Mid-to-Senior Level Staff Archaeologist

Who We Are
Dudek is a leading environmental, planning, and engineering firm that help public and private clients plan, design, and build projects that improve communities’ built and natural infrastructure. Founded in 1980, Dudek has grown steadily to more than 800 professionals across the U.S. and received the Top Workplace Award for 2024.

As a 100% employee-owned company, Dudek’s culture rewards smart, productive team members with ownership, professional development, and financial benefits. We seek creative, pragmatic problem-solvers working at the intersection of science, engineering, regulations, and multiple stakeholders’ interest to help clients achieve project goals.
We encourage collaboration, sustainability, and innovation.

At Dudek, we abide by shared values:
Trust:  We trust each other to use good judgment.
Respect:  We act professionally and treat each other fairly.
Teamwork:  We come together, share openly, and apply diverse perspectives.
Fun:  We take our work seriously…not ourselves.
Well-Being:  We care about each other’s health, safety, and total wellness.

Our culture is the foundation of who we are and how we work. We empower our employee-owners to invest in our local communities and themselves through initiatives that make Dudek a great place to work!  Our cultural programs include:

• DuGreen: Our sustainability initiative, which works to improve our environmental footprint
• DuGood: Our philanthropic initiative, which seeks to support the communities in which we live and work through fundraising challenges, office-based giving and opportunity to take a paid volunteer day each year.
• eDUcate: Our educational outreach program where we aim to foster interest in our work and careers in the environmental and engineering field by participating in educational events in our communities.
• DuWell: Our wellness initiative, aimed at providing education on wellness, benefit resources, and preventive care.

At Dudek, we recognize that different perspectives, inclusivity, trust and belonging build a stronger culture and add value to our firm. Dudek's Employee Resource (ERGs) operate as diversity champions within Dudek and create a safe space for underrepresented employees and their allies to support, collaborate, network, and brainstorm ways to make Dudek’s work community more inclusive. We proudly support our 4 Employee Resource Groups (ERG’s):

• Women at Dudek
• Members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community
• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) employees
• Disabled employees (all disabilities, seen / unseen)

Learn more about our culture.

About The Job
Dudek, an award winning multi-disciplinary environmental consulting firm with over 30 years of excellence in the state of California, is seeking to fill a mid-level staff archaeologist position for our Santa Cruz office. The qualified candidate will have an M.A. or Ph.D in anthropology or a closely related field and at least six years of experience in cultural resource management. The qualified candidate will have strong background in research and writing along with the ability to travel. Additional preferred skills include a strong work ethic and an analytical expertise.

The successful candidate should have excellent writing and communication skills and a working knowledge of California pre-contact and historic archaeology, including knowledge of the archaeological record of the Monterey Bay and San Francisco Bay areas. Familiarity with local, State, and federal cultural resources regulations and guidelines is a plus.

Primary work is expected to be conducted on California’s Central Coast and the San Francisco Bay area, although responsibilities may include projects in other areas of California, the Great Basin, and elsewhere. Dudek’s clients include private and public entities. Projects include planning and implementation ventures that range from on-call contracts, environmental impact report support, solar and wind infrastructure, and transportation, among others.

Successful candidates will be able to work under physically strenuous conditions. Good communication skills, ability to work as a crew member and/or manage field crews, ensure paperwork is completed accurately, and to logically support field decisions are also desirable qualities.

Learn more about the projects you will have the opportunity to shape.

Who You Are
To thrive at Dudek, you should be comfortable with accountability, collaboration, flexibility while being a resourceful and independent thinker. We look for curious, solution-focused people who can adapt quickly to an ever-changing industry. There is no single way to solve a problem, so we encourage innovation.