About the Opportunity
As part of the biodiversity science efforts embedded within the Thriving California Initiative, the California Herbarium Specimen Digitization Project will make hundreds of thousands of specimens from the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) herbarium collections available online. This project combines the efficiency of high throughput specimen imaging using conveyor belt technology to image California herbarium specimens housed at CAS. Specimen images and associated data records will then be uploaded to a community science platform for further transcription and georeferencing of label data. Afterwards, fully transcribed and georeferenced records will be imported into CAS collections database and linked to their corresponding images. Results from this project will mark a major step forward in democratizing CAS museum collections, providing equitable access to these important specimens for people (botanists, scientists, and the general public) all over the world.

Organizational Culture
Join a team dedicated to the Academy’s mission, vision and values! Currently, the Academy has a new strategic plan including three initiatives – Hope for Reefs, Thriving California, and Islands 2030 – that leverage biodiversity science, environmental learning, and collaborative engagement to regenerate fragile ecosystems around the world. Learn more at https://www.calacademy.org/about-us/major-initiatives.

We hope you are inspired by what we do and are excited to contribute to our mission. The mission of the California Academy of Sciences is to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration. The Academy is looking for candidates who do great work, and we know they may come from a number of different backgrounds and experiences. We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every one of the qualifications for the position.

This position is based in San Francisco, California. This position is primarily on-site with occasional remote work possible. Please do not apply if you are not able to work onsite. Candidates are required to have up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination, including receiving a booster shot, as a condition of employment, absent qualifying exemptions in accordance with applicable laws. Individuals receiving a conditional offer of employment from the California Academy of Sciences will be provided the full text of the vaccination policy

About the Botany Team
We are a team of botanists, scientists, professionals and enthusiasts that collectively curate the Academy’s collection of over 2.3 million herbarium specimens. This position will broadly support adding collections imagery and label data to the CAS botany database. This will include working with scanning contractors, ingesting and cleaning label data, working with community science organizers to crowdsource data entry, OCR, georeferencing, and all related processes and technologies. The role will be responsible for ensuring that the data entry is as efficient and correct as possible, by creating processes, working with colleagues, and by using scripting/programming to automate said processes as needed.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with the Botany Curator, Collection Manager, and Director of Scientific Computing to identify requirements for data import/export to/from contracted imaging and transcription services to the CAS internal database and computational infrastructure. This includes:
  • Scripted export to and ingest from community science data organizers
  • Scripted imagery and transcription ingest
• Coordinate with contractors to implement workflows and pipelines that are in line with the needs of internal CAS databases and computational infrastructure
• Develop, test and modify workflows and pipelines to georeference specimens using transcribed label data
• Develop, test and modify (as needed) workflows and pipelines to achieve high level quality control, modification and/or data reshaping as images and associated records move from one place to another; regularly test and modify workflows and pipelines, as needed
• Coordinate QC and data modification efforts with other digitization technicians
• Coordinate with contractors to alter data delivery techniques and/or formats as needed
• Coordinate with collection preparators to maximize data collection efficiency
• Follow all Academy safety regulations
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications
A qualified person for this position is capable of working with large datasets without seeing each piece of data individually. This person is capable of working with data in multiple formats and can modify data to suit different software and application needs. This person has either a background in the natural sciences with extensive database and programming experience, or has a background in bioinformatics and/or computer/data science with coursework and interest in the natural sciences.

Experience and/or Education:

• Undergraduate degree required, Masters degree (or higher) preferred
• Experience with building, managing, and/or maintaining SQL databases
• Experience working with large data, including cleaning/validation/transformation, clustering, and formatting.
• Working knowledge of Python and preferably at least one other high level language suitable for data analysis (e.g., R) and techniques (regular expressions, parsing, reading in formatted data, etc)
• Comfortable (ideally expert) with Linux command line and bash scripting (bash, ssh, scp, rsync, awk, etc).
• Comfortable with task automation using scripting and programming tools
• Knowledge of data cleaning tools (OpenRefine, Trifacta, etc) and techniques
• Working knowledge of common data formats (JSON, yml, csv, tsv) and issues therein (unicode, whitespace, etc)
• Knowledge of biological data systems (GBIF, Encyclopedia of life, NCBI, iNaturalist, etc) and familiarity with geospatial data.
• Knowledge of taxonomy and classification, ideally botanical.
• Experience working as part of a team, with both independent and collaborative goals

Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to execute computational work independently and with great attention to detail
• Ability to take direction, work as part of a team or collaborate well with team members, and external collaborators (when applicable) to accomplish mutual goals
• Ability to work efficiently and communicate with staff, cross-functional teams and external partners from different backgrounds and with varying expertise
• Ability to bring new ideas, create inventive solutions and find efficiencies to transform manual or detailed processes

Physical Environment: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential job duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, sit, use a computer, and communicate on the phone, in person, and online meetings/calls.

Compensation and Benefits
Hourly hiring range: $36.06-$38.46 per hour. Hourly rate will vary based on experience and relevant skills/knowledge set. The Academy offers a total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and comprehensive benefits.
Schedule: This is a full-time position, 40 hours per week, and is primarily on-site with occasional remote work possible. This is a temporary position with a duration of 24 months.

APPLICATION DEADLINE:
This position will close on April 14th, 2023 at 5pm. Review of applications will begin on April 10th, 2023.

APPLICATION PROCESS:
Please upload your resume and complete the brief online application

The California Academy of Sciences will give full consideration for employment to all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance (SF Police Code, Article 49).

The California Academy of Sciences is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to ensure that all employees and applicants receive equal consideration and treatment, regardless of race, color, creed, gender (including gender identity or gender expression), religion, marital or domestic partner status, age, place of birth, national origin or ancestry, physical, mental or medical disability, height or weight, sex, sexual orientation, citizenship, military service status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law or local ordinance.

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