Senior Fisheries Biometrician

Innovate!, Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

401K with match

Life Insurance

PTO

Job summary

Innovate! Inc. in Seattle, WA, is seeking a Senior Fisheries Biometrician to serve as a senior statistical and ecological data scientist supporting NOAA Fisheries with advanced probabilistic, mark-recapture, survival, migration, and simulation analyses that inform management decisions for Pacific salmon and other West Coast fisheries resources.

Contingent upon contract being awarded. Location: on-site at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA or at associated field stations in

Qualifications

• PhD in statistics, mathematics, fisheries, ecology or closely related quantitative discipline.
• Ten or more years of directly relevant experience; advanced-degree substitutions may be applied.
• Demonstrated experience developing and applying advanced statistical models to fisheries, ecological, environmental, or marine research questions.
• Knowledge and applied experience in Bayesian statistics and mark-recapture methods is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide advanced statistical analysis to inform fisheries management, recovery, permitting, hydropower, and life-cycle decisions.
• Analyze spatial and temporal variability in processes affecting migrating salmon, including survival and migration through river and hydropower systems.
• Quantify relationships among fish density, growth, survival, migration rate, environmental conditions, ecological stressors, habitat metrics, and management actions.
• Develop probabilistic, mathematical, hierarchical, and simulation models representing complex ecological and behavioral processes.
• Provide statistical consultation and support to researchers during study design, sampling design, model selection, analysis, validation, and interpretation.
• Organize, curate, document, and quality-control ecological datasets used for mark-recapture and related statistical modeling.
• Develop and share reproducible analytical workflows and research methods through GitHub and open-science platforms.
• Archive final data, models, scripts, and analysis products in scientific repositories or dashboards.
• Publish scientific papers and reports, maintain regular communication with team members, and present results at meetings.

Skills

Statistical modeling

R programming

Bayesian statistics

Stan/JAGS

Linux / shell scripting

C/C++ interfacing

GitHub / reproducible research

Fisheries ecology

Education

PhD in statistics, mathematics, fisheries, ecology

Tools

R

Stan

JAGS

Linux

Shell scripting

Job description

• Official Communication: All job offers and communication regarding them will arrive from email addresses ending in @innovateteam.com.
• Secure Information: We prioritize your data safety. We never request bank information via email or text. Instead, we follow a secure process through our dedicated payroll system.

Openings at Innovate!, Inc

• Official Communication: All job offers and communication regarding them will arrive from email addresses ending in @innovateteam.com.
• Secure Information: We prioritize your data safety. We never request bank information via email or text. Instead, we follow a secure process through our dedicated payroll system.

Remember: If your communication differs from this process, it's not from Innovate.

Senior Fisheries Biometrician

Location: Seattle, WA

Position: Senior Fisheries Biometrician Reports To: FLSA: Exempt Location: Seattle, WA Posted: 7/15/26

Job Description

Embrace the opportunity to join Innovate! Inc. and become a valued member of our team. We are seeking driven individuals who are passionate about leveraging technology to tackle environmental challenges and drive positive change. If you thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced environment and are eager to contribute your skills and expertise to innovative projects, we invite you to explore this exciting opportunity further. Read on to learn more about how you can be part of our dynamic team.

Innovate! Inc. is seeking a highly experienced Senior Fisheries Biometrician to serve as a senior statistical and ecological data scientist supporting NOAA Fisheries with advanced probabilistic, mark-recapture, survival, migration, and simulation analyses that inform management decisions for Pacific salmon and other West Coast fisheries resources.

