Work at Wild Animal Initiative
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Basics
Posted: February 6, 2026
Job title: Services Coordinator
Department: Science
Application deadline: 9:00 am ET Monday, March 2, 2026*
*If we receive an exceptionally high volume of strong applications, we may close applications as early as February 20 to ensure that our small team can give each candidate thoughtful consideration. We therefore suggest that you apply before February 20 if you are able to.
Application materials:
Please submit an application using this form.
We don't require a cover letter. Instead, you'll complete short-answer and multiple-choice questions about your qualifications. You can preview questions before starting. Estimated time: up to 1 hour (no time limit).
Curious why we use application forms instead of cover letters? This academic paper explains our approach.
Application process timeline:
Stage 1 – Phone screen: mid March 2026
Stage 2 – Compensated skills assessment: late March 2026
Stage 3 – Video interview: April 2026
Terms of employment
Location:
Full-time remote; exempt position.
Limited to applicants in the US, Germany, or the UK. Note: We are not able to sponsor work visas and are only considering applicants who are already eligible to work in one of these countries.
Must maintain 3–4 hours of overlap with US Eastern Time (ET/GMT-5), including consistent availability 10:00 am–12:00 pm ET. Regularly collaborates with US Eastern Time colleagues; meets with Central European Time (CET/GMT+1) colleagues a few times per week. Some meetings may fall outside your local business hours.
Expected start date:
May 2026 (exact date flexible)
Expected Salary:
$80,327 to $92,376, depending on your location. We set salaries using a transparent, skills-based algorithm that ensures market competitiveness and internal equity.
Benefits:
Competitive, transparent salaries adjusted annually to ensure we compensate staff in a way that keeps pace with inflation and cost-of-living changes.
Retirement savings: 401(k) with 100% match on the first 4% of income deferred for US staff; pension contributions for UK and Germany staff as required by local law.
Professional development support: technology stipend, book reimbursement, and learning resources.
Health coverage:
All staff: mental health services, optional life insurance, and accidental death & dismemberment at no cost.
US staff: comprehensive health and dental insurance (100% employee premium paid; vision available). We cover 65% of dependent health insurance premiums. Virtual primary care through OneMedical is available.
Generous paid time off and leave policies. Leave policies vary slightly by country due to local regulations, but the typical structure includes:
Four weeks of paid vacation, 13 holidays, plus a two-week paid organization-wide break in late December.
Two weeks of paid sick leave, which may also be used for caring for human or non-human family members.
Additional paid leave for parents (up to 13 weeks), bereavement, and other life circumstances.
Remote-first framework with flexibility to balance work and life.
Regular team retreats and conference connections — we invest in bringing our remote team together safely with evidence-based health protocols.
Opportunities for advancement as our team and programs continue their growth trajectory.
Dedicated leadership and colleagues committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We have an internal JEDI committee, provide annual staff and manager training to learn about biases at work, and support employees with visible and invisible disabilities.
Reports to:
Services Manager
Travel:
Ability to independently self-book travel for staff retreats (one to two per year) and team meetings or Services events (zero to three per year), including flights and extended travel when necessary. Staff are responsible for booking their own reservations within specified dates and meeting times. Work-related travel expenses will be reimbursed.
Must be able to obtain legal permission to travel (e.g., by having a valid passport and obtaining any necessary visas for travel).
Responsibilities
Position mission statement:
As Wild Animal Initiative's Services Coordinator, you will support our growing community of wild animal welfare science (WAWS) researchers by maintaining community platforms (currently Discord), coordinating events and programs, and ensuring researchers have access to the resources and connections they need to advance the field. This role is well suited for someone who values supportive collaboration, finds satisfaction in seeing tangible results of their work, and enjoys creating welcoming spaces where researchers can connect and grow.
You will execute established programs with a focus on dependable delivery and responsive service. In year 1, your primary focus will be on maintaining community engagement, launching a mentorship program, and creating welcoming pathways for new community members. Working closely with the Services Manager, you'll ensure our platforms and programs run smoothly while learning about the field and building relationships that position you for greater program ownership in years 2–3.
Success in this role is measured by consistent, high-quality delivery of existing programs (community platforms, listservs), improved onboarding experience for new members, and strong engagement metrics that demonstrate researchers find value in WAI's services. You will work most closely with the Services Manager, Grants Manager, Researcher and Education Specialist, and Communications Department to coordinate program delivery and ensure alignment across researcher-facing services.
This role is ideal for someone who loves facilitating research communities and wants to do so in a mission-driven nonprofit setting with autonomy and growth potential. It may be a strong fit for lab managers, program coordinators, or academic event staff.
Supervisory responsibilities:
None currently, but if you are interested and able, we are open to your duties evolving to include managing other staff as opportunities arise.
Core responsibilities:
Services Program coordination and execution
Run our annual Mentorship Program — draft application forms, match mentors and mentees using established criteria, and host connection events (mixers, check-ins) throughout the year with autonomy over logistics and activities.
Design and coordinate community events (webinars, workshops, networking events) by adapting established program frameworks into specific events, identifying speakers, and developing agendas (with support from the Services Manager, Researcher, Education Specialist, and others).
Handle event logistics (Zoom setup, registration, speaker coordination, tech checks, and attendance tracking) and gather post-event feedback.
Gather feedback using standard survey templates and compile summary reports.
Route career questions to the right staff or resources.
Resource development
Curate relevant external resources (workshops, funding, tools) by collecting information from newsletters, colleagues, and staff, and evaluating for relevance to community needs.
Develop and maintain the "Getting Started" webpage content with resource pathways for different career stages (undergraduates, new-to-WAWS researchers).
