NIWA is a dynamic research organisation and New Zealand's largest and pre-eminent provider of climate, freshwater and marine science. Their core purpose is to enhance the economic value and sustainable management of New Zealand's aquatic resources and environments, to provide an understanding of climate and the atmosphere, and increase resilience to weather and climate hazards to improve safety and wellbeing of New Zealanders.

NIWA is seeking an enthusiastic, self-motivated, and experienced technician to support the NIWA Marine Ecology Team in Hamilton. The suitable candidate will provide technical support for a variety of research and consultancy projects in estuarine and coastal environments involving, ecology, hydrodynamics, water quality, sediment processes and weather-related natural hazards.

Tasks:

• Sorting and/or identification of benthic marine macrofauna samples in the laboratory.
• Estuarine and coastal field work involving diving, boating, sediment and water sampling and surveying.
• Use and maintenance of specialist scientific equipment.
• Analysis of ecological and environmental data.
• Supply of data to both internal and external clients.
• Assistance with the preparation of consultant and research outputs.

NIWA is looking for mid-career technical support; someone who has experience working in environmental/science roles and who has an MSc, BSc, or New Zealand Certificate. The successful candidate will have SCUBA diving qualifications (CoC for Occupational Scientific Diving) and experience (minimum of 75 logged dives), be comfortable working in challenging outdoor environments, be comfortable working on and from boats (often in uncomfortable weather) and happy to participate in fieldtrips lasting several days away from Hamilton. Equally, they will also be happy working in a laboratory setting processing samples where a high attention to detail is required. Being familiar with soft-sediment invertebrates would be a highly beneficial.

The position will mainly be laboratory-based, processing estuarine macrofauna samples in our busy laboratory, with opportunities to participate in monthly/bi-monthly estuarine and coastal fieldwork. For a motivated candidate, there could also be opportunities to help with field instrument maintenance and deployment, boat skippering, health and safety, project and task management, leadership, and assistance with the analysis of ecological data and the preparation of science reports and publications.

To be successful you must have a passion for marine science, be self-motivated, conscientious, well organised, able to work co-operatively or individually with minimal supervision, and have a high attention to detail.