Preparing and implementing habitat mitigation and monitoring plans and other compliance reporting.
- Revegetation plan preparation, implementation, and monitoring.
- Invasive plant species management.
- CRAM assessments.
Compensation
The salary range for this position is $85,000 – $110,000, which represents 2 job levels that WRA is open to considering for this role.