Evaluate usability of community platforms and researcher-facing tools by testing user journeys and gathering feedback; collaborate with Communications to implement approved improvements.
Draft blog posts and resource summaries on career development topics for Services Manager and Communications Team review.
Community engagement and platform management
Grow and manage our community platforms by reviewing member applications, maintaining community guidelines, and facilitating engagement.
Send weekly digest emails with research opportunities, funding, and announcements to our listserv.
Welcome new members and connect them with relevant resources, channels, or researchers based on their interests.
Answer questions about WAI services and facilitate introductions between researchers with shared interests or complementary expertise.
Operations
Maintain program documentation by tracking activities, participation metrics, and feedback in standard templates; provide asynchronous status updates to the Services Team.
Lead weekly check-ins with your manager and participate in team meetings to coordinate across programs.
Participate in weekly Services Team meetings and bi-weekly all-staff meetings to coordinate across programs.
Keep Asana tasks current and coordinate announcement timing with Communications.
Other duties: As a growing nonprofit, WAI’s needs continue to evolve. This role may include additional responsibilities based on your capacity, expertise, and interest, particularly as you develop into program development work in years 2–3.
Qualifications
Note that we do not require any specific academic credentials or prior work experience for you to be considered for this position.
This role will require you to have the following qualifications:
Clear communication: Write and speak effectively for diverse audiences (emails, blog posts, presentations, virtual meetings). Listen actively to understand community member needs.
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI): Motivated to understand and counteract how personal biases, cultural differences, and systemic inequities can hinder our work. Basic understanding of JEDI concepts and their relevance to the workplace.
Service: Actively help community members and translate their feedback into improvements. Spot issues in systems or community dynamics before they escalate. Understanding and ability to assess needs, meet quality standards, and evaluate satisfaction to continuously improve support.
Reliability and precision: Follow through consistently on commitments. Maintain accurate records and execute program logistics carefully.
Time management, coordination, and following procedures: Manage concurrent deadlines while coordinating across stakeholders. Follow established procedures and sequence tasks appropriately.
Relationship building: Connect compatible researchers by understanding their skills, interests, and needs. Build authentic professional relationships.
Content creation: Draft engaging content across email, social platforms, and web. Translate complex research concepts into accessible language for broader audiences.
Academic familiarity: Understanding of how researchers work, collaborate, and advance their careers — typically gained through supporting research environments (as lab manager, program coordinator, academic administrator), participating in research, or actively engaging with academic communities (conferences, mentorship programs). Ability to assess the credibility of academic resources and recognize substantive research inquiries.
Problem solving: Think critically to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different solutions when troubleshooting.
Interpersonal awareness and adaptability: Noticeably curious about others' ideas and considerate of others' feelings. Open to change, handling shifting priorities, and adjusting approaches based on community feedback.
Independence and initiative: Able to thrive in a remote work environment — comfortable working independently, reliable at honoring commitments, and motivated to take initiative in the absence of explicit direction. Willingness to take on new responsibilities and identify improvement opportunities, and interest in growth into program development.
This role might also benefit from you having some of the following qualifications. You could still be a highly competitive candidate even if you don’t have any of these qualifications.
Wild animal welfare science fundamentals: Basic familiarity with WAWS concepts to facilitate communication with community members (can be learned on the job), or familiarity with concepts in related fields like ecology, conservation, animal behavior, and animal welfare science.
Community-building orientation: Genuine interest in fostering connections among researchers and creating welcoming, inclusive spaces.
Digital platform management and user experience: Ability to learn and navigate diverse online community platforms. Understanding of user experience principles to evaluate whether digital tools are meeting user needs, identify performance gaps, and recommend improvements. Ability to troubleshoot technical issues and assist community members with platform navigation.
Event planning and program execution: Experience coordinating events, workshops, or programs — including managing logistics, coordinating speakers, and ensuring activities align with objectives. Familiarity with administrative procedures supports efficient program delivery.
Data literacy: Ability to interpret basic metrics and survey results to identify trends, supporting informed program improvements.
About our mission
Wild Animal Initiative is a remote 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to understanding and improving the lives of wild animals. Our work funds cutting-edge science, supports researchers, and contributes to original research.
We are looking to work with people who approach our mission as an inherently inclusive endeavor and celebrate the differences of others. We strongly encourage Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latino/a/x, and people of other historically marginalized communities to apply. We welcome applicants of any religion, age, origin, class, citizenship, parental status, disability status, genetics, veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender. We view diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and ways of understanding the world and wild animals as an asset which can improve the performance, collective intelligence, innovation, and quality of science at Wild Animal Initiative, while also addressing the exclusionary aspects of the spaces we operate in. We integrate these values into all aspects of our work and seek to constantly improve our implementation of them. We seek to benefit and share power with everyone at Wild Animal Initiative.
Please note that we are unable to sponsor work visas at this time. Candidates must be eligible to work in their respective jurisdictions.
If you have any questions about our hiring process or open positions, or if you would like to recommend excellent candidates, please reach out to us at hiring@wildanimalinitiative.org.
To express your interest in working with us in a capacity not currently open, please submit your information via our Job Interest Form. By doing so, you will be added to our talent database, which we consult for new roles and when recommending candidates to other mission-aligned organizations.
Thank you for considering Wild Animal Initiative as the next part of your vocational journey. We hope to hear from you!
Requests for accommodation: If you are an individual with a disability, we welcome requests for disability-related accommodations throughout the application process. You can request reasonable accommodations by contacting Hiring Manager Emily Sharp at emily.sharp@wildanimalinitiative.org.