Overview

ESSA Technologies Ltd. (ESSA) is an employee-owned Canadian environmental consulting company with offices in British Columbia and Ontario. We envision a world where creativity, a focus on learning, and systems thinking are the foundation of solutions to environmental challenges. We are seeking a motivated, service-oriented, resourceful, independent, and highly skilled Research Assistant to support our team in varying contexts across North America and internationally. This is a 12-month contract with an opportunity for contract renewal or permanent placement and room for future advancement. The successful candidate will bring a ‘no job too small’ attitude and conscientiously support senior staff and projects that focus on research and synthesis, technical writing, facilitation and engagement support, data wrangling / analysis, and business development as outlined below.

Research and Support

• Working in a support role on a wide range of environmental issues including adaptive management, climate change adaptation, fisheries and aquatic resource management, ecosystem restoration, environmental impact assessment, and decision support system development.
• Supporting the development of research and client engagement plans to meet the tailored needs of diverse projects.
• Leveraging existing scientific literature, participant survey results and other tools to support research, knowledge synthesis (e.g., literature review) and reference management.
• Data wrangling, data mining, and basic statistical analysis in Excel (preferably in R).
• Using a variety of tools to support technical facilitation, participatory engagement, and note-taking during virtual and in person meetings.

Education / Experience

• Bachelor’s degree with a strong preference for degrees in the natural and applied sciences (e.g., Ecology, Biology, Resource Management, Data Science, or Geography) and a minimum of 2 years of research experience outside of academia with private, public, or non-governmental sectors.

~ OR ~

• Master’s degree with a strong preference for degrees in the natural and applied sciences (e.g., Ecology, Biology, Resource Management, Data Science, or Geography) with no additional research experience required.
• Experience working on issues in natural resource management, for instance: (1) aquatic sciences (e.g., water management, fisheries management, ecosystem restoration planning); (2) climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessments; (3) data sciences/statistics (e.g., monitoring design, simulation modelling); and/or (4) environmental cumulative effects/impact assessments.

Skills / Abilities

• Exceptional English writing and verbal communication skills; familiarity with scientific / technical report writing and plain-language styles.
• Computer proficiency and literacy in Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) and virtual collaboration tools (MS Teams, Zoom, Survey Monkey, Mural).
• Resourceful, versatile, and collaborative team player with the ability to work calmly and effectively in an office environment with in-person and remote teams with modest instruction/supervision.
• Personable, with a flexible, calm demeanor, comfortable in group settings; sparks harmony not drama.
• Strong research and data management skills including familiarity with using on-line libraries.
• Differentiating assets include one or more of: Graphic design, Geographic Information Systems, aptitude in coding (e.g., R, or completion of programming boot camp(s)), and /or Spanish-language or French-language skills.