Environmental Social Scientist - Keller Science Action Center

About the role

The Field Museum’s Keller Science Action Center seeks an experienced Environmental Social Scientist to support conservation efforts in the Chicago Wilderness region. This position is based in Chicago and reports to the Sr. Director of the Keller Science Action Center.

Responsibilities

• Provide social science expertise to Action Center conservation efforts.
• Lead initiatives within the Chicago program.
• Collaborate as a lead scientist in the Chicago region, including planning, fieldwork, technical reporting.
• Manage key relationships with partners and help build and sustain new partnerships with community organizations, agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Work closely with Action Center staff and partners to synthesize insights and outcomes across particular experiences and generate understanding applicable to large landscape scales and produce demonstrable results on the ground.
• Design and conduct research and community engagement processes, including participatory action research, asset-based planning, and rapid ethnographic and qualitative methods approaches.
• Build and sustain partnerships with community organizations, agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Support monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive learning across projects.
• Contribute to grant proposals, technical reports, and other materials for dissemination, including peer-reviewed publications that support conservation landscapes.
• Integrate social scientific expertise into the development of long-term conservation and well-being strategies in collaboration with other Action Center scientists and partners, identifying and implementing opportunities to expand programming and funding.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in anthropology, human geography, or related social science field.
• Minimum 4 years of experience in community-based conservation, participatory action research, sustainable natural resource use with communities or related work.
• Experience working on interdisciplinary teams that blend social and natural science disciplines and methodologies.
• Experience managing projects and competent working both independently and in a team.
• Demonstrated experience building partnerships across diverse stakeholders.
• Strong facilitation, verbal communication, and writing and editing skills: able to structure ideas clearly and to communicate them in English to a range of audiences.
• Extensive knowledge of the Chicago region.
• Demonstrated experience working with communities in the Chicago region or a similar large metropolitan region where conservation occurs across an urban–rural mosaic and at corridor/landscape scales.
• Proficiency with digital work platforms such as MS Office and Google Workspace.
• Willingness to work in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred

• Fluency in Spanish.
• Experience working with Indigenous and/or historically underserved communities.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Including medical, dental, vision plans, and even pet insurance.
• Financial Security: Life and disability benefits plus a 403(b) savings plan to help you plan for the future.
• Work-Life Balance: Generous paid time off, paid sick leave, and paid holidays to ensure you have time to recharge and spend with loved ones.
• Exclusive Perks: Enjoy great employee discounts and complimentary general admission to participating cultural institutions.

Pay Range

$62,000-70,000