Merlin Video Project Lead & Community Builder

Cornell University; Town of Ithaca (NY); On-site; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking a Merlin Video Project Coordinator to lead expansion of video resources within Merlin and build datasets for future video-based bird identification tools.

You will work with a global network of birders, contributors, researchers, and software teams to curate high-quality video content and support ML initiatives while strengthening community relationships.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 2–4 years relevant experience in biology, ecology, business, information science, or related field.
• Extensive experience using and contributing data to eBird, Merlin, and the Macaulay Library.
• Experience filming, photographing, and recording audio of birds in the wild.
• Familiarity with software development and testing processes.

Responsibilities

• Serve as an authentic ambassador to the birding community and foster participation in Cornell Lab projects.
• Recruit, support, and train contributors who provide video content to the Macaulay Library archive.
• Develop regional expert networks to support Merlin's global growth and gather community feedback.
• Manage collection, organization, annotation, and quality review of bird video content.
• Collaborate with machine learning engineers and product teams to prepare datasets for video models.
• Partner with software engineers, project managers, and outreach teams to test and improve Merlin tools.
• Participate in software testing, troubleshooting, and release coordination.
• Deliver trainings, presentations, and educational resources.

Skills

Birding expertise

Project coordination

Community outreach

Excellent communication

Dataset management

Software testing familiarity

Education

Bachelor's degree in biology/ecology/information science

Tools

eBird data contribution

Macaulay Library data access

Job description

Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking a Merlin Video Project Coordinator to lead expansion of video resources within Merlin and build datasets for future video-based bird identification tools.

You will work with a global network of birders, contributors, researchers, and software teams to curate high-quality video content and support ML initiatives while strengthening community relationships.