Environmental Monitoring Scientist

Are you interested in a great opportunity to be monitoring the quality of our rivers, streams, lakes, and groundwater and being at the forefront of environmental monitoring? We are looking for a field staff member to join our growing Water Quality Monitoring team. We are open to either a newbie to water quality monitoring (Graduate Environmental Monitoring scientist) or a person with experience (Environmental Monitoring Scientist).

Do you have environmental monitoring experience and would like a new challenge?

or

Have you just left university with good results in science or an environmental science related degree?

**Graduate Environmental Monitoring Scientist**

Waikato Regional Council (WRC) have a graduate pathway that provides an opportunity for people with the right skills and aptitude to develop and gain specialist skills on the job. A combination of in-house and field training from experienced staff will help you gain the knowledge required for this role.

**Environmental Monitoring Scientist**

Typically, more than 2 years of applied environmental monitoring experience.

**The Role**

The position is in the Water Quality Monitoring team at WRC. You will be part of a team who measure, analyse, and report on the health of rivers, lakes, and groundwater across the Waikato region. The information collected is used by WRC scientists, Health Boards, and the government for managing peoples’ and the environments’ wellbeing. You will be based in Hamilton, but our sites cover the whole of the Waikato region - one day you could be in the Coromandel, the next in Taupō, the King Country or Raglan.

Although there is a lot of physically demanding fieldwork, all our data needs to be processed and quality checked in the office so being IT literate is a must along with an aptitude for the environment and science. You will need to process data in the office in a timely and accurate manner following set procedures. Your systems and data knowledge will enable you to identify issues with the data or equipment and propose solutions to fix the problems.

Health and safety is at the forefront of everything we do at WRC, whether working on your own, or as part of a team. You will utilise your field knowledge to collect data safely and offer suggestions to improve the safety and efficiency of our sites. Our health and safety training also covers survival and rescue in swift water; therefore, you will need to be a capable swimmer (competency testing will be undertaken). There is considerable on the job training, and you will be well supported by the rest of the team.

**Following best practice, the role involves**:

- Sampling of selected rivers and streams throughout the Waikato region.
- Monitoring the quality of the region’s shallow lakes including learning to operate and be competent in skippering the council’s boats.
- Monitoring the quality of the region’s groundwater sources.
- Collecting, processing, and quality checking freshwater quality data including data input into databases.
- Deploying continuous water quality instruments - includes maintaining and calibrating loggers, download data, process, and store timeseries data into databases.
- Driving to remote parts of the region to undertake inspections, collect water samples, and take field measurements.
- A strong focus on working safely looking after yourself and those around you and adhering to council Health & Safety policies.

Graduate Environmental Monitoring Scientist: $55,463 - $76,500

Environmental Monitoring Scientist: $68,850 - $87,975

**Looking for flexible ways of working options, at Waikato Regional Council we are committed to working more creatively to ‘get work done’ in a way that is of mutual benefit to you, the organisation and our communities.