BACKGROUND

Helping the residents of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary realize the benefits of the Clean Water Act requires skilled and innovative professionals. A diverse set of stakeholders, aging infrastructure, complex ecology and changing climate are just some of the challenges posed by this unique urban environment.

The Hudson River Foundation has an opening for a Water Quality Manager to work with the New York – New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program to address these challenges. The Hudson River Foundation seeks to make science integral to decision-making with regard to the Hudson River and its watershed and to support competent stewardship of this extraordinary resource. The New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program (HEP) is one of 28 national estuary programs authorized under the Clean Water Act. HEP works with its government, utility, civic and academic partners to improve water quality, protect and restore productive habitats, manage sediments, improve public access and stewardship, and foster community engagement. 

The Water Quality Manager will work closely with the New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program Director, other Hudson River Foundation staff, and our many partners to develop and carry out research, planning, and administrative responsibilities in support of the goals and actions outlined in the Program’s five-year Action Agenda. The position will be based in the Foundation’s lower Manhattan office, but will involve periodic travel within the NY-NJ metropolitan area, including occasional weekend and evening meetings.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Project management: serve as HEP’s point-person for addressing shared water quality objectives.   Seek external funding and build partnerships to support Program priorities. Recent and current projects include preparing a bi-state Harbor Water Quality report, developing citizen science programs for pathogens and litter reduction, managing an analysis of dissolved oxygen standards, helping advance use of green infrastructure to address combined sewer overflows, and enabling public use of data from continuous observation stations.
• Work group coordination: provide technical and logistic support to HEP’s Water Quality Work Group, a multi-stakeholder committee comprised of federal, state, academia, and civic partners focused on water quality goals and priority actions. 
• Plan tracking and implementation: lead the development and tracking of progress toward regional goals for water quality, including creating and implementing an environmental monitoring plan.
• Grant development and management: develop requests for proposals and support review teams to assist with the awarding of grants and contracts. Develop and manage the execution and adherence to contracts and schedules for grant deliverables.   
• Communication: produce conferences and meetings hosted by the Program and Foundation. Represent the program at meetings, conferences, and events. Prepare and review content for the website, newsletter, reports, and meeting minutes. 

QUALIFICATIONS

A Master’s Degree or Doctorate in the fields of environmental sciences, natural resources, environmental engineering, or related field; a strong background in estuarine or coastal science and urban ecosystems; and at least five years of professional experience are expected. Extraordinary additional work experience may be substituted for an advanced degree. Successful candidates will be entrepreneurial and independent workers with excellent organizational, research, writing, and communication skills. Advanced proficiency in Microsoft office, ArcGIS, WordPress and/or Adobe Creative Suite is a preferred. S/he will be enthusiastic and willing to take on considerable responsibility in a fast-paced small office environment involving significant and complex coordination with many external partners.

The Hudson River Foundation is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability.