Who We Are and What We Do

Save The Bay’s mission is to protect and restore the Bay for people and wildlife through policy change, hands-on restoration, and deep community connection. We advocate for decisions that prioritize the Bay and the people who live here. We restore wetlands that defend our shoreline and bring nature back to life. And we connect people with the Bay in ways that build understanding, inspire care, and move them to take action. We are a collaborative team of passionate people -- supportive, dedicated, and bold.

Over two decades, Save The Bay has become a Bay Area leader in the science and practice of restoring tidal marsh transition zone habitat at landscape scale to benefit endangered species and ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change. We enlist thousands of volunteers annually to restore the shoreline and educate Bay Area students to be the next generation of Bay stewards through hands-on experiential education and on-line learning.

Position Summary

The Restoration Nursery Specialist is responsible for leading community-based volunteer programs for youth and volunteers. The Specialist also manages large volunteer groups on projects in our native plant nurseries and at restoration field sites, including invasive species removal, native plant propagation, outplanting, and shoreline cleanups. The Restoration Nursery Specialist also works in our nurseries at three locations around the Bay, supporting propagation of native transition zone plant species, seed and division collection, integrated pest management, nursery facilities maintenance, and facilitating community stewardship programs.

This position provides an exciting opportunity to apply native plant knowledge and volunteer leadership experience to contribute to the health of San Francisco Bay wildlife, clean water, and resilient shoreline communities.

This position works a Tuesday-Saturday schedule to facilitate weekend public programs.

REPORTS TO: Native Plant Nursery Manager

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Community-based Restoration: 60% of responsibilities

• Lead Community-based Restoration nursery and field programs for students, corporate and community groups, and volunteers from the general public (average 3 days a week)
• Participate in seasonal habitat restoration activities including invasive plant removal, native plant collection, propagation and outplanting, and shoreline cleanups
• Ensure best restoration practices for our work, including: invasive plant management, native planting, phytosanitary practices, and volunteer-associated programmatic improvements
• Support vegetation monitoring
• Assist with operation and maintenance of trucks, tools and equipment

Nursery Support: 30% of responsibilities

• Conduct native plant propagation tasks at Save The Bay’s three nursery sites (Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Oakland), including seed sowing, transplanting, divisions, fertilization, and culling.
• Assist in nursery maintenance projects, including, but not limited to, construction, irrigation, weeding, and organization
• Maintain healthy plants and a clean nursery environment through nursery Best Management Practices regarding plant pathogens, including pot sanitization, soil heat treatment, and other sanitization methods; work with Nursery Manager to maintain high standards of best management practices with Habitat Restoration Team staff and volunteers
• Participate in seed collection activities; steward native seed storage organization and tracking
• Input detailed records of nursery activities, including comprehensive Salesforce database of species information, propagule stock, and propagation methods
• Communicate about nursery and restoration work with the public through volunteer programs, social media posts, and other opportunities; represent Save The Bay at conferences, nursery network meetings, and outreach events

Administrative & Cross Departmental Work: 10% of responsibilities

• Participate in cross-departmental and All Staff activities, such as training and planning sessions, monthly meetings, quarterly events, and team building activities
• Support fundraising campaigns, media events, conferences, and programs with content and messaging to meet Save The Bay’s constituency and engagement goals
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications and Experience

• One to two years of experience leading a diverse range of volunteers, including youth, in nursery or habitat restoration activities
• Familiarity and experience with plant species native to the Bay Area, nursery operations, native plant propagation, and habitat restoration practices
• Detail-oriented, with strong communication and organizational skills
• Excellent group management and engagement skills
• Ability to complete tasks independently and work well in a team
• Experience with administrative task management including database management
• Comfortable driving a small work truck with trailer and operating and maintaining small engine equipment including hand drills, brush cutters, mini-chainsaw pruners, and augers
• Reliable and able to meet deadlines; flexible with changing schedules and plans, responsive to several channels of communication (Zoom chat, Asana, email, phone and text)
• Enthusiasm for Save The Bay’s mission; desire to engage in DEIB work (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) as it relates to Habitat Restoration
• Ability to work in the field in inclement weather conditions; enthusiasm to work up to four days a week in the field
• Ability to lift at least 40lbs, work in physically active environment
• Clean background check

Driving Requirements

• Current California driver’s license clean driving record, and access to personal vehicle required. The Restoration Nursery Specialist will be expected regularly to drive a Save The Bay work truck, occasionally with a trailer attached.
• Commute times may be up to three hours throughout a day but are considered part of the 8-hour workday.

