Join Our Team
At VCE, we’re proud of our dedicated and inspired staff, post-doctoral researchers, seasonal technicians, and graduate and undergraduate students. Their wide-ranging talents drive our mission to protect biodiversity through scientific research and community outreach.
Help VCE Find Our Next Executive Director
An inspiring opportunity to guide an internationally respected conservation science organization into our next chapter of cutting-edge biodiversity research, monitoring, and community engagement
The Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) is seeking a strategic thinker and experienced leader to serve as the next executive director and guide the organization into our third decade of building knowledge to conserve biodiversity.
VCE advances biodiversity conservation across the Americas with the combined strength of science and community. Our biologists conduct pioneering research and spearhead major collaborations that involve hundreds of volunteers in data collection. Their findings, including frequent new discoveries, appear in peer-reviewed journals, national news coverage, legislative policy briefs, forest management and wildlife action plans, and school lesson plans. Flagship projects include: breeding bird, butterfly, and vernal pool atlases; 35 years of research on North America’s rarest songbird (Bicknell’s Thrush); a growing portfolio of pollinator research, including assessments of their importance to native plants and farm crops; groundbreaking studies of insect and bird migration; and the Vermont Loon Conservation Project, a public-private partnership that helped rebuild the state’s loon population from seven to 115 nesting pairs. The Vermont Atlas of Life, VCE’s innovative library of biodiversity data, contains more than 12 million records of nearly 17,000 species from 58,000 contributors. VCE scientists are internationally recognized for their expertise, and the organization’s reach and influence extend well beyond the Green Mountain State.
See the full job description (PDF).
To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume as one PDF to edjob@vtecostudies.org with the title format: Last Name ED Application.
VCE is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status.
Diversity and Inclusion
We at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies know that biological communities and organizations are strongest and most resilient when they are most diverse. However, we have much work to do to create and sustain diversity and equity in the field of ecology itself—one of the least diverse fields of science. As an organization that aims to “unite people and science for conservation,” we recognize that to truly advance that goal we must create a culture that celebrates diversity, fosters inclusivity, and values dissenting opinions and rigorous examination within our own community.
Diversity drives innovation. We will more actively seek to increase the diversity of our staff, board, volunteers, and supporters to more closely resemble the diverse communities that utilize our science and research. We are committed to a workplace free of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or nationality; gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation; socio-economic class; age; accessibility needs; religion or worship practices; veteran or military service status; education; or political affiliation.
Equity is our ethos. We strive to implement policies and practices that ensure everyone has fair, equitable access to opportunities to contribute and thrive. To achieve this goal, we must identify and break down barriers that prevent some groups from fully engaging with us through employment, volunteer, and educational opportunities.
Inclusion empowers. People who feel included are creative and inspired by the culture around them to grow and to reach outside their community. Only by feeling included can any of us reach our potential as individuals, and as collaborative actors. We will know we are inclusive when we see it develop in our colleagues–as they shed their skins and become inspired speakers and actors in their professional work, willing to take risks, and to grow.
VCE values diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we are committed to action that creates and sustains meaningful change, both within our organization and our broader sphere of influence.
We endeavor to:
- seek out the science and research of Black, Indigenous, People of Color naturalists and biologists, and amplify their voices through VCE’s work and outreach channels;
- explore avenues for increasing diversity within the birding and naturalist communities and improving access to naturalist pursuits in Vermont;
- bring increased focus to the biodiversity value of urban landscapes in Vermont and beyond;
- reexamine our partnerships to collaborate with racially diverse institutions;
- evaluate our outreach, employment, and programming practices and priorities to build diversity across our organization—including volunteers, interns, staff, board, and constituents.
- prominently display this Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement on our website
Read More
Read VCE’s Commitment to Racial Justice
Embracing the Community: It’s time to take the “citizen” out of citizen science
VCE heartily supports the work of Bird Names For Birds. #BirdNames4Birds
