Description

Title:                     Software Engineer, Biodiversity Platforms

Supervisor:          BirdsPlus Index Director

Location:              Remote (with travel as needed. All travel will be reimbursed.)

Salary:                   Estimated at $117,000 - $130,000*; Based on experience. 

Application Deadline: Open until filled

Position Summary:

This is a full-time position with American Bird Conservancy (ABC). American Bird Conservancy is a fast-growing, results-focused nonprofit seeking employees with an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to make a difference for birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Inspired by the wonder of birds, ABC achieves lasting results for the bird species most in need while also benefiting human communities, biodiversity, and the planet’s fragile climate.

ABC is seeking an exceptional Founding Software Engineer to design and build the first generation of a cloud-based biodiversity monitoring platform that will support conservation projects around the world. The platform will form a core component of the BirdsPlus Index, a next-generation approach to measuring and monitoring the conservation value of working lands, restoration projects, and other landscapes using birds as indicators of ecological integrity.

The platform will enable organizations to securely store and analyze large volumes of wildlife recordings, automate biodiversity analyses, generate standardized ecological measurements, and ultimately support conservation decision-making and investment. The Software Engineer will build the computational infrastructure needed to transform how biodiversity is measured, interpreted, and communicated.

This is an opportunity to become the founding engineer of an ambitious new technology initiative at the intersection of conservation biology, machine learning, cloud computing, and product development. This is neither a traditional software engineering position nor a purely architectural role. The successful candidate will be a hands-on builder who can move comfortably between designing systems, writing production software, working with scientists and conservation practitioners, and determining what should be built next.

During the initial term of the position, the primary objective will be to design and implement a production-ready platform capable of supporting real conservation projects while establishing a technical foundation that can evolve into a much larger biodiversity intelligence system.

Primary Duties:

Platform Architecture and Software Development

• Design, develop, deploy, and continuously improve the first production version of a cloud-based biodiversity monitoring platform. 
• Design scalable, secure, maintainable, and cost-effective software architecture capable of supporting large acoustic datasets, automated biodiversity analyses, and future analytical products. 
• Build production-quality backend services, APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, and web applications for managing biodiversity data and delivering results to users. 
• Develop cloud-native workflows for ingesting, organizing, processing, and analyzing large volumes of passive acoustic monitoring data. 
• Design data models and software systems that support long-term ecological monitoring, including projects, users, deployments, recordings, species detections, metadata, and biodiversity measurements. 
• Make pragmatic technology choices that balance robustness, simplicity, scalability, development speed, and long-term maintainability. 

Artificial Intelligence and Data Systems

• Integrate existing and emerging artificial intelligence and machine learning models into automated biodiversity analysis pipelines. 
• Develop infrastructure for running, monitoring, and improving automated wildlife sound-identification and other ecological analysis workflows. 
• Design systems capable of incorporating new analytical models and data products as they emerge. 
• Evaluate and recommend cloud services, software frameworks, AI technologies, and other technical approaches that can improve platform capabilities, scalability, and sustainability. 
• Develop efficient approaches to storing, processing, and accessing large scientific and ecological datasets. 

Product Development and User Collaboration

• Work directly with conservation scientists, ecologists, GIS specialists, data scientists, and conservation practitioners to understand their needs and translate them into practical software solutions. 
• Work closely with the BirdsPlus team to establish technical priorities, define milestones, and determine which capabilities will provide the greatest value to users. 
• Rapidly prototype, test, and iterate platform functionality based on feedback from pilot users and conservation partners. 
• Help define a product roadmap that balances immediate conservation needs with the long-term development of a scalable biodiversity platform. 
• Build the smallest, most effective systems capable of solving real user problems rather than over-engineering for hypothetical future requirements. 

Software Engineering and Platform Operations

• Establish software engineering practices that support reliable, maintainable, and collaborative development, including version control, automated testing, documentation, security, and continuous integration and deployment. 
• Develop and maintain deployment and monitoring infrastructure for reliable operation of production systems. 
• Troubleshoot technical issues, diagnose system failures, and optimize system performance, reliability, and cost. 
• Produce clear technical documentation and architectural records to facilitate long-term maintenance, knowledge transfer, and future development. 
• Establish a technical foundation that can be expanded by future engineering teams rather than requiring substantial redevelopment. 

