Field Science & GIS Technician

Organization & Role Background:

LandWEB’s mission is to provide scientific, holistic landscape-feedback to organized land stewards to heal land, support themselves, and provide for and protect their communities at watershed scales. Our organization, established in 2022, was born out of the needs of our partner, the Land Care Cooperative (LCC). LCC comprises leading regenerative grazing farmers who have innovated and learned to effectively heal the land they steward. Cooperative farmers realized they needed the support of rigorous scientific feedback to understand how their management was impacting their land in order to most effectively increase the depth and health of topsoil and plant root systems, biodiversity, water infiltration and retention, and provide environmental security, all while growing healthy food, medicine, and fiber for their communities. 

LandWEB’s science is based in the field of environmental biophysics, which has been developed over the past 65+ years and focuses on scalable, quantitative measurement and physical modeling of water, energy, biomass and soil in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum (SPAC). This approach has been ready to operationalize for 25 years, and through the past 11 years of collaboration between scientists and farmers in Vermont, it is now being put into practice by LandWEB. 

During the field season, generally April through November, LandWEB’s field team travels to our partner farms across Vermont to collect environmental data using a variety of instruments. We have a number of long-term research sites as well as pilot project sites. The data collected by the field team is passed to the larger science and modeling team and is analyzed on a project basis as well as incorporated into larger Measurement-Synthesis models that combine farmer records and observations, near-surface environmental measurements and satellite remote sensing to produce feedback to farmers to inform their daily management.

The LandWEB Field Science & GIS Technician will be a member of the Field Science team, working under the Field Science Director to conduct field work and data collection on farms. They will use a variety of scientific instruments to collect data on soil, water, biomass, and energy and will support data management in coordination with other team members. They will manage LandWEB’s GIS program, including all organizational and project based geospatial data. They will support educational programming, fundraising, and communications as needed related to their other duties.

Position Responsibilities:

• Operate environmental biophysics equipment to measure water, energy, and biomass on farms
• Manage organizational GIS including long-term and project-based geospatial data
• Support in transport and maintenance of instruments, forages, soil and other materials
• Process biomass and soil samples in the field and in the lab
• Support deployment of advanced 3D soil mapping
• Support in planning and coordination for future fieldwork
• Support in data management and coordination with various scientists to develop environmental models
• Oversee summer intern conducting field work

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree and 1-3 years experience, or equivalent experience, in agriculture, environmental science, natural resource management, natural/physical sciences or other related fields
• Experience in ArcGIS Pro or other GIS software required, experience with Esri Field Maps preferred
• Experience or interest in conducting field research in a variety of weather conditions
• Experience or interest in scientific data collection and management

Compensation and Benefits:

Salary range: $52,500-$57,000 depending on experience and qualifications

Benefits include health, retirement, mileage reimbursement for work-related travel, and flexible paid time off.

This is a non-exempt, full-time position, 40 hours per week. This is generally 8-hour days, Monday through Friday, but during the field season, may occasionally include shifting hours for some longer field days based on weather and location. 

LandWEB works at sites across the state of Vermont, from Highgate to Wells. Our current field science team members are located in Burlington, and carpool from Burlington to field sites. Team members may join the carpool or may drive their own vehicle to sites. We provide mileage reimbursement at the federal rate of $0.70/mile, but recommend and prefer carpooling when possible.