Botanist

Who We Are

Dudek is a leading environmental, planning, and engineering firm that helps public and private clients achieve compliance, practicality, and innovation through our project work. Founded in 1980, Dudek has grown steadily to more than 800 professionals across the U.S. and received the Top Workplace Award for 2021.

As a 100% employee-owned company, Dudek's culture rewards smart, productive team members with ownership, professional development, and financial benefits. Our work communities are designed to encourage collaboration, sustainability, and connectivity with the surrounding communities.

We invest in our Employees and communities through various initiatives that make Dudek a great place to work! Dudek makes it a priority to DuGood by giving back to the communities in which we live and work, and offer Dudekians the opportunity to take a paid volunteer day each year. Our experts are encouraged to eDUcate school groups about planning, engineering, and preserving the natural and built environments. We promote environmental sustainability through our DuGreen initiative by working to improve our environmental footprint. We also DuWell to educate our associates on their health and wellness. And our Du Something Fun team brings everyone at Dudek together to balance our hard work with exciting activities.

At Dudek, we understand the best problem solving happens when diverse viewpoints and experiences are shared. We recognize that different perspectives, inclusivity, and trust build a stronger culture and add value to our firm. We celebrate our differences and strive to make meaningful progress toward becoming a more diverse company.

About The Job

We are currently seeking full-time, mid-level Biologist with five or more years of professional experience to join our southern/central California biological resources team in conducting a variety of field surveys and assessments for public and private projects. We are particularly interested in candidates who have experience with botanical resources including vegetation mapping, general botanical surveys and inventories, rare plant surveys, and aquatic resource delineations and regulatory permitting. Strong writing skills are desirable. Project work can occur throughout southern and central California, with periodic work in northern California or other locations. This position can be based out of our Santa Barbara, Pasadena, Bakersfield, La Quinta, Riverside, or San Juan Capistrano, CA offices.

you will have the opportunity to shape.

Who You Are

To thrive at Dudek, you should be comfortable with freedom and accountability. We value collaborative, resourceful, and independent thinkers. We look for curious, solution-focused people who are able to adapt quickly to an ever-changing industry. There is no single way to solve a problem, so we support your creative approaches to solve problems.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Conducts field studies/surveys, individually or as part of a team, including but not limited to the following:
  • Vegetation mapping and habitat characterizations
  • General botanical surveys and inventories
  • Focused surveys and/or habitat assessments for special-status plant species
  • Aquatic resource delineations pursuant to federal and state requirements to support regulatory permit applications.
• Leads and/or works with others in the preparation of technical reports and studies including focused survey reports, aquatic resource delineation reports, wetland permit applications, threatened and endangered species permitting documentation, and biological resources technical reports. This includes working individually and as part of a team on the following:
  • Assembly and synthesis of data related to biological issues and impact assessment.
  • Coordination with internal staff and sub-consultants preparing technical reports.
  • Coordination with technical staff in document preparation, editing, and production and distribution tasks including graphics and GIS staff.
• Actively communicates with internal team and external clients and/or resource agencies, under the supervisor of senior staff. This may include the following:
  • Maintaining and balancing a personal workload schedule and updating shared team availability tracking tools
  • Utilizing project budget and schedule monitoring tools
  • Providing regular status updates to internal team members
  • Attending client and resource agency meetings (often virtual) and actively developing skills to communicate and facilitate project reviews.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in biology, ecology, or related natural resources field
• Experience with natural communities and vegetation mapping, plant identification (both native California plants and non-natives), and special-status plant species taxonomy and natural history
• Attention to detail, ability to work independently and strong written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to conduct fieldwork in challenging terrain and weather conditions as necessary.
• Must possess a valid driver's license and have active personal automobile liability insurance by first day of employment.

* As a federal contractor, successful candidates are required to pass the following pre-employment requirements prior to beginning employment: pre - employment drug test and background check.

Physical Requirements

Working Conditions:

• This job requires occasional project site visits-based outdoors which can include excessive noise, uneven walking surfaces, extreme weather, moving vehicles and equipment.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met in order to successfully perform the essential functions of the job.

• This job requires working on a computer, sitting or standing for long periods of time in an office or remote office setting.
• This job requires attending meetings, both in person and virtually as well as speaking on the phone with peers, clients, etc. Speaking, hearing and listening are required.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Proposed Salary Range: $33-41.25 hourly*

*Final agreed upon compensation will be based on a variety of factors including but not limited to an individual's related experience, education, certifications, skills, and work location.

Perks of Being a Dudekian

Not only will Dudek provide you with a competitive salary, but we also strive to create an environment that promotes growth, career development, and a flexible work-life balance. Dudek offers an array of benefits, from your typical medical, dental, and vision coverage to the opportunity to share in Dudek's success through discretionary bonuses, based on firmwide, divisional, and individual performance. We also offer a yearly merit review, an employee stock ownership program, and dog friendly offices! Since we encourage our colleagues to take time off when needed, Dudek also provides a generous vacation package. If you're tired of an overly structured environment and decision-making process to get your job done, Dudek is a place where your ideas are heard and your initiative is rewarded. Speak with your recruiter to learn more about the great perks of being a Dudekian.

Dudek is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by applicable law.