Zoo Jobs: Population Biologist

Population Biologist

EAZA, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, represents and links more than 400 zoos, aquariums, national federations and other organisations in 48 countries. In addition to furthering the professional standards of our Members with regard to the care and accommodation of the animals kept in their collections, EAZA also facilitates cooperation in our key mission areas of conservation, education and research. More than 140 million visits are made to EAZA Members each year. EAZA runs around 400 population management programmes (EEPs and ESBs) that are overseen by 42 EAZA Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) and is in an exciting transition phase towards implementing our new population management structure.

Twenty-four staff are based at the main EAZA Executive Office at Artis Zoo, Amsterdam. An additional five staff are based in Brussels, Belgium, or hosted at EAZA Members across Europe. The Executive Office staff are responsible for the day to day running of the association with activities divided across two departments: Communications and Membership and Conservation and Population Management plus an additional number of roles, including EU policy, office management and fundraising reporting directly to the Executive Director

Job Description

The position of EAZA Population Biologist is initially for a fixed one year contract period with the option to extend. The successful candidate will work for the Conservation and Population Management department and will be part of the EAZA Population Management Centre (PMC) team, reporting the PMC Manager. The EAZA Population Biologist’s main role is assisting EAZA TAGs and population management programmes with defining goals and setting Population Management targets, producing long-term management plans for EEPs and providing technical population management advice, as such contributing to achieving increasingly sustainable populations for EAZA.

Duties and Responsibilities

Population management

• Provide population management advice to TAGs, in particular in the framework of Regional Collection Plans.

• Provide population management advice to EEPs and ESBs both strategically (goal setting, master planning) and to day-to-day questions related to population management software and interpretation of data analyses.

• Prepare and facilitate Long Term Management Plan (LTMP) meetings in cooperation with EEP coordinators and EEP Species Committee and publish the LTMP reports.

• Contribute to the development of new population management tools and the integration of new science (e.g. molecular genetics) into existing EAZA Ex situ Programme structures.

• Contribute towards increased integration of EAZA’s ex situ conservation (breeding) activities with those of zoos in other regions as well as with in situ conservation (breeding) needs and priorities.

• Teach in the EAZA Ex situ Programme Management Courses.

General

• Contribute to various ongoing tasks in the Conservation and Population

Management department as appropriate and needed.

• Where relevant, assist with preparation related to conferences and other general tasks in the office;

• Contribute to ensuring the communication and publication of related information to the membership (e.g. by publication in eNews, Zooquaria, EAZA website, Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, etc.);

Staff management

• The position aims to include line management responsibilities for the Assistant Population Biologist. This will include holding performance development reviews, overseeing the development of annual work plans as well as staff training and development.

Required Qualifications and Experience

Education

• The EAZA Population Biologist will be educated to a minimum of Master (MSc) degree level or equivalent. A degree in a related discipline such as zoology or biology is required.

Experience

• Candidates must have a minimum of two years work experience relevant to population management. Work experience including small population management and breeding programme management and/or working within the EAZA community is preferred;

• Candidates must have experience with small population management

theory and tools (SPARKS, PMx, ZIMS);

• Candidates must have a proven track record in project management and working in a multidisciplinary team environment;

• A proven ability in public speaking is essential;

• Experience with meeting facilitation will be a distinct advantage;

• Experience with standard office word processing and spreadsheet packages is essential;

• Experience with managing staff is beneficial;

Skills

• The ability to work effectively to deadlines and under pressure is

paramount;

• Excellent project management skills;

• Fluent written and spoken English is essential. The ability to communicate in another European language is preferred;

• The ability to think strategically and creatively;

• The ability to initiate new ideas and take the initiative in response to challenges and opportunities;

• The ability to explain and teach complicated technical matters in simple terms to non-specialists;

• Candidates must have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work across multiple cultures.

Working Arrangements

The position of EAZA Population Biologist is a full-time post working five days a week (38 hours), based at the EAZA Executive Office in Amsterdam. From time to time it will be necessary to work at weekends and outside normal working hours.

There is a holiday allowance of 25 days a year and a company pension is available.

An initial one-year contract is offered, with a permanent contract to follow after a positive appraisal. The salary offered is €34,550 a year. Additionally, EAZA pays an 8% holiday allowance in May which will bring the salary to €37,314.

Applications and Recruitment Procedure

Interested applicants with the required attributes should send a CV, and brief covering letter for the attention of Raymond van der Meer at jobs@eaza.net with the subject line “EAZA Population Biologist – Name of applicant”.

Applicants are asked to submit their CV in accordance with the Europass standard (http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu). All applications received will be acknowledged by a return email.

Application deadline: 12 January 2020

Interviews will take place in Amsterdam at a date to be arranged in January. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only candidates short-listed for interview will be further contacted.

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