Natural Resource Specialist III, Wildlife Biologist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State

Natural Resource Specialist III, Wildlife Biologist

Job no: 534668
Work type: Hourly Wage/Part-Time
Senior management: Natural Resources
Department: Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Location: Blacksburg, VA

Assist with research projects across various taxa and locations, focusing on freshwater aquatic fauna.

Key responsibilities include:

• Designing and executing fieldwork and research tasks such as aquatic fauna surveys and instream habitat assessments
• Conducting statistical analysis of biological data
• Writing technical reports and contributing to scientific communications
• Developing and managing large‑scale databases across multi‑taxa and sampling‑collection datasets
• Collaborating closely with project managers and interdisciplinary teams

• B.S. degree in fish and wildlife sciences or a comparable natural resources discipline
• Considerable direct experience working on wildlife and natural resources field projects
• Ability to swim and snorkel
• Ability to carry heavy equipment and navigate through rough terrain and adverse field conditions, including remote field locations
• Experience in freshwater mussel and fish surveys and instream habitat assessments
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, statistical computing software, and geospatial processing programs
• Experience with database management and analysis of spatially and temporally extensive datasets

• Experience surveying and identifying freshwater mussel species in the Upper Tennessee, Atlantic Slope, and New River drainages of Virginia
• Designing and leading mussel surveys using multiple sampling approaches and both qualitative and quantitative methods
• Experience supervising field‑teams and overseeing data collection
• Knowledge of fish collection equipment and sampling methods (e.g., electrofishing gear, traps, nets, and seines)
• Proficiency in large‑scale database organization and management, and in statistical software such as R programming

Pay Band: 4
Overtime Status:
Non‑Exempt – Eligible for overtime Hours per week: up to 40
The successful candidate will be required to pass a criminal conviction check.

Virginia Tech is an equal‑opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, sex, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, genetic information, ethnicity, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, or military status. The university encourages individuals with disabilities to request accommodations.