Tree Census Data and GIS Specialist

(Paid Opportunities) Return to Paid Opportunities

Start Date: June 2026  Compensation: $42.36/hour - 35 Hours per week

CITY OF NEW YORK PARKS & RECREATION
SEASONAL JOB VACANCY NOTICE
Office Title: Tree Census Data and GIS Specialist
Civil Service Tile: Computer Associate (Software)
Work Location: Olmsted Center, Queens
Duration: 8 months. Expected Start Date - June 2026
Salary: $42.36/hour - 35 Hours per week
Positions: 3
NYC Parks is the steward of over 30,000 acres of land - 14 percent of New York City - including more than 5,000 individual properties ranging from Coney Island Beach and Central Park to community gardens and Greenstreets.

The Environment and Planning (E&P) division aims to protect, restore, and expand New York City Parks including green spaces and natural areas to maximize their benefits for environmental and community health and resilience. This position will work with the Data Systems and Analytics (D&SA) team as well as the Forestry unit of E&P. The Forestry team is responsible for managing over 800,000 individual trees throughout New York City. The Agency will be continuing its 4th tree census in summer 2026 to count and assess each of these trees. This is both an important and fun endeavor to collect critical data while encouraging New Yorkers to literally and figuratively hug their trees. Perks - Earn vacation and sick leave every month and receive free membership to our recreation centers.

Responsibilities/Duties

  • • Under general supervision, perform data quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) on volunteer-collected geospatial data on the city’s trees, including tree locations and attributes, using desktop and field verification methods.
  • Use GIS software, including ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, to conduct desktop QA/QC by cross-referencing multiple datasets, including Parks’ internal spatial and non-spatial datasets, street-view imagery, and orthoimagery.
  • Perform field-based application testing; evaluate application performance and quality of resulting data.
  • Follow established protocols to review, identify, and resolve issues related to missing, incorrect, or inconsistent data. Assist the D&SA team in refining QA/QC protocols by updating scripts, ArcGIS models, and related workflows based on findings.
  • Develop and maintain documentation including data dictionaries, metadata, and data quality issues and corrective actions taken; assist in preparing summaries and reports of findings.
  • Provide troubleshooting and technical support to staff and volunteers who are conducting field data collection. Troubleshooting support may require evening or weekend work shifts.
  • Use tools including ArcGIS, SQL, and the Microsoft 365 suite to support data preparation, analysis, and reporting.
  • Integrate internal and external datasets using geospatial and statistical analysis techniques for spatial and non-spatial data.
  • Create and maintain reports, visualizations, dashboards, and other presentation-ready materials to communicate key summary and analytical metrics.
  • Assist in tasks related to backend data preparation, management, backup, and organization in the ArcGIS Enterprise and SQL environment, event registration workflow, and user account management and monitoring processes.

Qualifications/Requirements

  •  A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college including or supplemented by 24 semester credits in computer science or a related computer field and one year of satisfactory full‐time computer software experience in computer systems development and analysis, applications programming, database administration, maintenance and support, systems programming, data communications, mainframe development, mobile development, web development and design; or
  • A four‐year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and five years of satisfactory full‐time computer software experience as described in ʺ1ʺ above; or
  • Education and/or experience equivalent to ʺ1ʺ or ʺ2ʺ above. College education may be substituted for up to two years of the required experience in ʺ2ʺ above on the basis that 60 semester credits from an accredited college is equated to one year of experience. In addition, 24 semester credits from an accredited college or graduate school in computer science or a related field, or a certificate of at least 625 hours in computer programming from an accredited technical school (post high school), may be substituted for one year of experience. However, all candidates must have at least a four‐year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and at least one year of satisfactory full‐time experience as described in ʺ1ʺ above.

    PREFERRED SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS
  • Demonstrated knowledge of geospatial data.
  • Demonstrated knowledge of working with SQL server.
  • Experience or familiarity with ESRI software including ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcPro, ArcGIS Online, and Field Maps. Willingness to learn and use these tools quickly.
  • Experience or familiarity with using orthoimagery. Willingness to learn and use this dataset quickly.
  • Demonstrated experience with using the Microsoft 365 suite, including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint.
  • Strong communication and organizational skills.
  • Ability to work effectively as part of a team as well as independently.

Additional Information

Residency in New York City, Nassau, Orange, Rockland, Suffolk, Putnam or Westchester counties required for employees with over two years of city service. New York City residency required within 90 days of hire for all other candidates.
Fees: Hired candidates will be subject to a processing fee of $85.00. Hired candidates who are not currently employed by the City will be subject to a $104.50
background check fee.

How to Apply: Email resume and cover letter to Maria Ganz at maria.ganz@parks.nyc.gov. Please indicate which position you are applying for.
Parks & City Employees: Include your ERN on your cover letter and resume. If you have any questions regarding this vacancy or require a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please email Maria Ganz.

POST DATE: 04/07/2026 POST UNTIL: FILLED
References will be required upon request. We appreciate the interest of all applicants. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted

Contact Information

NYC Parks Dept.