Empathy Project Coordinator

Job Posting Empathy Project Coordinator

Department: School and Public Programs
Reports to: School and Public Programs Supervisor
Status: Full-time, hourly, benefitted position
Hours of Work: Standard Monday–Friday workweek, 8am–5pm. Occasional need for weekend or after-hours work as related to events and other projects.

The Seattle Aquarium, a leading marine conservation organization, is seeking a full-time Empathy Project Coordinator to support and coordinate a three‑year grant focused on fostering empathy for wildlife and the natural world. This role serves as a central point of coordination across multiple grant‑funded projects, supporting content development, partner collaboration, and program delivery while ensuring work stays aligned with grant goals, timelines, and budget requirements.

The Empathy Project Coordinator works closely with internal teams, external partners, and community collaborators to help translate research, education, and empathy‑based approaches into accessible, meaningful resources for educators, learners, and peer organizations. This position also supports the facilitation and continued development of empathy workshops and contributes to a collaborative, reflective, and values‑driven team environment that centers wellbeing, inclusion, and continuous learning.

The projects within this grant include:

• Adapting the existing Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and conservation activity book “The Salish Sea & Me” from a 3rd–5th grade audience to a Kindergarten–2nd grade audience
• Translating educational resources into multiple languages to better serve local communities
• Creating empathy‑based resources for teachers to use with students during Seattle Aquarium visits
• Developing toolkits and guides to support peer organizations in adapting empathy‑based resources for their own ecosystems and audiences
• Producing a series of empathy‑based videos for zoo, aquarium, and museum professionals
• Expanding and refining empathy workshops to meet the needs of educational and animal‑focused organizations beyond the zoo and aquarium field

• Learn and build a strong working understanding of the details and requirements associated with the grant including activities, budget, timelines, and reporting requirements.
• Use organizational tools to monitor project timelines. Keep project activities and evaluation on track and within budget, working with project leads, the Principal Evaluator, and supervisors.
• Keep lines of communication open and active between team members and external partners.
• Schedule and facilitate regular meetings of the project leads.
• Support grant spending and reporting, working with the Grant and Admin Specialist as well as the Philanthropy team to proactively address any changes.
• Document the development process and reflect on ways to improve.
• Coordinate advisory groups and review groups such as teacher cohorts for evaluation, comparable organizations for front‑end evaluation for the video project, and community partners for translation review.

• Provide coordination and support as well as participate in the development and updating of educational materials that meet school standards, grant expectations, and organizational values as well as resources for teachers and educators.
• Integrate diverse worldviews, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, different ways of knowing, as well as local and global perspectives into projects.
• Develop content in collaboration with partners, co‑workers, and participants, incorporating perspectives from people with a range of lived experiences.
• Become familiar and up‑to‑date on child development standards and learning standards including Next Generation Science Standards, Social Emotional Learning, Since Time Immemorial, Ocean Literacy, and beyond.
• Create toolkits/guides based on the development process for peers.

• Become familiar with Seattle Aquarium programs and resources, shadowing programs as desired.
• Learn and become fluent in empathy as a tool for conservation.
• Become familiar with Empathy workshops given to internal and external Aquarium/Zoo…