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The Information Science Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is currently seeking an eBird Project Coordinator.  This position will focus on working with the eBird community and coordinating eBird’s communications: being the ‘face’ of eBird. Please read through the entire position description for duties, required qualifications, and preferred qualifications. The position will be posted until filled. This position is based in Ithaca, New York. See additional available jobs here.

eBird is the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science project, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year by eBirders around the world. Through a combination of broad-based community engagement and global partnerships, the volume of data coming into eBird has continued to increase exponentially (15-30% annually) over the last decade. Presently, eBird contains more than 500 million observations of almost all known species of birds. More than 390 thousand participants have volunteered over 35 million observation hours and have submitted bird observations from 4.7 million locations spanning every country in the world. In addition, eBird data are relied upon for a variety of research initiatives in Information Science, other Cornell Lab programs (e.g., Citizen Science, Education, Conservation, Bird Population Studies and Cornell), external academic institutions (e.g., Carnegie Mellon, Caltech, U of Utah, Oregon State), governmental departments and agencies in the U.S. and abroad (e.g., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oak Ridge National Labs, US Department of Defense, CONABIO [Comision Nacional para el Conocimento y Uso de la Biodiversidad]), nongovernmental organizations (e.g., Point Blue Conservation Science, Bird Studies Canada, Audubon), and private companies.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a major, globally focused institution for research, training, and public communication relating to birds and biodiversity. Information Science is one of eleven programmatic units that carry out the Lab’s mission to interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. The Information Science program develops data intensive techniques and applies them to massive quantities of bird observational data, with the goal of using these big data techniques for basic and/or applied research that contributes directly to the conservation of biological diversity at the species, population, or community level. One of the major projects in Information Science is eBird.

Duties include:

• Coordinate the eBird Help Center and communication with users
• Assist in mass media related to the program
• Help expand the global eBird community by working with project staff to further partnerships with other Cornell programs, external academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations and governmental departments and agencies in the U.S. and abroad
• Assist the entire eBird team in the planning, implementation, and tracking of existing and future projects
• Assist with the coordination of work with staff to ensure efficient, high-quality, and timely production
• Work closely with Cornell students and outside partners to meet goals and objectives for eBird

Annual term appointment with possible renewal based on performance and available funding.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree; more than 2 years’ experience or equivalent.
• Deep understanding of birds and bird distribution.
• Proven skills in project management and coordination are essential, along with excellent interpersonal skills.
• Familiarity and proficiency with the Internet and content management systems is critical, along with a strong interest in using the Web as a tool to conduct research, engage and educate the public.
• Mastery of common computer skills including word, email, and excel.
• Prior knowledge of social media outlets.
• Strong communication skills (written and oral) to clearly articulate vision and plans, and provide instruction effectively to all levels of management, staff, new partners, funding agencies, eBird users, and visitors are critical.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with all levels of management and staff internally and externally.
• Candidate will value teamwork and be able to stimulate cooperation between all employees and partners.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• High level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results-orientation.
• Provide high level of initiative to anticipate needs of the project and fulfill project objectives with very minimal supervision.
• Ability to prioritize activities and multitask is essential.
• Ability to travel internationally when necessary; must obtain and maintain valid passport.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese.
• Experience with GIS software.
• At least two years’ experience using eBird and eBird Review tools strongly preferred.
• Experience with WordPress, SQL helpful.

Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position; not eligible to apply. Relocation assistance is not provided for this position.

View full position description here.

This position is open to internal and external applicants on the Jobs at Cornell website:

If you have any questions, please contact Chris Wood (chris.wood AT cornell.edu)