Position Logistics

Location: Our work is performed mostly remotely (apart from our Habitat Restoration Staff) with periodic in-person staff and team meetings in our office based in Oakland, CA, and our various restoration sites around the San Francisco Bay Area. The Specialist will primarily work at our three nursery sites, with required monthly in person all-staff meetings at our office based in Oakland, CA. Employees must reside in California / Bay Area.

Start Date: The priority deadline for applications is March 20th; Preferred start date is late-April.

Compensation and Benefits: This is a regular, full-time, non-exempt position. Starting wage for this position is $30.91/hour and is not subject to negotiation. We provide annual cost-of-living increase each January 1, and additional 3 percent increase at service mileposts of 3 years in the position, 5 years, 10 years and subsequent 5-year intervals. To maintain internal pay equity, we do not utilize individual merit increases. We offer an excellent benefit package including medical, dental, vision, acupuncture/chiropractic, and life insurance; 12 paid vacation days per year to start, 13-14 paid holidays and 15 days of sick leave per calendar year; 403(b) retirement plan; stipend for working remotely and funds for home office workstation equipment and furniture. Work transportation expenses (mileage and bridge tolls) are reimbursable for travel from home or the location of the start of their drive to work sites up to 50 miles each way per day.

Hiring Timeline (This is our ideal timeline, but it may be subject to changes):

• The deadline for applications is March 20th, 2026
• We will review resumes and conduct interviews in late March.
• Finalists will be invited to submit three references.
• We would like to make an offer to a candidate by early April and have the candidate start in late April.

COVID-19 Policy: All new hires must be fully vaccinated prior to their start of employment unless they are pre-qualified by HR for exemption.

Work Environment: We welcome people of all cultural backgrounds, gender expression and sexual orientation to apply and thrive with our growing team. Save The Bay is an equal opportunity employer that strives to recruit a diverse workforce and provide an equitable, and inclusive workplace for all.

DEI Statement: Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, Save The Bay will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

Our Leadership Philosophy: At Save the Bay, we take a person-centered approach to leadership. As leaders, we strive to embody our organizational core values and create a work environment that fosters belonging, authenticity, accountability, and care.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) – Progress and Commitment

Save The Bay has been examining and continuing to reckon with our positionality within a predominantly white-led environmental movement, evolving our workplace practices and our program approaches. Most of our DEI efforts began and continue to be fueled by employee leaders, who have informed and continue to influence our internal practices and investments, mission-driven programs and community partnerships. Staff and board input helped create our organizational core values that guide Save The Bay’s leadership philosophy and operations and our Strategic Plan (link).

We are working to build more respectful and inclusive working environments and have updated our hiring practices to advance inclusiveness and reduce bias. We have implemented new compensation practices to support greater transparency, equity and competitiveness, and established a Living Wage floor. We adopted a new performance management system designed to provide structured, supportive, and regular opportunities for conversation and feedback between supervisors and their direct reports.  We have taken steps to expand investment in professional development for all staff, tailored to individual needs with supervisor support. 

Our programming embraces community-driven efforts that seek to reduce the impacts of climate change in our region, and we work to expand funding and support for frontline communities on the Bay shoreline. We offer affinity-based volunteer programs led by staff who share those identities and are designed to invite a broad range of participants to share in the work of habitat restoration. We strive to be accountable and effective allies with indigenous peoples and environmental justice advocates.

We continue to commit time and resources to advance DEI efforts and work toward more equitable outcomes. We seek employees who will help us advance this work, understanding that it demands compassion, resilience, patience, and endurance, along with a willingness to learn and grow alongside others.