Strategic Leadership and Program Representation

• Contribute to the long-term technical strategy for the BirdsPlus Index and its evolution into a broader biodiversity intelligence platform. 
• Help identify opportunities to integrate the platform with complementary conservation, ecological monitoring, GIS, and technology systems. 
• Represent the technical development of the BirdsPlus platform in discussions with internal staff, technology collaborators, research institutions, conservation organizations, and other external stakeholders, as appropriate. 
• Help establish the technical vision and development practices that will guide future expansion of the platform. 

Other Responsibilities

• Perform other related duties as assigned. 

Benefits:

American Bird Conservancy fosters a mission-driven, collaborative, and supportive workplace where staff are respected, empowered, and connected by a shared purpose. ABC offers strong benefits, a 35-hour work week, generous leave policies, and flexible, remote-friendly work arrangements that support a healthy work-life balance.

• Excellent benefits package includes medical, dental, flexible spending accounts, and employer-matched retirement savings, flexible schedule, etc.
• Paid vacation days (starting at 15 days annually and increasing to 20 days after 1 year of employment), paid holidays (including both US holidays and additional ABC holidays) and sick leave. 
• Lodging, meals, and transportation covered for work-related travel away from home where applicable.
• Rental vehicle or personal mileage reimbursement where applicable.

To Apply:

Please apply online at Paylocity.

If you have any difficulties uploading your resume and cover letter, then please send them as ONE document to HR@abcbirds.org

* ABC aligns our compensation with local market rates to ensure internal equity and fairness across our distributed workforce.

At American Bird Conservancy, we believe that a diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills makes us more effective. We are committed to creating a respectful and inclusive work environment for all of our employees. 

As an equal opportunity employer, ABC is committed to ensuring that employees and applicants for employment have equal opportunities regardless of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other factor unrelated to the requirements of the position.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related, science-focused field. 
• Minimum of three (3) years of professional experience designing, developing, deploying, and maintaining production software applications. 
• Demonstrated experience designing software architecture and building cloud-based applications from concept through production. 
• Strong proficiency in one or more modern programming languages, such as Python or comparable languages used for backend software development. 
• Experience developing APIs, backend services, databases, and data-driven applications. 
• Experience with cloud computing platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. 
• Experience with modern software development and deployment practices, including version control, automated testing, continuous integration/deployment, and documentation. 
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate complex technical problems, make sound architectural decisions, and develop practical and maintainable solutions. 
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and move projects from concept to implementation. 
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with scientists, engineers, conservation practitioners, and other multidisciplinary partners. 
• Commitment to American Bird Conservancy's mission of conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. 
• All remote and hybrid employees are required to have a stable and high-speed internet service provider in place prior to beginning work for ABC. Our distributed work force relies heavily on cloud technologies, Zoom, and other automations to successfully complete our day to day work. The ideal speeds are 30-40 Mbps for downloads and 10-15 Mbps for uploads.
• You may be required to use your personal cell phone to access ABC systems remotely.
• Authorized to work in the US or Permanent Resident
• Occasional air and car travel may be required with this position; Employees are expected to use air travel for distances over 350 miles.
• Background screening required

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building software platforms or products from the ground up, particularly in an early-stage or highly entrepreneurial environment. 
• Experience managing large scientific, ecological, geospatial, acoustic, or other complex datasets. 
• Experience integrating machine learning or artificial intelligence models into production software systems. 
• Experience with distributed data processing, cloud-native data pipelines, or other systems for processing large datasets. 
• Experience developing geospatial applications or working with GIS and spatial data. 
• Experience with passive acoustic monitoring, biodiversity monitoring, ecological research, conservation technology, or environmental data systems. 
• Experience designing software products in collaboration with non-technical users or domain experts. 
• Enthusiasm for building innovative technology that addresses real-world conservation challenges. 
• Curiosity, adaptability, and willingness to learn new technologies, scientific concepts, and conservation applications.