Assistant Curator, Schlinger Chair of Arachnology

About the California Academy of Sciences

Founded in 1853, the California Academy of Sciences is a globally renowned, AZA-accredited non-profit scientific and cultural institution located in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Home to a world-class planetarium, aquarium, rainforest, research institute, and natural history museum—all under one living roof—our mission is to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration.

Our living collection reflects Earth’s vast biodiversity, consisting of nearly 60,000 animals representing over 800 species. Our research collections are the largest west of the Mississippi,  spanning nearly 46 million plants, animals, fossils, and cultural artifacts from across the globe and throughout history. Our diverse team includes leading biodiversity scientists, educators, storytellers, designers, and communicators who are passionate about advancing knowledge and catalyzing action through science and storytelling.

Whether you're conducting research behind the scenes or engaging the public on the museum floor, your work will help connect people to the natural world and empower them to protect it.

About the Opportunity

Do you have a passion for arthropod biodiversity, collections-based systematics, and the next generation of natural history infrastructure? Are you interested in joining a team of scientists at a world-renowned natural history institution that is investing in genomics, systematics, and biodiversity monitoring at scale?

The California Academy of Sciences is seeking a candidate for an endowed Assistant Curator position in the Entomology Department, housed within the Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability (IBSS): the Schlinger Chair of Arachnology. We seek a scientist who takes a lineage-focused approach to questions in the evolution, systematics, and biodiversity of terrestrial arthropods, and who will lead an internationally recognized, collections-based research program that integrates traditional systematic and morphological work with modern genomic, imaging, and informatics tools.

We seek a systematic arachnologist whose research advances the discovery, description, and classification of arachnids. Candidates working across spiders, scorpions, mites, or other arachnid lineages are welcome. We are particularly interested in candidates who will work with and strategically grow the Academy's globally significant arachnid collection and its type holdings.

This position is expected to contribute to the Academy's signature initiative in entomology, Project BEACON (see below). Applicants whose research programs are currently based in public or private institutions, including museums, state or federal collections, or similar organizations, are encouraged to apply. We also seek candidates passionate about science communication, engagement with broad audiences, and fostering and diversifying the next generation of arachnologists.

Organizational Culture

When you join the California Academy of Sciences, you become part of a mission-driven community that values curiosity, collaboration, and innovation, and celebrates its accomplishments together. Staff share a commitment to executing a new strategic plan that will strengthen the organization's financial foundations, cultivate a vibrant internal culture, and foster smart growth to secure the Academy’s future.

We hope you are inspired by what we do and are motivated to contribute to our mission. The Academy is looking for candidates who do great work, and we know they may come from a number of different backgrounds and experiences. We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every qualification for the position.

This position is based in San Francisco, California. The specific onsite/hybrid schedule for this position is listed below.

About the Entomology Department 

The new curator will join a collaborative, internationally engaged group of scientists in the Entomology Department, which stewards more than 17 million arthropod specimens. Among the largest and most diverse arthropod collections in North America, the Department's holdings include extensive material from insects (especially Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera) and arachnids, with approximately 21,000 primary type specimens. A particular strength is one of the world's most comprehensive collections of Malagasy arthropods, built through decades of CAS-led inventory work and partnerships in Madagascar. The Department is part of the Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability (IBSS), home to twelve additional departments and cores, their associated collections, and a community of scientific and professional staff and students. Together, IBSS comprises the research division of the California Academy of Sciences, working to discover, explore, and celebrate biodiversity and its evolution on a changing planet.

Project BEACON

Project BEACON (Building Next-Generation Biodiversity Infrastructure at CAS) is a department-wide initiative that transforms the Entomology collections from archives into active scientific infrastructure for discovery, monitoring, and rapid response to biodiversity and biosecurity challenges. Phase 1 of BEACON launched in July 2026, and the new curator will be expected to actively participate in and help shape its scientific direction. BEACON is organized around three integrated pillars:

• Type Specimens as Global Reference Infrastructure: digitizing and sequencing the Academy's ~21,000 insect primary types to create a global gold-standard genomic reference library supporting invasive species detection, regulatory biosecurity, and systematics leadership.
• California Biodiversity Baseline: unlocking the 1M+ CAS California specimens (~30,000 taxa) to establish the definitive statewide biodiversity monitoring reference library, supporting climate-change modeling and agency, land-manager, and researcher needs.
• Born-Digital Monitoring Network: establishing a real-time biomonitoring system in which specimens are linked at the moment of collection to DNA, imaging, geospatial, and microbial data.

