Careers

The Seattle Aquarium is much, much more than the exhibits, animals, activities and experiences that bring hundreds of thousands of people to our facility each year—our passionate staff members are a key element of what sets us apart. We're firmly committed to hiring highly skilled, talented and motivated people who genuinely want to contribute to our shared success. We seek out employees who lead by example, acting with truth, sincerity and fairness in all decisions. We have a positive, visionary view of our organization and its future, and hope you will join in our commitment to our mission, service and quality.

The Seattle Aquarium is a progressive, equal-opportunity employer that values a diverse workforce. As we move forward, we are committed to making the Aquarium a diverse, inclusive and welcoming space for our staff, partners, audiences and community as a whole.

 

Current openings

Our S.A.L.I.S.H. Values

Sustainable

Adopting and promoting, internally and externally, practices that improve ocean health.

Awe inspiring

Creating captivating experience for all audiences.

Learning & improving

Fostering, evaluating and applying knowledge and discovery.

Inclusive community

Recognizing that diversity is critical to achieve our mission.

Scientific Integrity

Ensuring our credibility with evidence-based practices.

Honoring place

Using our location and history as a lens for larger understanding.

What Sets Us Apart

Seattle Aquarium volunteers
Culture

The Seattle Aquarium works to ensure that we are inclusive and welcoming to all segments of the community. We strive to have our audience reflect the diversity of our region, including underserved populations and groups, and have developed inclusive outreach and community engagement/action programs to help us toward that goal.

 

Historic photo of Pier 59
History

The Seattle Aquarium is the ninth largest aquarium in the U.S. by attendance and among the top five paid visitor attractions in the Puget Sound region. Since our opening, we’ve hosted over 22 million visitors and provided marine conservation education to over 1.6 million school children. We’re proud to be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Seattle Aquarium employees preparing to dive
Conservation

The Seattle Aquarium aims to be a leader in conservation and education, defining the role of a great Aquarium in the 21st century as a catalyst for public engagement. Our focus is on making an impact: through our programs, partnerships, outreach efforts and more—helping people learn to love Puget Sound and Earth’s one big ocean, while galvanizing them to take action to protect these precious resources.

Seattle Aquarium volunteers

Great Benefits

We are invested in providing high-quality, comprehensive benefits and understand their importance for you and your family. Full-time staff enjoy the following benefits:

  • Medical*, vision* and dental coverage
  • An employer-funded health reimbursement account*
  • Access to medical- and dependent-care flexible spending accounts*
  • Basic life insurance
  • Short- and long-term disability
  • Access to voluntary life insurance
  • 403b retirement plan with employer matching funds*
  • Subsidized ORCA pass*
  • Family Plus membership*
  • Participation in annual variable pay program*
  • Generous paid time off

*Part-time staff are eligible for these benefits.

Current Openings

Marine science interpreter

Temporary marine science interpreters are shift supervisors in the exhibits at the Seattle Aquarium, leading our interpretation volunteers and engaging guests through formal interpretation and casual conversations. This position will primarily work daytime, interpretive and volunteer support shifts. These staff members will provide coverage for last-minute schedule changes and vacation requests, most often Thursday–Monday, in addition to working regularly scheduled hours; flexibility in scheduling is required.

Please note, the marine science interpreter position has been modified to meet our current operations. In the long term, this position is also required to perform the following duties. For more on our COVID-19 operations, see the end of this job posting.*

  • Provide regular announcements encouraging guests to wear a mask at all times, maintain appropriate physical distance and refrain from touching exhibits.
  • Help with crowd control, wayfinding and guest flow through the Aquarium.
  • Support Seattle Aquarium COVID-19 policies with guests and volunteers by modeling and/or explaining proper procedures.

For more information and to apply, click here.
Posting expires: Open until filled

Digital learning specialist

The Seattle Aquarium is seeking to increase its capacity to develop and deliver digital content to engage students and families at home, in their schools and in their communities. We are seeking a creative, organized and collaborative individual to facilitate the creation of engaging digital content for the Seattle Aquarium audience. The digital learning specialist will perform a variety of digital production duties, including but not limited to: live streaming presentations and e-learning courses, video editing, and production, including the operation, use and care of audio visual equipment. This person will be responsible for working with the Conservation Engagement and Learning department (CEaL) to design, plan, strategize and implement a diverse digital learning program. This individual will support the staff during the entire life cycle of each project, as assigned, to help develop highly compelling content with clear and consistent messaging. Along with a strong sense of how to tell a captivating visual story, this position requires advanced working knowledge of editing software, audio visual systems and the ability to train non-expert education staff in the use of technical equipment for delivering educational programming.

The Seattle Aquarium aims to engage all people and communities that live and work along the shores and in the watersheds of Puget Sound to meet our mission: Inspiring Conservation of Our Marine Environment, with an understanding that “our” means everyone’s marine environment. This is particularly important because environmental degradation disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income communities, and because environmental challenges will not be solved without bringing to bear the knowledge, skills and diverse views of the entire human community.

Please note: this position is dependent on grant funding. If we do not receive this grant, we will update candidates to let them know we will not fill the position at this time. We expect to hear back by mid- to late September and will keep candidates up to date as things progress.

For more information and to apply, click here.
Posting expires: October 16, 2020

Aquarist

Seattle Aquarium seeks an aquarist to join our fish and invertebrate team. The aquarist furthers our mission through the management and care of the animal collection. They are responsible for assigned husbandry duties in the Aquarium’s fish and invertebrate department.

The ideal candidate will have a minimum of one year’s experience involving the care and husbandry of animals in a zoo, aquarium or related environment (AZA facility preferred), a clear understanding of fish and invertebrate biology, and technical knowledge of marine biology, water quality analysis, aquatic life support systems and marine animal health. There are many technical requirements of this role—all applicants must meet all diving requirements, physical exam, training classes and deadlines as listed in the “diving requirements” and “experience, education and certifications” sections attached, in order to be considered.

For more information and to apply, click here.
Posting expires: September 20, 2020

Seattle Aquarium employee performing enrichment activities with harbor seal
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