SUMMARY

Rare is committed to evidence-based practice, ensuring that our program implementation both draws on and adds to the existing body of evidence connecting behavior change with lasting conservation. We are also committed to using the results from scientific research, data collection, and experience in the design of our conservation interventions, integrating scientific principles with local information and community knowledge.
Rare’s Fish Forever program is an innovative global movement to transform near-shore fisheries (fishforever.org). Fish Forever has ambitious objectives to combat chronic overfishing: recovering fish stocks, increasing the economic value of local fisheries, ensuring food security to vulnerable communities, protecting the most biologically diverse marine habitats, contributing to climate change resilience, and building local leadership capacity to ensure sustainability. Fish Forever focuses on implementing managed access areas that give tenure to local fishing communities and, within these areas, establish fully protected reserves to enable fish populations to recover and replenish surrounding fishing areas.
The Fish Forever Global Operations team supports country teams as they implement Fish Forever initiatives. The team provides technical assistance for program operations, including data management, tool development, data analysis, visualization, and information sharing. We continue to invest in data collection across our global programs and partner with leading academic institutions worldwide to advance analysis, modeling, and innovative solutions. We are seeking a Senior Associate for Data Science and Analysis to help guide Fish Forever staff as they design, implement, and evaluate managed access and reserve approaches across tropical coastal zones, including coral reefs, seagrass, mangroves, and pelagic ecosystems.
The successful candidate in this position will be excited about working in a practitioner-oriented, solution-focused culture and using science to advance conservation with ongoing problem-solving and iterative learning. In this environment, the candidate will have the opportunity and the responsibility of helping shape systems and processes to maximize team efficiency.

POSITION OVERVIEW

We are seeking a passionate and experienced data scientist/analyst to support the Fish Forever program by transforming complex data into actionable insights. This role focuses on analyzing data from disparate datasets related to fisheries, marine ecology, and socioeconomics to provide evidence-based recommendations to the program and our partners. The ideal candidate will be adept at applying both univariate and multivariate statistical techniques, presenting results in accessible formats, and contributing to a culture of data-driven decision-making.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Degree in data science, statistics, marine ecology, economics, or a related field.
• Advanced skills in data analysis using R and Python, including experience with packages such as ggplot2, dplyr, pandas, and sci-kit-learn.
• Familiarity with data visualization and dashboard development.
• Demonstrated experience in applying and describing univariate and multivariate statistical techniques.
• Strong ability to interpret and communicate data insights effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience working with large and complex datasets related to environmental, ecological, or socioeconomic themes.
• Ability to lead strategic aspects of data management
• A collaborative mindset with experience in building relationships across diverse teams and regions.
• Highly organized with attention to detail, able to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines.

PREFERRED SKILLS

• Experience using AI tools to enhance productivity and automate data processes.
• Experience in fisheries, marine ecology, or socioeconomic analysis.
• Knowledge of machine learning or advanced statistical modeling techniques.
• Experience with cloud services such as AWS or DigitalOcean for data storage and computation.
  Rare is an equal-opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic

Data Analysis & Insights (40%)

• Lead efforts to analyze data from various sources, including fisheries, marine ecology, and socioeconomic datasets, utilizing both univariate and multivariate statistical methods.
• Develop tailored data-driven insights to support programmatic objectives, inform decision-making, and contribute to conservation strategies.
• Translate data insights into actionable strategies to improve data collection and program design.
• Communicate statistical findings clearly and effectively to a range of stakeholders, including non-technical audiences, community partners, and senior leadership.
• Contribute to reports, publications, and other materials to disseminate key findings and promote data-driven practices in conservation.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) & Data Management (20%)

• Contribute to the development and integration of MEL frameworks to strengthen impact evaluation efforts, building on existing conservation evaluation practices.
• Collaborate with teams to ensure that all data collected is well-maintained, high quality, and easily accessible.
• Help establish and promote best practices for data collection and data integrity, ensuring consistency and reliability across program datasets.
• Contribute to the development and rollout of a data management strategy that addresses current gaps and supports the implementation of this strategy in alignment with program scaling efforts.

Visualization & Reporting (20%)

• Develop compelling data visualizations and dashboards to facilitate the interpretation of complex datasets.
• Utilize tools like R Shiny, Python Dash, or other preferred platforms to create web-based dashboards for use by country teams and global partners.
• Provide training to internal teams on the use of visualizations and dashboards to empower them to draw insights and use data independently.

Capacity Building, Strategic Contributions & Stakeholder Engagement (20%)

• Assist with mentorship and capacity-building support to country teams to develop skills in data analysis, MEL, and conservation strategy.
• Support engagement with senior leaders and external partners to explain data-derived insights, often tailoring messages to different levels of technical expertise.
• Contribute to cross-team collaboration, supporting broader programmatic strategic direction through data science, fisheries management, and conservation evaluation.
• Assist with specific aspects of data management strategy implementation, including identifying and addressing data gaps, tweaking the strategy, and planning rollouts to effectively address these gaps.
• Support the eventual establishment and operationalization of an evaluation function as part of the broader MEL plan.