Acoustician Level 2 – Part Time - Cetacean Data Analysis & Processing Support

About the role

Lynker Corporation is seeking to hire one (1) part-time Acoustician Level 2 to support a contract with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). This is a year-round, part-time position anticipated at approximately 940 hrs per year that may be performed on-site or remotely, with anticipated travel in support of meetings, workshops, and field activities. The position is anticipated to begin on September 30, 2026. Hiring for this position will be contingent on contract award.

Responsibilities

• Analyze passive acoustic monitoring datasets collected from stationary recorders, towed hydrophone arrays, drifting recorders, autonomous gliders, and other acoustic platforms.
• Develop, test, validate, and refine automated cetacean detection, classification, and localization approaches.
• Conduct quantitative analyses of cetacean occurrence, abundance, seasonality, habitat use, and acoustic behavior.
• Characterize cetacean call types and evaluate relationships between acoustic detections and environmental or anthropogenic factors.
• Perform statistical analyses supporting marine mammal stock assessments and ecological research.
• Analyze underwater soundscape datasets and compute ambient noise metrics across multiple temporal scales.
• Evaluate long-term acoustic trends and assess natural and anthropogenic sound sources within monitored ecosystems.
• Validate automated classifiers through manual review and annotation of acoustic datasets.
• Support acoustic analyses associated with autonomous Seaglider deployments and other emerging monitoring technologies.
• Contribute to acoustic propagation modeling and evaluation of species-specific detection performance.
• Maintain reproducible analytical workflows using MATLAB, Python, R, GitHub, and NOAA Fisheries data management standards.
• Document analytical methods, maintain analysis logs, and support preparation of reports, manuscripts, conference presentations, and technical summaries.
• Collaborate with NOAA scientists, project partners, and working groups to advance passive acoustic monitoring methodologies and research objectives.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in marine biology, oceanography, acoustics, fisheries science, statistics, computer science, or related field.
• At least two (2) years of relevant experience.
• Working knowledge of underwater acoustic theory and practice, including acoustic propagation, sound measurement, and standard signal processing techniques.
• Experience developing, testing, and validating automated detectors and classifiers for passive acoustic datasets.
• Experience processing acoustic data to extract soundscape and ambient noise measurements at hourly to yearly timescales.
• Ability to design, execute, and interpret statistical analyses of animal abundance to evaluate patterns in occurrence or associations with habitat or fishery variables.
• Prior experience drafting reports and presenting project results at scientific meetings.
• Proficiency in MATLAB and R programming languages, including MATLAB-based acoustic analysis software Triton.
• Current MS Office skills.
• Proficiency with passive acoustic metadata databases such as TETHYS and Makara.
• Proficiency in open science practices, including use of GitHub or other resources for maintaining and archiving analysis code.

Qualifications

• Experience with acoustic localization techniques, including evaluation of automated algorithms within PAMGUARD and development of novel processing and evaluation code.

Skills

• Experience with MATLAB and R programming languages.
• Knowledge of underwater acoustic theory and practice.
• Experience with passive acoustic metadata databases.
• Experience with open science practices.

Benefits

• Comprehensive healthcare for the employee at no monthly cost.
• Personal Time Off (PTO) Policy plus paid holidays.
• Highly competitive compensation plan regularly calibrated against industry and location benchmarks.
• 401(k) retirement plan with company-matching.
• Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
• Flexible spending accounts.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Short- and long-term disability insurance.
• Life and accident insurance.
• Tuition assistance/Training/Workforce improvement reimbursement per year.
• Personalized career growth plans for every employee.

Pay

The pay range for this position is $50,000 - $70,000 annually.

Schedule

The position is anticipated to be part-time, with approximately 940 hours per year.