Career Development
Launch your career in Chesapeake Bay restoration with our competitive career development program.
Designed to jumpstart your career, the Environmental Management Career Development Program gives early-career professionals an entry point into the Chesapeake Bay’s restoration community. The program includes over a dozen staffer positions dedicated to one of several teams working at the Chesapeake Bay Program, ranging from habitat restoration and water quality to climate change and diversity.
The career development program is managed by the Chesapeake Research Consortium (CRC) who staffs positions to the Chesapeake Bay Program. Staffers are employed by the CRC, but work at the Bay Program office in Annapolis, Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay Program is a partnership made up of various nonprofits, academic institutions, and federal and state agencies that work together through Goal Implementation Teams, workgroups and committees. One or more staffers are dedicated to each of these teams, offering critical administrative support with opportunities for research, project implementation, community engagement and more.
This partnership model provides staffers with an incredible opportunity to collaborate with a wide variety of professionals working at some of the most influential environmental organizations in the Mid-Atlantic. Each staffer is also given ample opportunity and funding to attend workshops, field outings, trainings and conferences so that they can explore subject areas that inspire them and develop critical skills. At the end of your three-year term, you will be in the best possible position to take on a new career opportunity or enroll in advanced academic study.
Current openings
Sorry, there are no job opportunities available at this time! Please sign-up for our newsletter Bay Brief to receive weekly updates about job and internship opportunities within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Where our staffers are now
Jake Reilly
Director of Chesapeake Bay Programs, National Fish & Wildlife Federation“The staffer position is an unmatched opportunity to learn and network among some of the leading watershed restoration practitioners and experts.”
As a staffer, Jake supported the partnership’s Maintain Healthy Watersheds Goal Implementation Team, which was just being created at the time. In his position, Jake played a crucial role in setting up the team, helping to recruit members, develop priorities and identify actions. He also supported two workgroups related to land conservation and forestry, giving him a wide breadth of experience in Chesapeake restoration.
Darius Stanton
Director of Regulatory Affairs, American Cleaning Institute“The staffer program made me feel fearless.”
As a staffer to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Diversity Workgroup, Darius helped the CBP recruit and engage stakeholder groups that were not equally represented in the partnership. While working on a multitude of teams and projects, he designed the metrics used in our Diversity indicator, organized environmental career fairs and spearheaded the development of the C-STREAM internship program. Darius’s accomplishments as a staffer did not come without challenges—though only a recent college graduate, his work forced members of the CBP leadership to address unconscious racial biases and systemic barriers that exist within the partnership.
Breck Sullivan
Scientific, Technical Assessment & Reporting Coordinator, Chesapeake Bay Program“I loved how no day was the same because of the various topics the Chesapeake Bay Program covers.”
In 2019, Breck started as the staffer for the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific, Technical Assessment & Reporting (STAR) team. She coordinated research projects, communications efforts and workshops, and assisted with the analysis and interpretation of critical data. After two years of staffing STAR, she was hired to be the team’s full-time coordinator and continues to work at the Chesapeake Bay Program.