Metadata & Digital Assets Individual Placement– AmeriCorps (1 opening)

 

Conservation Legacy Program: Arizona Conservation Corps

 

Site Location: Phoenix, Arizona (Central Phoenix)

 

 

Term of Service:

Start Date: 9/2/2025 (Flexible)End Date: 3/20/2026AmeriCorps Slot Classification: 900 Hours 

 

 

Purpose:

This is an AmeriCorps position with Arizona Conservation Corps (AZCC), which is an AmeriCorps program of Conservation Legacy. The member selected for this position will be serving as an AmeriCorps member with Arizona Conservation Corps, and completing service projects for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

 

AZCC aims to continue the legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930's, and is focused on connecting youth, young adults, and recent era military veterans with communities and conservation service projects on public lands. AZCC operates programs across Arizona that engage individuals and strengthen communities through service and conservation. AZCC has program offices in Flagstaff and Tucson. 

 

 

United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS):

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with others, is responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people through Federal programs relating to migratory birds, endangered species, interjurisdictional fish and marine mammals, and inland sport fisheries. As part of its mission, the USFWS is charged with enforcing Federal Wildlife Laws and Protecting Endangered Species.

 

Serving the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Southwest Region NWRS Data Management Team handles the day-to-day management of GIS and digital assets that supports 40+ National Wildlife Refuges.  We help our colleagues in a behind the scenes way by building mobile data collection apps, consulting on data management activities, and making data accessible.

 

 

Description of Duties:

This position will work with our team in helping implement Darwin Core, GIS, digital asset management, and metadata systems.  We are seeking a curious, technically minded intern to support the organization and long-term preservation of our GIS and biodiversity datasets.  This role combines learning how to use tools like GIS, GPT, GBIF, and Darwin Core, and teaching others through documentation and online videos.  The intern will help organize legacy digital assets, assist in building a prototype tool that supports species occurrence standardization and contribute to workflows that improve data transparency and reuse.  This work directly supports federal priorities around open data, scientific reproducibility, and modern geospatial stewardship.  The expected outcome for the intern is moving from a learning mode to a leadership role in making complex data tools more accessible to others.

 

This position will require someone with an interest in GIS, biodiversity data standards, and the data lifecycle.  This includes a willingness to learn Darwin Core, metadata standards, open data principles, and strong documentation and communication skill- especially in explaining what you’ve learned to others. Intern will have an opportunity to take online GIS trainings through ESRI, Darwin Core training from GBIF, etc.  Intern will have an opportunity to learn video editing tools as well.

 

This position is in Phoenix, Arizona at a shared federal facility. The intern will have a cubicle in a shared space with other federal agencies.

 

 

Essential Responsibilities and Functions:

Help with digital asset management.Help with metadata standards and connection metadata for dataset releases.Help with training staff on GIS resources.Help with ArcPro in the Virtual Desktop environment.Learn and apply Darwin Core and ISO standards to occurrence datasets.Assist in developing or refining a GPT type tool to convert raw data into structured, standards-compliant formats.Help organize and document GIS and species data assets following FAIR data principles.Write plain-language guides and readme files to explain technical processes to non-specialist users.Collaborate with staff on improving protocols for long-term digital data stewardship.Help translate technical metadata or data cleanup work into reusable training assets.

 

Qualifications:

United States citizen, United States national, or a lawful permanent resident alien.At least 18 years of age.Has received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate; or has not dropped out of elementary or secondary school to enroll as an AmeriCorps participant, and agrees to obtain a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to using the education award.Agrees to provide information to establish eligibility and to complete a National Service Criminal History Check.One year of GIS classes or previous work experience in GIS OR coursework/background in library sciences OR archiving sciences and familiarity with data asset management and data lifecycle.  Willingness to learn and understand when standardization should occur and when to think outside of the box.Ability to have deep, intense, uninterrupted focus on tasks that require deep learning and synthesis skills.Ideally, familiar with persistent identifiers, digital object identifiers, and organizations like CrossRef, DataCite, or EIDR and how they assign persistent identifiers to digital assets and understand how this type of metadata also works with schema.org.

 

 

Physical Requirements:

Conservation Legacy is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals and will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to perform essential functions. Some positions may require periodic overnight travel, non-traditional hours, ability to move across varied terrain, use program-specific tools and a range of technology on an infrequent or frequent basis. Exerting up to 25 pounds of force occasionally to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects. Ability to safely drive an organizational vehicle may also be required for some positions. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during application or recruiting process, please send a request to the hiring manager.

 

 

Time Requirements:

Typically, this position is expected to serve Monday – Friday, 40 hours per week, but exact service schedules may vary. A half hour lunch break will not be counted towards AmeriCorps service.Member may be required to participate in national, state, or local service projects or events as part of their service term.

 

 

Orientation and Training:

The selected member will receive an Arizona Conservation Corps Individual Placement Program New Member Orientation at start of service that includes training on AmeriCorps prohibited and unallowable activities.

 

 

Benefits:

Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $3,697.50 with successful completion of position.Living Allowance of $500 per week.Additional Benefit of $300 per week.Public Lands Corps Certificate*Childcare Coverage.Qualifies for Student Loan forbearance and Interest Payment reimbursement through AmeriCorps.

 

*To be eligible for a Public Lands Corps certificate, members must be between the ages of 18-30, or up to 35 if a military veteran, inclusive, at the time the individual begins the term of service and must complete 640 service hours or more to qualify.

 

 

Evaluation and Reporting:

As an AmeriCorps member, performance will be evaluated on whether the member has completed the required number of hours, the member has satisfactorily completed assignments, and if the member has met other performance criteria that were clearly communicated at the beginning of the term of service.

 

Reporting requirements include, but are not limited to, bi-weekly timesheets and accomplishment tracking.

 

 

Supervisor Name and Contact Information:

This position reports to Cinthia Eichhorn, Geospatial Coordinator, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

 

 

To Apply:  

Please submit a resume and cover letter along with the online application at https://azcorps.org/ip-positions.

 

If you have questions, contact AZCC’s Individual Placement Coordinator Preston Sands at psands@conservationlegacy.org. 

 

 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

 

We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodations due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please send a request to the hiring manager.