Population Dynamics Modeller

Acknowledgement of Country 

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation. 

Role highlights

• Great ongoing opportunity to support high‑impact fisheries and population studies
• Apply your population dynamics and statistical modelling expertise in varied role
• Join a collaborative team delivering science for national and global use!

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The opportunity 

Our CSIRO International Fisheries team delivers quantitative science to support the sustainable management of shared, highly migratory fish stocks across Australian and international regions. The team works closely with government agencies, regional fisheries management organisations, and scientific partners to develop and apply stock assessment models, Management Strategy Evaluation frameworks, and fishery‑independent monitoring approaches to inform evidence‑based decision‑making.

As a Population Dynamics Modeller, you will work as part of this multidisciplinary team, providing specialist technical support across a diverse portfolio of current and emerging projects. The role supports project leaders and senior researchers through detailed fisheries and biological data analysis, population modelling, and clear summarisation of complex model outputs for delivery to national and international fisheries management working groups.

The role offers opportunities to apply advanced quantitative skills in applied research settings, including the use of mark‑recapture approaches such as Close‑Kin Mark‑Recapture, Management Strategy Evaluation, and operational fisheries data analysis. Contributions to technical reports, working models, milestone deliverables and, where appropriate, peer‑reviewed publications form a key part of the role, alongside collaboration with project partners and stakeholders.

You will bring a strong foundation in ecological or statistical modelling, with well‑developed analytical and coding skills and the ability to interpret and communicate complex results clearly. Experience working with fisheries or biological data, population dynamics models, and collaborative research environments will be highly valued, along with a proactive and solutions‑focused approach to problem‑solving.

If you’re passionate about applying quantitative modelling to real‑world fisheries and ecological challenges, this is a great opportunity to contribute to impactful science that informs management decisions at scale – and we would love to hear from you!

Your high-level duties will include: 

• Working closely with Project Leaders to prepare and analyse complex fisheries data (including catch, effort, survey, age, length, maturity, tagging) for estimating abundance and trends in populations and Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) for fisheries and Threatened and Endangered Species (TEPS).
• Running and modifying code, summarising the output of complex stock assessment/population dynamics models (Close-kin mark recapture - CKMR) and Management Strategy Evaluation.
• Writing technical reports to national and international working groups, peer reviewed papers, milestone reports.
• Contributing to research and/or technology through the development of original and adapted experimental methods, equipment or software.
• Undertaking a wide variety of tasks or tasks with a high degree of specialisation.
• Participating in planning projects and/or accepting responsibility for scheduling and completion of major parts of the project, including evaluation of options, experimental design, data collection and analysis, user and customer research, user experience and/or software design, implementation and delivery.

Role particulars

Location and office arrangements: Hobart, TAS

Salary: AU$100K – AU$113K per annum plus up to 15.4% superannuation

Tenure & work schedule: Indefinite; Full-time (preferred) – part-time and flexible work arrangements may be considered based on needs of the role and individual circumstances.

Reference: 102610

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential:

• Master’s degree (or an equivalent combination of qualifications and research experience) in either numerical modelling of ecological systems, or an ecological statistical modelling field.
• Ability to write code in modern statistical programming software (e.g. R, C++) to produce graphical and statistical data summaries, and fit models to observed data.
• Ability to summarise, analyse and format commercial and biological fisheries data for a variety of possible stock assessment inputs.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to and potentially lead the writing of technical reports to various technical Working Groups, as well as peer-reviewed articles.
• Ability to collaborate with other teams including project partners, industry colleagues and funding agencies.
• High-level written and oral communication skills with the ability to represent the research team effectively internally and externally, including at national and international conferences.
• A demonstrated commitment to health, safety, and wellbeing of staff, willing to challenge the status quo in pursuit of Zero Harm.

Desirable:

• Existing familiarity with running, interpreting, summarising and presenting the results from fisheries stock assessment models.
• Existing experience with Management Strategy Evaluation – in particular, the summarising and interpretation of MSE model outputs in relation to the design and selection of candidate management procedures.

For full details about this role, please review the Position Description. 

Not sure if you meet all the criteria?

While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don’t let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description.

Setting you up for success

We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact the Talent Acquisition Partner via email (see details in the Position Description) and let us know how we can support you.

Eligibility 

Applications for this position are open to Australian Citizens, New Zealand Citizens, and Australian Permanent Residents.

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO.

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Child safety 

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy. 

How to apply 

Please apply online, and provide a CV and a detailed cover letter, responding to each of the selection criteria in detail, that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role. Please attach your selection criteria responses to your cover letter as one document.

Applications close 

23 August 2026, 11:00pm AEST