Job Description

Job Description and Duties

Are you interested in a meaningful and impactful career? Would you like to contribute to protecting people and the environment and accelerating a statewide transition to sustainable pest management? The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) could be the place for you!

The Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist) at the advanced level independently identifies problems, develops courses of action and conducts extremely complex and scientific investigations and studies on pesticides. The incumbent will be the lead of the Air Program's community engagement efforts and will conduct monitoring and will perform data visualization and data analysis.

The incumbent will attend, organize, coordinate, and/or present at workshops and meetings where pesticide concerns, community impacts, cross-agency coordination, and mitigation proposals are presented and discussed. The incumbent will review public and internal comments and alternate ideas for mitigating unacceptable human exposures submitted by community-based organizations, industry management and scientists, CAC staff, other governmental agency management and scientists, and the interested public; prepares written responses to comments received from stakeholders using knowledge of agricultural practices, environmental concerns, and scientific principles as directed by departmental and branch management. The incumbent will prepare presentations, fact-sheets, and data visualization tools; organizes workshops and meetings for the Air Program.

The incumbent will develop tools and implement advanced technologies to promote stakeholder engagement. The incumbent will participate in the identification, evaluation, and development of mitigation options to reduce adverse effects of pesticides on human health and use programming tools to manage advance datasets and disseminate complex trends, aiding in the decision making of high priority projects. The incumbent will use geospatial determinations to plan and coordinate field research studies and field sampling in support of Air Program objectives.

The incumbent will perform the full range of duties involving planning, organizing, and coordinating scientific/technical research to assess the environmental fate and transport of pesticides in the soil and atmosphere and identify practices to prevent or reduce pesticide impacts on human health and the environment.  The incumbent will participate in and direct field research studies and field sampling in support of Air Program objectives. The incumbent will collect, manage, assess, and interpret field and modeling data in order to make recommendations for actions.  The incumbent will review scientific reports submitted by registrants, universities, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and others and write reports, documents, and technical publications as required, and represents the Department to governmental organizations, professional societies, or industry groups; assists in policy evaluations.

You will find additional information about the job in the .

Working Conditions

Employee must be capable of performing field studies and site visits that may involve hiking or climbing in areas with moderate slopes, unpaved surfaces, undeveloped roads, and other areas or structures where studies may be required. The employee must have the ability to conduct fieldwork for long hours under a variety of climatic conditions and, also, operate vehicles on public roadways or travel to remote areas. Travel that includes flying and/or driving on short notice and overnight stays will be required on trips to various field locations and meetings. Employee may occasionally be required to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in order to minimize exposure to hazards. PPE include, but not limited to, gloves, safety glasses, ear plugs, hard hats, coveralls, and tight-fitting respiratory protective equipment. When respiratory protective equipment is required, the employee must adhere to the fitting requirements stated in DPR's respiratory protection policy.

NOTE : This position may be eligible for hybrid telework under Government Code 14200 for eligible applicants residing in California, subject to the candidate meeting telework eligibility criteria set forth in the CalEPA telework policy and/or future program need. Employees not residing in California are not eligible for telework. Regardless of telework eligibility, all employees may be required to report to the position’s designated headquarters location, as indicated on their duty statement, at their own expense.

Special Requirements

• This position is designated Conflict of Interest and requires disclosure of economic interests.

• If education is required to meet the minimum qualifications, you must include a copy of your degree and/or unofficial transcripts in order to verify you meet the minimum qualifications. If you use unofficial transcripts to verify you meet the minimum qualifications, you must provide official transcripts prior to your start date, if selected for the position.

• Please do not include any confidential information on any documents you submit for this job vacancy. Confidential information includes, but is not limited to: basis of eligibility, examination results, LEAP status, Social Security Number (SSN), birthdate, marital status, age, national origin, medical conditions, and use of medical leave.

Desirable Qualifications

In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

• Knowledge or experience working with diverse cultural communities

• Ability to communicate respectfully and with sensitivity

• Awareness of diverse communities and regional demographics

• Fluent in Spanish
• Work productively both independently and in a team environment and be able to take direction and guidance well
• Have strong organization and communication skills (both written and verbal)
• Meet deadlines, be productive and maintain composure under pressure/stress
• Ability to learn or knowledge of drift, air dispersion, soil physics, soil hydrology, and agricultural practices
• Experience in conducting environmental monitoring (e.g., ambient air sampling, drift sampling, or soil sampling) studies
• Experience in working with environmental sampling equipment
• Ability to learn or knowledge of programming languages such as R, Python, C++, SQL, SAS
• Ability to learn or knowledge of GIS and geospatial analysis
• Ability to learn or knowledge of statistical and time-series analysis
• Writing proficiency: experience writing technical reports or peer review scientific journal articles

Benefits

Benefit information can be found on the CalHR website and the CalPERS website.

Supplemental Questionnaire

You must answer the supplemental question in its entirety and follow all instructions for answering the question in order to be considered interested/eligible in the position.

Instructions :

The response should not exceed two pages, single-spaced with standard margins, and in 11-point Arial font. Provide the question prior to your answer and indicate your name at the top of the first page.

Questions :
Please describe your experience with community engagement and science communication, specifically your experience communicating complex, scientific information in plain language to non-technical audiences.

Note : Resumes, letters, and other materials will not take the place of the supplemental application.

Required Application Package Documents

The following items are required to be submitted with your application. Applicants who do not submit the required items timely may not be considered for this job:

• Current version of the State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678 (when not applying electronically), or the Electronic State Employment Application through your Applicant Account at All Experience and Education relating to the Minimum Qualifications listed on the Classification Specification should be included to demonstrate how you meet the Minimum Qualifications for the position.
• Resume is required and must be included.
• Degree and/or School Transcripts
• Supplemental Application -

  A response to the supplemental question is required to be considered interested/eligible in the position. The supplemental question and instructions are listed in the "Supplemental Questionnaire" section of this advertisement. You must answer the supplemental question in its entirety and follow all instructions for answering the question in order to be considered interested/eligible in the position.

Job Tags

Permanent employment, Full time, Remote work, Night shift

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