Urban Forestry GIS Manager

[LawrenceHoffman]

Groundwork USA seeks an Urban Forestry GIS Manager to build the capacity of Groundwork Trusts to collect, analyze, and communicate data and assist in the maintenance, planning, and strategy development for people-centered urban forestry-focused projects. This role will serve as the lead data, inventorying, and impact evaluation coordinator of a 25-city urban forestry and workforce development effort within the Groundwork Network.

Groundwork USA is the only network of local, people-centered organizations devoted to transforming the natural and built environment of under-resourced communities -- a national enterprise with local roots, working at the intersection of the environment, health, equity, youth empowerment, and civic engagement. Through inclusive, meaningful community engagement and cross-sector collaboration, local Groundwork affiliates called “Trusts” transform neglected land and waterways into assets that under-resourced neighborhoods need to be healthy and resilient while building community capacity to improve systems. Groundwork USA supports this dynamic network and advances the field of equitable development through national technical assistance and learning network programs for local practitioners. Our work is supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, the United States Department of Agriculture, and other partners.  

The Position: The Urban Forestry GIS Manager will coordinate with their colleagues to expand the Groundwork Network’s capacity to use geospatial data to make decisions about and communicate the impact of urban forestry focused interventions. The Urban Forestry GIS Manager will be responsible for implementing a tree inventory, tracking, and maintenance data system for all Trusts in the Groundwork Network. 

This role will coordinate with 21 nationally distributed data users to: develop user-friendly tracking forms; build data-informed planting strategies; train Trust staff, workforce development trainees, and resident volunteers; and interpret collected data. This role will also collaborate with the Senior Manager of GIS and Data Services to conduct inventories of other Groundwork project sites with urban forestry components, provide capacity building services to grantees, and deliver trainings. Along with these specific tasks, the Urban Forestry GIS Manager will support other Network data needs as necessary. 

This position is part of the Climate, Land, and Water Team and will report to the Senior Manager of GIS and Data Services. This is a fully remote position; candidates residing in our Trust cities are especially encouraged to apply. Occasional travel is required including, but not limited to, an annual staff retreat and our annual network-wide gathering. 

Responsibilities include:

• Coordinating a network-wide data initiative to inventory trees and projects in over 20 cities.
• Developing and implementing a network-wide training series on using a tree-focused data collection software platform.
• Performing important data design and management operations related to this large tree inventory. 
• Using GIS to conduct geospatial analysis of multiple datasets to develop local tree equity strategies. This will involve using GIS to consider existing data about trees, land cover, heat, and demography to help collaborators determine where new trees should be planted and which areas should be targeted for tree preservation and maintenance.
• Developing technical training guides (video and text).
• Leading the bulk procurement, set up, troubleshooting, and distribution of field collection hardware such as mobile tablets. 
• Working with Trusts to design systems for assigning and tracking tree maintenance for internal staff, workforce trainees, and resident volunteers.
• Providing ideas, expertise, and content to the Groundwork DataLab, our Network-wide community of data experts.
• Collaborating with other members of the Climate, Land, and Water division to ensure progress towards overarching program goals. 
• Developing thoughtful, easy to comprehend data visualizations to support the analysis, understanding, and utilization of data by residents, local Trusts, regional collaborations, and Groundwork USA staff.  
• Helping to nurture a collaborative, high-performance culture in a geographically dispersed staff.
• Contributing to Groundwork USA’s continued progress as an inclusive, culturally competent organization.

Required Qualifications: The Urban Forestry GIS Manager should exhibit the following core competencies:

• Significant professional experience using ESRI’s suite of GIS software applications or comparable GIS software (three years or more).
• Willingness and ability to learn new technical platforms and methods quickly and communicate their effective use to diverse audiences.
• Understanding of how geospatial analysis can be used in the area of equity-centered urban forestry and green infrastructure planning.
• Strong command of scientific data visualization and communication.
• Ability to creatively and flexibly overcome technical challenges.
• Experience teaching and leading others to use data collection software.
• High effectiveness in communicating technical tasks and data analysis to audiences with varied technical comfort and data literacy.
• Must have strong organizational and project management skills demonstrating the ability to independently follow through on assignments and meet deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong, demonstrated ability to work effectively with people of diverse backgrounds.

Desired Qualifications: These additional qualifications would be valuable in this role:

• Experience creating high quality training videos and tutorials for geospatial projects.
• Topical expertise in the areas of urban forestry, arboriculture, climate adaptation and/or city planning.
• Experience working with data across software platforms.
• Programming experience using Python scripts (specifically ArcPy) for automation of data management tasks and geospatial analysis.
• A working knowledge of API programming.

Compensation & Benefits: The expected starting salary range for this full-time position is $70,000-$85,000; benefits include:

• Health Insurance - medical, dental, and vision
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• 403(b) retirement plan
• Sustainable vacation time
• Paid holidays
• Paid wellness/sick days
• Paid parental leave
• Monthly work from home stipend
• Eligible Public Service Loan Forgiveness employer
• Professional development opportunities

Please see our careers page for more detail on benefits.

Apply: To apply for this position, please submit your cover letter and resume to Groundwork USA at the following link: https://groundworkusa.bamboohr.com/careers/27?source=aWQ9NTc%3D

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applications received by January 15, 2024, will be ensured full consideration. Only those selected for interviews are guaranteed to be contacted. Your understanding is appreciated.   

Groundwork USA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to maintaining and growing a diverse team, and an anti-racist organization committed to doing business in keeping with core values of relevance, equity, diversity and inclusion.