Contingent upon contract being awarded

Location: Work will be conducted on-site at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, Washington (WA) or at one of its associated field stations in WA or Oregon

Salary Range: $120,000 - $165,000

Position status: Full Time; with benefits

Benefits include: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K with match, Life Insurance, and PTO

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide advanced statistical analysis to inform fisheries management, recovery, permitting, hydropower, and life-cycle decisions.
• Analyze spatial and temporal variability in processes affecting migrating salmon, including survival and migration through river and hydropower systems.
• Quantify relationships among fish density, growth, survival, migration rate, environmental conditions, ecological stressors, habitat metrics, and management actions.
• Develop novel probabilistic, mathematical, hierarchical, and simulation models representing complex ecological and behavioral processes.
• Provide statistical consultation and support to researchers during study design, sampling design, model selection, analysis, validation, and interpretation.
• Organize, curate, document, and quality-control ecological datasets used for mark-recapture and related statistical modeling.
• Conduct analyses using accepted methods and rigorous QA/QC, including code review, model diagnostics, sensitivity analysis, and transparent documentation.
• Develop and share reproducible analytical workflows, scripts, and research methods through GitHub and other open-science platforms.
• Archive final data, models, scripts, and analysis products in accessible scientific repositories or interactive dashboards.
• Publish scientific papers and reports, maintain regular communication with team members, and present results at regional and national meetings and conferences.
• Assist with fish and environmental field collection in freshwater, estuarine, and nearshore marine environments as needed, including travel in vehicles or boats.

REQUIRED SKILLS & TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

• Extensive expertise in statistical modeling, probability, simulation, Bayesian statistics, mark-recapture analysis, survival analysis, migration modeling, and ecological data analysis.
• Advanced proficiency coding and conducting analyses in R.
• Experience with Stan and JAGS for Bayesian modeling and posterior inference.
• Strong computational skills manipulating large environmental datasets in Linux or other command-line environments, including shell scripting.
• Ability to interpret, review, or interface with C or C++ code in a scientific modeling context.
• Experience with reproducible research, open-science practices, GitHub, model documentation, scientific repositories, and analytical QA/QC.
• Familiarity with Pacific salmon, river and hydropower systems, West Coast species and habitats managed by NOAA Fisheries, and fisheries management applications.
• Experience with fisheries acoustics, autonomous observing systems, NetCDF, MATLAB, Echoview, or other marine ecological data technologies is beneficial but not required unless assigned to relevant datasets.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including peer-reviewed publication, technical reporting, scientific presentations, and statistical consultation.
• Proficiency with Google Workspace and Microsoft Office and ability to manage a complex workload independently and collaboratively.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

• PhD from an accredited institution in statistics, mathematics, fisheries, ecology, natural sciences, or a closely related quantitative discipline.
• A strong quantitative background with extensive formal coursework in statistics and probability is required.
• Ten or more years of directly relevant experience; advanced-degree substitutions may be applied consistent with the PWS.
• Demonstrated experience developing and applying advanced statistical models to fisheries, ecological, environmental, or marine research questions.
• Knowledge and applied experience in Bayesian statistics and mark-recapture methods is strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting NOAA Fisheries or a comparable federal fisheries science, hydropower, natural resource, academic, or research program is strongly preferred.
• Experience with Pacific salmon, West Coast anadromous fish, Columbia River Basin processes, survival and migration modeling, or NOAA COMPASS-related workflows is highly desirable.
• Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license and be able to satisfy federal Public Trust background investigation requirements.

LEARN MORE ABOUT US

Innovate! Inc. is a certified woman-owned consulting firm founded in 2002 by Lily Thomas. We provide innovative solutions to management, technology, and program challenges, with a focus on performance, integrity, and building lasting partnerships with our clients. Our team of over 100 experts includes IT and geospatial specialists, program and project management consultants, environmental scientists, and communications and outreach strategists. Our clients include federal, state, tribal, and local governments, private industry, non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, and utilities. Recent awards we received for excellent service include the 2022 SAG Team Award and 2022 Esri Partner Conference High Potential Award.

Innovate is a fast-paced, rapidly growing group of entrepreneurs creating a culture of excellence. Rapid advancement within our organization is not only possible but also encouraged.

Innovate is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, marital status, physical or mental disability, status as a Disabled Veteran, Recently Separated Veteran, Active Duty Wartime or Campaign Badge Veteran, Armed Forces Services Medal, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process or cannot access or use this online application process and need an alternative method for applying, please contact us at [e-mail] .