Work at Wild Animal Initiative

 

Applications closed

As of 14 July 2022, we are no longer accepting applications for this position.

This is an archived copy of the job description for your reference.

Basics

Job title: Scientific Events & Outreach Coordinator

Department: Science - Researcher Services program

Application deadline: June 5, 2022

Application materials:

Please submit an application using this form. The form will ask you to attach two PDFs:

  • A 1- to 2-page resume (PDF) concisely describing your educational, professional, and other relevant experiences.

  • A 1- to 2-page cover letter (PDF) that (i) includes a brief personal statement outlining how your past experience is relevant to the position and (ii) responds to the following questions:

    • What interests you and makes you a good fit for coordinating Wild Animal Initiative’s academic meetings and outreach to support wild animal welfare?

    • What is the most challenging meeting you have organized?

Application process timeline:

  • Stage 2 (paid work test): Mid June.

  • Stage 3 (video interviews): Mid July.

  • Target start date: August 1, 2022.

About our mission

Wild Animal Initiative is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to understand and improve the lives of wild animals. 

Even in nature, most wild animals struggle to survive every day. Unfortunately, preserving habitats or species does not guarantee that animals themselves have good lives. At Wild Animal Initiative, we believe we have a responsibility to act to improve the well-being of wild animals, whether they live in captivity or somewhere else. 

Yet, responsible action requires sound science. There is still so much we don’t know about which animals are sentient, what their lives are like in the wild, and how we can responsibly help them. Our work supports the study of wild animal welfare by funding cutting-edge science, supporting the careers of researchers in the field, and contributing original research.

The success of our mission depends on the diversity of our team. We are looking to work with people that approach our mission as an inherently inclusive endeavor and celebrate the differences of others. We strongly encourage people of every color, religion, age, origin, class, citizenship, parental status, disability status, genetics, veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender to apply. Note that we are unfortunately not able to sponsor work visas at this time and require candidates to already be eligible to work in the jurisdictions where they live or will live by the start of their employment.

Please feel free to reach out to Hiring Manager Emily Sharp at emily.sharp@wildanimalinitiative.org if:

  • You have any questions about our hiring process or open positions;

  • You would like to help us find excellent candidates to join our team; or

  • You are interested in working with us in a capacity we’re not currently hiring for (in which case, a resume and some details about your professional interests would be helpful to receive).

Thank you for considering Wild Animal Initiative as the next part of your vocational journey, we hope to hear from you!

Terms of employment

Location:

  • Full-time remote

  • Must be able to meet with colleagues in Eastern Time (US) and European time zones most days of the week and to meet with colleagues in Pacific Time (US) a few times a week.

  • Note: We are not able to sponsor work visas and are only considering applicants who are eligible to work in the country they plan to live and work in.

Reports to: Science Director Vittoria Elliott

Travel:

  • Travel within the United States and Europe required about 2-8 times per year for staff retreats, conferences, and stakeholder meetings.

Salary:

  • $48,384.00 to $59,136.00, depending on the approximate cost of living in your area. For a complete description of how we set and raise salaries, see our salary algorithm.

Benefits:

  • Comprehensive health and dental insurance.

  • Four weeks of paid vacation, 12 additional holidays, and two weeks of sick leave.

  • A fully remote work environment that allows you to choose when and where you work.

  • A friendly, open work culture that encourages feedback, collaboration, experimentation, and evidence-based innovation.

  • Opportunities for advancement as our team and programs continue their growth trajectory.

  • Note: This benefit structure is what we use for our US staff and largely similar to what we offer to many non-US staff, but may be different depending on the legal requirements of the country you work in.

Responsibilities

Position mission statement:

As Wild Animal Initiative’s Scientific Events & Outreach Coordinator, you will lead the development and execution of an outreach program that will help WAI engage a community of scientists and other researchers in the field of wild animal welfare science. You will develop high-quality meetings and outreach opportunities to facilitate engagement and knowledge exchange within the wild animal welfare research community. You will contribute positively to an inclusive work culture.

Supervisory responsibilities:

  • None currently, but if you are interested and capable, it is possible that your responsibilities could evolve to include managing other staff as opportunities arise.

Core Responsibilities:

  • To lead Wild Animal Initiative’s events and outreach program.

    • Program development:

      • Collaborate with the research team to develop actionable 1-, 3-, and 10-year plans.

      • Evaluate the value of specific program goals and prepare a roadmap to achieve them.

      • Identify and evaluate opportunities to make progress on program goals, including opportunities for WAI to attend or host conferences, meetings, workshops, and other events.

    • Events management:

      • Propose outlines for meetings, sessions, workshops, and other events.

      • Draft and manage budgets for events and outreach activities.

      • Identify opportunities to advertise events.

      • Coordinate our conference session proposal process.

      • Oversee prospective meeting participants and coordinate review of proposed submissions.

      • Coordinate between WAI staff, session collaborators, invited participants, event planners, and conference organizers.

      • Facilitate events that WAI hosts.

    • Seminar/webinar series:

      • Organize co-hosting of seminars and webinars with academic institutions.

      • Arrange event speakers.

      • Prepare required media.

      • Create and facilitate distribution of seminar and webinar recordings.

    • Outreach communications:

      • Initiate communications with academics and other researchers on opportunities to collaborate, including development of joint proposals.

      • Coordinate the distribution of infocards, podcasts, and YouTube channel content.

      • Respond to public enquiries about our events and outreach program.

      • Support the development of outreach materials in collaboration with our science, operations, and communications staff.

Qualifications

This role will require you to have the following qualifications:

  • Ability to thrive in a remote work environment while working effectively as part of a remote team.

  • Excellent time management and organization skills, and ability to set and meet deadlines.

  • Experience presenting at academic conferences and meetings.

  • Ability to coordinate with finance staff to prepare and manage budgets for attending, leading, or hosting sessions, meetings, workshops, conferences, and other events.

  • Ability to effectively research and evaluate opportunities for outreach and academic meeting development.

  • Knowledge and understanding of wild animal welfare or related disciplines and ability to apply this knowledge to prepare meeting/session proposals and academic outreach content.

  • Ability to manage proposal and content development processes performed by others (including leadership) by being proactive about communicating deadlines, monitoring progress, and providing reminders when helpful.

  • Ability to write clear and concise content for meetings proposals and related outreach materials.

  • Ability to use, or willingness to learn, Google Drive, Airtable, publishing and design software, and Asana.

This role might also benefit from you having some of the following qualifications. You should still apply even if you don’t have any of these qualifications:

  • Experience developing, hosting, or coordinating academic events or experience with other aspects of outreach and meetings preparation.

  • Motivated by a desire to improve the lives of wild animals.

  • Ability to problem-solve and willingness to find creative solutions, when needed.

  • Ability to use publishing and design software.

  • Interested in and capable of managing other staff as opportunities arise.

Credentials and experience:

  • Note that we do not require any specific academic credentials or prior work experience for you to be considered for this position, as research shows that such requirements can diminish the quality of candidate pools by deterring from applying individuals who would otherwise be a great fit for a role.

Feel free to email emily.sharp@wildanimalinitiative.org with any questions about the role or the application process.