Straughan Environmental, Inc. is a woman-owned, leading engineering and environmental firm advancing sustainable and resilient communities. With a 25-year history of growth through performance on large, complex, and high-profile projects, we provide solutions to diverse clients in the federal government, local government, transportation, water/wastewater and energy markets. Our mission is advancing sustainable and resilient communities, and we work every day to achieve our mission in surprising ways. Whether our team is managing one of our multi-million dollar environmental compliance programs for Federal agencies like NASA, engineering an ecological restoration project, working on environmental policy and planning, or identifying wetland plants in the field, each member of our team individually and collectively contributes uniquely to advancing sustainable and resilient communities.
Job Purpose
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) provides leadership in a partnership effort to help people conserve, maintain and improve our natural resources and environment. Straughan Environmental, Inc. works with NRCS, helping to create and manage spatial data for easement programs managed by NRCS’ Easement Program Division. The work performed in this role serves NRCS’ mission of ‘helping people help the land,’ working with landowners to voluntarily put conservation on the ground and preserve the natural environment for future generations. Straughan is looking for a GIS Specialist to aid in this mission with the duties and responsibilities listed below.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Assist with technical analysis on GIS computer applications, provides technical support and promotes GIS technology
- Identifies, creates, collects, converts, integrates, and manages geospatial datasets and metadata on multiple simultaneous projects.
- Analyzes technical problems and devises new approaches and alternative solutions
- Develops or maintains GIS applications using a combination of GIS software, web-based development tools, and/or Windows development tools
- Processes and analyzes raster and vector geospatial data in support of clients and staff including engineers, environmental scientists, and planners
- Create and disseminate production workflow documents
- Coordination of geospatial data across platforms (desktop, tablet, GPS receivers, etc.)
- QA/QC of cartographic outputs
Qualifications
Education
Bachelor’s degree in Geography, GIS, or related field
Experience
· A minimum of one year experience including experience in the preparation of GIS products, all ESRI GIS software products, in addition to open-source tools
· In-depth knowledge of ESRI’s software, including ArcGIS 10.X, ArcGIS Online, and Collector for ArcGIS.
· Experience reading legal descriptions and survey plats that are part of legal documents to develop shapefiles for easement programs
· Knowledge of cartography, coordinate systems, map projections, and topology
· Proficiency in basic computer applications, especially MS Office (Word, Excel, and Access)
· Strong verbal, organizational and written communication skills
· Ability to work across multiple projects simultaneously and in an organized fashion
Desired Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Geography, GIS, or related field
- Experience and interest in emerging technologies
- Drone piloting and sensor data collection and manipulation experience
- Tool creation using ESRI Model Builder
- Experience in GIS programming with Python and the ArcPy suite of tools
- Working knowledge of AutoCAD and/or MicroStation
- Contributing member of a professional organization or interest in becoming active in a professional organization
- Experience as a federal government contractor
Physical Requirements
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential function of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position as required by applicable law.
- Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer
- Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds at a time
As a condition of employment, Straughan employees will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 except those for whom are legally entitled to an accommodation. Proof of vaccination will need to be submitted as part of the interview/hiring process.