The Water Institute is an independent, applied research organization that advances actionable research, technology, and planning in support of inclusive, science-informed decision making. We serve as a thought partner, bridging diverse disciplines and organizations. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, La, we draw on our roots in the Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast, where water is both a strength and a vulnerability, to tackle challenges wherever they are. Our mission is to reduce the vulnerability of people, communities, ecosystems, and economies through transformative approaches to interconnected environmental and social challenges. More information about the Water Institute can be found at www.thewaterinstitute.org.
In 2023, The Water Institute founded the Community Resilience Center (Center) to increase climate resilience by addressing systemic barriers and making available more capacity and expertise to support community-led resilience across the Gulf. The Center works with communities to move beyond the assessment and study of risk towards the exploration, co-development, and implementation of community-focused strategies to increase resilience at every level: from individual to household, block to neighborhood, and state to federal.
The Center focuses on resilience to our changing climate and the resulting cascading and compounding impacts, with an explicit emphasis on addressing systemic barriers and processes that reinforce disparate impacts. Learn more here: Center Strategic Plan. In furtherance of the Center’s mission and vision, the Community Resilience Catalyst Program was launched in spring 2025 to remove financial and administrative barriers for communities, allowing them to focus on advancing their resilience goals. The Catalyst program provides eligible communities with tailored information around community-led resilience and direct technical support via a low-effort request form.
Position Description
The Water Institute is looking for an experienced Applied Research Coordinator to support the Chief Scientist primarily and provide additional support to divisional leadership, as directed, to ensure that organization’s goals, priorities, and objectives are accomplished and that operations run efficiently. Additionally, the Center is seeking support to implement the expansion of the Community Resilience Catalyst to serve the broader Gulf Coast. The position will support all aspects of the Catalyst Program working with a range of teammates, topics, stakeholders, and external partners. The position will be located in Louisiana at our office on the UNO campus in New Orleans.
The ideal candidate will be a proactive problem solver with exceptional communication skills and meticulous attention to details. This person should have experience working in an office environment, performing administrative duties, and providing support to leadership. Given the dynamic nature of the organization, we will rely on this role to be flexible and consistent while maintaining the confidentiality of high-level systems and operations. Additionally, it is expected that the successful candidate will be able to connect across technical fields, translate research into practice, and communicate with a wide range of audiences. This person needs a high comfort level working and interacting with diverse and technical collaborators, decision makers, stakeholders, and coastal residents.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Manage and organize calendars and appointments to optimize Chief Scientist’s time and as requested for divisional leadership.
- Coordinate complex scheduling and calendar management, as well as content and flow of information to Chief Scientist and as requested to divisional leadership. This may include setting agendas, taking notes, following up on action items, tracking questions and routing appropriately, and ensuring answers are provided to the questions.
- Maintain and refine internal processes that support Chief Scientist and division as requested and coordinate internal and external resources to expedite workflows.
- Manage communication with employees by liaising as needed internally and externally on various projects and tasks.
- Plan and orchestrate in-person meeting and workshop logistics by organizing meeting locations and participants, booking spaces, tracking invitations and responses, purchasing supplies, setting up and breaking down meetings, printing materials to support AR billable projects
- Manage Chief Scientist’s travel logistics and activities, including accommodations, transportation, and meals and provide same assistance for other divisional leaders as needed.
- Provide administrative and office support, such as typing, dictation, spreadsheet creation, faxing, and maintenance of filing system and contacts database.
- In conjunction with Institute Office Administrator, manage office-management duties for the New Orleans office such as reporting maintenance issues, setting up for new hires and meetings, assisting with receiving and organizing of supplies, being a liaison with IT, etc.
- Maintain professionalism and strict confidentiality with all materials.
- Design and implement stakeholder outreach and engagement including one-on-one meetings, emails, social media, workshops, and trainings.
- Communicating technical findings and other information and concepts through a variety of modes including memos, reports, one-pagers, and infographics.
- Perform other related duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree with one-year work experience in environmental science, stakeholder engagement, conservation, community resilience, public policy, planning, political science, or a related field.
- Five plus years of proven experience in an administrative role reporting directly to senior management
- At least 2 years of experience in an organization that works in science and/or natural resource management
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong time-management skills and an ability to organize and coordinate multiple concurrent projects
- Demonstrated ability to communicate openly and effectively to build rapport, trust, and collaborative relationships with a wide range of partners, organizations, and agencies.
- Ability to implement multimodal outreach and engagement strategies (e.g., virtual platforms, in-person, phone and email campaigns, workshops, trainings, social media, etc.).
- Proficiency with office productivity tools and an aptitude for learning new software and systems
- Flexible team player, willing to adapt to changes and unafraid of challenges
- Proactive and positive attitude to problem solving, ability to work independently, and self-motivated.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality of information related to the company and its employees
Desired Qualifications:
- 8+ years of experience in organizations that work in science and/or natural resource management strongly desired.
- Experience working in interdisciplinary project teams, in or with the public sector, with communities on the Gulf Coast, with community organizing.
- Specific technical skills to complement the Institute’s existing technical services, which could include:
- Graphic design and/or urban design skills
- Data visualization
- Expertise in developing and conducting meaningful community engagement practices
- Social science research methods
- Expertise in risk, vulnerability, and/or benefit-cost analysis
Workload will vary from week to week, and candidates will be flexible and willing to occasionally work evenings and weekends. Regular travel is expected for local travel in state of LA and surrounding states (mostly same day trips) and some travel outside of the state.
The Water Institute is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
The hiring pay for the position starts at $54,000 and a final determination is based on the skills, education, and/or experience of the successful candidate. We believe in the importance of pay equity and consider the internal equity of our current staff as part of any final offer. We also offer a generous benefits package for full-time exempt positions.
Unique Benefits of a Water Institute Career
- Flexibility: We understand that our team members have different needs and do our best to work with their schedules and provide benefits and resources to meet these needs.
- Inclusive environment: We are committed to building an inclusive environment where all teammates feel comfortable and supported.
- Fun! We love to keep things fun, both within our work and at company-wide events.
- Work life balance: We are respectful of people’s boundaries and support that through Institute values so that our team has time to recharge and do their best work within the mission of the organization.
- Growth opportunity: We are always learning and developing new research methodologies and working with partners to solve problems. You will have the opportunity to engage in growing and leading research with ample opportunities to take ownership and flourish.
- The Water Institute Values: Scientific Integrity, Excellence, Transdisciplinary Collaboration, Accountability, Diversity, Work/Life Balance, Respect, Impact
