OPEN DATE: May 27, 2026 CLOSING DATE: June 10, 2026 POSITION TYPE: Trust Fund APPOINTMENT TYPE: Temporary Not to Exceed Twelve (12) Months (may be extended based on funds availability) SCHEDULE: Full Time DUTY LOCATION: Hillsborough, NJ Position sensitivity and risk: Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk Who May Apply: Open to all Qualified Applicants What are Trust Fund Positions? Trust Fund positions are unique to the Smithsonian. They are paid for from a variety of sources, including the Smithsonian endowment, revenue from our business activities, donations, grants and contracts.

Trust employees are not part of the civil service, nor does trust fund employment lead to Federal status. The salary ranges for trust positions are generally the same as for federal positions and in many cases trust and federal employees work side by side.

Benefits

, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance, Annual and Sick Leave, Family Friendly Leave, 403b Retirement Plan, Discounts for Smithsonian Memberships, Museum Stores and Restaurants, Credit Union, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (Child Care), Flexible Spending Account (Health & Dependent Care). Conditions of Employment Pass Pre-employment Background Check and Subsequent Background Investigation for position designated as low risk. Complete a Probationary Period Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer.

The position is open to all candidates eligible to work in the United States. S. is not required to apply.

Requirements

within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. IINTRODUCTION The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI), Washington, DC.

NZCBI plays a leading role in the Smithsonian's global efforts to save wildlife species from extinction and train future generations of conservationists. Duke Farms is a center of the Doris Duke Foundation. It is a 2,700-acre living laboratory in New Jersey where restoration, research, and public engagement converge to test and scale real-world conservation solutions.

The Center for Conservation at Duke Farms builds on this foundation as a national platform that integrates long-term socio-ecological research with applied science, training, and decision-support tools. The Center's mission is to close the gap between science and implementation, generating evidence, validating it in practice, and equipping partners to deploy it at scale. SUMMARY The Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to lead the development of next-generation landscape connectivity science, advancing state-of-the-art modeling approaches that integrate high-resolution remote sensing, machine learning, and circuit- and network-based methods.

The postdoc will build reproducible, open-source modeling pipelines and decision-support tools, designed for platforms such as Google Earth Engine, that allow for scenario testing, continuous updating, and direct application in planning and policy contexts. This work will bridge cutting-edge analytics with real-world implementation, producing scalable tools that standardize methods across jurisdictions and enable practitioners to identify, prioritize, and operationalize connectivity solutions for biodiversity and climate resilience.

Ecologist (Postdoctoral Research Fellow), IS-0408-09