Water Quality Scientist

Application Timeline: Rolling, position open until filled

Location: Remote

Reports to: Science Director

Direct Reports: 0

Salary: $90k-$115k, depending on experience

Travel: Up to 10%, primarily in the Western U.S.

Preferred Start Date: January 2025; priority application deadline 11/12/24

Employment Status: Full time

About Blue Forest

Blue Forest is a conservation finance non-profit founded in 2015 that is focused on advancing ecosystem restoration through scientific research, financial innovation, and collaborative partnerships. Since 2018, Blue Forest has managed investor capital through its flagship financial product, the Forest Resilience Bond (FRB), which deploys private capital to finance forest restoration projects to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. More recently, Blue Forest has also established Blue Forest Asset Management (BFAM), an investment management platform connecting investors to compelling, mission-aligned opportunities in a broader set of asset classes beyond FRB projects, such as private equity and private credit investments. 

Blue Forest is made up of an interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, foresters, finance, and communications professionals committed to the mission: “To accelerate ecological restoration through conservation finance, enabling climate resilience for ecosystems and communities”. Employees at Blue Forest are:

• Committed to Continuous Learning

• Driven by Collaboration

• Thoughtful Innovators for Impact

• Grounded in Science

• Passionate about Restoring Earth’s Ecosystems

As we grow and develop new financial solutions to pressing environmental problems, we are seeking to amplify and collaborate with those historically excluded in conservation finance. We recognize that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization is not only vital but also a key driver of strength, resilience, and success.

Position Summary

To increase ecosystem resilience in the face of increasing wildfire size and severity, there is a need for greater and targeted investment in natural landscapes and nature-based solutions. Blue Forest seeks a water quality scientist to develop and deploy quantitative approaches to understand the value of landscape-scale environmental management for water quality protection and enhancement across the Western U.S. and beyond. 

The Water Quality Scientist is a high-impact position that will work with both our science and project development teams and with external partners to help build the case for investment in active management of fire-impacted forests and watersheds, and post-fire landscapes. This role will require broad and creative thinking about the many ways that wildfire and landscape-scale management can impact water quality throughout the watersheds and water distribution systems and how those impacts can be modeled, especially in data-scarce regions. Most of the day-to-day work will be to perform scientific analyses, such as building or coordinating water quality models, in support of project development. This will involve evaluating the value of potential water quality protection from avoided wildfire and post-fire restoration, and communicating the results to diverse audiences. 

Being successful in this position will require the flexible application of your background, knowledge, and approach to a variety of conservation finance projects being developed at Blue Forest. The ideal candidate will have experience working with water or hydroelectric utilities on water quality science, in addition to a strong understanding of the interactions between wildfire and water quality. Excellent communication skills are crucial. While original research is not the primary focus of this role, there is an opportunity for the selected candidate, if they are interested, to submit papers for peer review based on the outcomes of their work.