EO Employer only wants. . . a

very creative, broad-based researcher who interacts well with others and who will utilize the extensive resources the museum has to offer in the way of collections, instrumentation, teaching and mentoring, and exhibition.

The American Museum of Natural History (NY, NY) is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer. The Museum encourages Women, Minorities, Persons with Disabilities, Vietnam Era and Disabled Veterans to apply. The Museum does not discriminate due to age, sex, religion, race, color, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other factor prohibited by law.

However, in order to be considered for this job. . .

Candidates need to be outstanding, and interested in almost any facet of Invertebrate Paleontology, including (but not limited to) systematics, paleobiology, evolutionary development, and environmental change. Oh yes, and exemplary research is required. And s/he is expected to conduct field work.

The successful candidate will use paleontological methods in combination with other approaches (for example isotopics, ct imaging and molecular techniques) to study the evolution of life in relation to earth history.

Can’t just be an egghead, either.  Must be able to play well with others---communicate effectively within the scholarly community and to a larger public is important.  No sluggards either. The appointed person is expected to maintain a high level of productivity in original research, to provide curatorial oversight of relevant collections.  Writing grant proposals that bring money home to papa institution is also critical, i.e.  seeking extramural funding.

And don’t forget the scut work--serving on committees and participating in Museum-sponsored exhibits and educational programs, and in the Comparative Biology Ph.D. program at the Richard Gilder Graduate School. Right out of grad school, you could expect to pay your dues.

No salary was mentioned in the ad (I suspect they have in mind a candidate from their graduate school), but when I checked a general site for this type of degree (nothing specific for museum work), it was respectably high—like between $80,000-$100,000, however, that would include in the mix those paleontologists who work in industry, especially fossil fuels. So I checked that and found for 2011:

“In universities the starting salaries for beginning assistant professors straight out of graduate school with a Ph.D. in hand range from $40,000 to $60,000 for an academic year of nine months. In industry and government, holders of doctorates can expect to earn $50,000 to $80,000 over a 12-month period. http://www.fallsoftheohio.org/ACareerinPaleontology.html