Ocean Career: National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Maritime Archaeologist

Maritime Archaeologist

In 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration directed the Department of Commerce to move forward with the designation process for five nominated national marine sanctuaries. These designation efforts support President Biden's America the Beautiful initiative by expanding the National Marine Sanctuary System, addressing inequitable access to the outdoors, and supporting locally-led conservation.

This role is currently offered as a two-year term position. The position may be extended based on the continued availability of funding; however, the availability of funding is not guaranteed. The Maritime Archaeologist supports the scope of a federal cooperative agreement award between the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and ONMS that focuses on public engagement in the designation process of new national marine sanctuaries.

This position is seated within the ONMS Headquarters Office, Maritime Heritage Program, to support the Eastern Region.

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is committed to a culture of inclusion, equity, and belonging. We are dedicated to attracting and retaining a diverse staff. We honor experiences, perspectives, and unique identities and welcome the contributions that you can bring to the dedicated team. With a diverse team of employees, we can grow and learn better together and achieve our mission to protect the health of the ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes for current and future generations.

• Support sanctuary designation efforts in the Eastern Region by contributing to sanctuary proposal documents, including Environmental Impact Statements, sanctuary management plans, and relevant environmental reviews conducted by ONMS, such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
• Support the Maritime Heritage Program's buildout of the Maritime Anthropological Resource Information System to inventory cultural resources in the Eastern Region and assist with other Maritime Heritage Program initiatives, including the development of policy and guidance documents.
• Apply subject matter expertise in the field of maritime archaeology to support the identification, documentation, evaluation, and preservation of cultural resources within the Eastern Region. This includes both applications of expertise in supporting historical and background research and supporting archaeological fieldwork efforts.
• Support the planning and execution of field operations related to archaeological resource identification and documentation, which may include scientific diving activities and operation of remote sensing equipment (e.g., magnetometer/gradiometer, side scan sonar, multibeam echo sounder, sub-bottom profiler, Remotely Operated Vehicles, autonomous systems) along with related data processing, analysis, and technical report preparation.
• Conduct historical research on sanctuary resources and assist with research and data collection to determine the eligibility of sites for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
• Support the development and implementation of maritime and cultural heritage protection, education, outreach, and research programs. Develop outreach products and policy documents. Provide content for communications materials, including the development of new content for web pages, social media, exhibits, publications, and other public-facing communication efforts. Develop, coordinate, and support outreach events and public events highlighting the science and work of the proposed national marine sanctuaries.
• Identify and foster external partnerships.

• Master's Degree or Ph.D. in maritime/underwater archaeology or a closely related field.
• Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology.
• Archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should include a combination of professional experience in archeological surveys (including site documentation methods and remote sensing surveys), excavation, laboratory analysis, data…