Plant Biologist

WRA’s an employee-owned environmental consultancy. We are a tenacious team of planners, engineers, and scientists, and we aim to leave the lands we love better than we found them. 

Our clients and partners hire us because we’re skilled at navigating through challenging projects involving wildlands, parks, community spaces, and infrastructure. We bring over four decades of expertise, long-standing relationships, and connections to our local communities to make sure that projects are pursued in responsible ways where both people and the environment thrive. 

As an organization, we believe that independence and interdependence are not mutually exclusive. We invest in systems, processes, and employee programs to support our staff’s collective engagement and success. At the same time, we encourage our employees to operate with an ownership mindset, taking responsibility for outcomes and being true to our commitments. 

We are actively searching for a Botanist/Wetland Delineator to join our close-knit team. This opportunity will be exciting for someone who has some hands-on experience with fieldwork, botanical surveys, wetland delineations, and enjoys being part of a collaborative team. If this is you, we’d love to chat about this exciting opportunity!  

This role will need to be within commuting distance to one of our 3 Northern California offices (San Rafael, Petaluma, and Emeryville), as periodic site visits will be necessary.

In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Managing both small-scale and large-scale projects for a diverse array of clients in the development sector, open space/parks sector, and habitat restoration sector
• Preparing wetland delineation jurisdictional requests, biological technical reports, restoration/mitigation monitoring reports, and botanical/rare plant survey reports
• Leading aquatic resource permitting efforts 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
• Conducting CEQA analysis, including existing condition evaluations, impact assessments, and mitigation recommendations, for IS/MNDs and EIRs
• Making ecological management recommendations based on results of ecological surveys and monitoring data
• Providing oversight and guidance of field work to be completed by junior staff
• Providing leadership for junior staff, in consultation with team leads, in a fashion that supports the company’s culture, mission, and values

To be successful in this role, you will need: 

• A Bachelor’s degree in biology, vegetation or wetland ecology
• 3-5 years of environmental consulting experience
• Experience with aquatic resources regulatory permitting
• Experience coordinating field surveys at remote and challenging-to-access field sites
• A desire to continue learning and adding to your technical knowledge and skills
• Technical knowledge of wetland delineations, field identification and habitat assessment of plant species, botanical survey protocols, vegetation and habitat mapping
• Experience in CEQA botanical and wetland resource review
• Experience in managing client relationships and coordinating multiple projects at once
• Strong organizational and communication skills
• Resourcefulness, thoroughness, and attention to detail
• High quality writing and editing skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, G-Suite: Email, Docs, Drive, Calendar, etc.
• The ability to walk, hike, and work outside for long periods of time

WRA has an established internal leveling system for our staff that maps to salary bands that have been informed by market data. Our leveling system is dependent on years of relevant industry experience, education, and the level of responsibility and autonomy at which you’re expected to operate.

We have posted a salary range that represents 2 job levels that WRA is open to considering for this role. There will be opportunities to discuss this toward the end of the interview process; however, if you wish to discuss titles earlier in the interview process, please do so with your recruiter. 

The salary range for this position is $76,000-$96,000.

Who are we?

WRA’s company vision is to cultivate a sustainable future where people and the environment thrive, and that effort starts first with our staff. We are committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment, and we have developed flexible policies, internal practices, and are investing in programs that prioritize learning and sustainability. We aim to create conditions that allow employees to prioritize their families, lead healthy and balanced lives, and to bring their authentic selves to work every day. We believe that by creating an exceptional workplace, our employees will be able to do their best work and be able to meaningfully contribute to the sustainability of the environment and the communities in which we live.

WRA is an equal opportunity employer, and we are committed to creating a diverse environment. We recruit, employ, train, compensate and promote regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.