Groundwater Program Analyst

You bring solid foundation in understanding groundwater management and California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), including concepts such as groundwater allocations, demand management, sustainable yield, and reporting and compliance.

You are curious about how policy decisions become the rules that agencies and growers actually operate under.

You are proficient with spreadsheets and have an aptitude for data QA/QC and systems thinking, and you have experience with geospatial tools such as QGIS or ArcGIS and parcel or other spatial data.

Familiarity with SQL or scripting languages such as Python is a plus.

You can explain technical concepts about water resources clearly to non-technical audiences — growers, agency staff, advisory committees, and Boards — and you are comfortable providing support and helping to facilitate meetings, workshops, and trainings for diverse audiences.

As a Groundwater Program Analyst, you will help groundwater agencies operate transparent, trustworthy water accounting programs on ESA’s Groundwater Accounting Platform (GAP).

Working alongside our project managers, water resources specialists, and software developers, you will help turn groundwater policy into working systems that agencies and growers can understand, trust, and rely on.

Configure groundwater management programs within GAP under direction — establishing geographies, zones and management areas, water accounts, and water measurement types such as evapotranspiration, precipitation, and metered extraction.

Assemble, integrate, and perform QA/QC on the data behind groundwater accounting, including third-party meter and telemetry data, OpenET evapotranspiration data, self-reported extraction, allocation records, and parcel spatial data.

Prepare and process parcel and spatial data for parcel-level accounting using GIS tools.

Help translate allocation rules, carryover and transfer provisions, true-up procedures, and other demand management policies into platform configuration and accounting logic, and document the assumptions used.

Groundwater is one of California's most important and most stressed resources, and under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, agencies across the state are being asked to bring basins back into balance. Our team builds and operates the Groundwater Accounting Platform (GAP) — an open-source system that helps Groundwater Sustainability Agencies and their growers do exactly that: track allocations, report and verify pumping, manage demand, and administer their programs transparently and defensibly.

What makes this work different is that we sit at the intersection of policy, data, and people. We work shoulder-to-shoulder with NGO partners, agency staff, Technical Advisory Committees, Boards, and the growers whose livelihoods depend on these decisions — translating complex sustainability rules into systems they can actually understand, trust, and operate. We also help lead a nationwide community of practice across groundwater management agencies, state funders, the consultant community, and NGO partners, sharing what works and continually improving the platform. Together, we turn groundwater policy into working tools that make a real and lasting difference for California's water future.

What’s Special About ESA

Joining ESA means becoming part of a close-knit team of environmental professionals who contribute to outstanding projects, improve environmental stewardship, and advance a more sustainable and resilient future for our communities and wild places.

At ESA, we provide benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance (paid at 70% for you AND your family), annual allocations of company share through our ESOP, a 401(k) plan with company match, and paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays, to name a few.

We also provide specific programs whether you want to further your technical expertise, sharpen your business acumen, or help lead the next generation of employee-owners. We want to support you in reaching your career goals through tuition reimbursement, professional development bonuses, and attendance at conferences.