The Protected Species Branch of NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, MA, will be recruiting a Research Ecologist/Zoologist ZPIV (equal to a GS-13 to 14), full-time permanent position to lead its Large Whale Team. The Large Whale Team Lead's primary role will be to lead NOAA’s North Atlantic large whale ecological research program. This research will focus on the population dynamics and ecology of large whales to better define critical habitat for whale species in the Northwest Atlantic and to provide guidance for NOAA managers on conservation topics such as designing protective measures to reduce gear interactions and ship strikes. The incumbent will design and direct studies of right whale ecology. The incumbent will also lead a number of other cooperative research projects, including our continuing research with the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary on right and humpback whales. A secondary responsibility of this position will be to assist in the development and implementation of short to long-term extramural research on large whale ecology in New England. The individual should have at least a MS in Biological Sciences (PhD preferred), experience leading small research teams, and experience publishing and presenting. Large whale or marine mammal experience is not a requirement. The formal announcement will be posted on USAJOBS (http://www.usajobs.opm.gov) in the next few weeks. The announcement, however, will likely be open only for 14 days or so, given NOAA's new expedited hiring schedule. This serves as advance notice of the upcoming opportunity, with the goal of providing interested candidates additional time to prepare application materials within USAJOBS. If you are interested in applying, consider entering your education and experience into the USAJOBS resume builder now, and gather your academic transcripts.