Curators are expected to contribute their taxonomic expertise, research programs, and collections leadership to BEACON, and to help leverage it to secure major external funding (NSF, USDA, State of California, and philanthropic sources) and to position CAS as a national and global leader in collections-based genomics and biodiversity monitoring.

Key Responsibilities

Research and Scholarship 

• Plans and executes original collections-based systematic research resulting in peer-reviewed scientific publications and presentations.
• Plans, directs, and participates in scientific exploration, including expeditions and collaborative research, to advance knowledge of arthropod diversity, facilitate specimen collection, and address global biodiversity challenges.
• Seeks extramural funding and grants to support research activities, with particular attention to opportunities aligned with BEACON (e.g., NSF systematics and digitization programs, USDA biosecurity initiatives, and California environmental monitoring investments).

Collections and Systematics

• Leads the strategic growth, improvement, and mobilization of the arachnid collection, working closely with the Collection Manager and Chair of the Department.
• Applies and helps set international standards for the management, preservation, documentation, and accessibility of the collection, including loans, accessions, and type material.
• Provides systematic expertise and specimen identifications within the curator's area of taxonomic responsibility.

Project BEACON and Digital Infrastructure

• Contributes actively to Project BEACON, including the digitization, sequencing, and digital integration of type, California, and born-digital monitoring specimens within the curator's taxonomic remit.
• Participates in collaborative efforts to maintain, improve, and increase access to Academy scientific collections through imaging, genomic, and informatics initiatives.

Training and Mentorship

• Actively trains and mentors the next generation of scientists, including supervision of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates.
• Dedicated to training scientists, building capacity in under-resourced communities and countries, and increasing participation of groups historically underrepresented in entomology and arachnology.

Public Engagement and Communication 

• Participates in a spectrum of activities at CAS that engage diverse audiences in the excitement, process, and importance of scientific discovery, including exhibitions, presentations to non-science audiences, community science programs, Academy transformative education and public floor programs, exhibits, membership programs, and other outreach events.
• Works closely with Academy teams and partners to leverage scientific discoveries into popular media and to elevate the visibility and impact of the Academy's research activities.

Service and Stewardship 

• Collaborates with the Academy's Advancement team and the Dean of Science and Research Collections in fundraising, cultivation, and stewardship of donors, including stewards of the Schlinger endowments.
• Provides service to IBSS and the Academy by serving on committees as needed.
• Provides service to the scientific community through editorial roles, review of manuscripts and grant proposals, participation in professional societies, and advisory roles to governmental, regulatory, and public-service organizations as appropriate.

Qualifications

A successful candidate will have the following:

Required

• Ph.D. in Entomology, Arachnology, Systematics, Evolutionary Biology, or other relevant discipline; postdoctoral experience highly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience working with natural history collections and a clear vision for integrating collections-based systematic research with modern genomic, imaging, and informatics approaches.
• Proven track record of publishing original research in peer-reviewed journals.
• Demonstrable record of competitive external funding.
• Demonstrated ability to articulate the relevance and importance of one's scientific work to scientific and lay audiences.
• Ability to work in a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment.

Preferred

• Ability to lead a molecular or genomics laboratory in support of a collections-based research program.
• Experience contributing to or leading large, cross-disciplinary, team-based projects (e.g., digitization initiatives, biodiversity monitoring networks, or genomics infrastructure).
• Experience managing research programs, projects, and budgets.
• Experience training and mentoring junior scientists, particularly from groups historically underrepresented in the arthropod sciences.

Physical Environment:To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential job duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, sit, walk, reach with hands and arms, talk, and hear. Must be able to lift 40 lbs. Must be able to perform repetitive motions 40% of the time.

Compensation and Benefits:The salary for this position is $130,000.00. Actual compensation will be commensurate with the final candidate's qualifications and experience, including skills, knowledge, relevant education, certifications and aligned with the internal peer group. We believe in fair and equitable compensation practices and are committed to providing competitive salaries within the industry and market standards. The Academy offers a total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and comprehensive benefits based on the hours per week worked. Further details regarding compensation and benefits will be discussed during the interview process.

Schedule: Full-Time/On-site, 40 hours per week

How to Apply: Interested candidates should submit a resume and application through our Careers Page portal by November 30, 2026. For questions about the position, please contact Brian Fisher, Curator, Patterson Scholar and Chair of Entomology, at [email protected].

The California Academy of Sciences will give full consideration for employment to all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of theSan Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance (SF Police Code, Article 49).