Carmen Soto is a research scientist, with a master’s degree in ecology and natural resources from the National University of Saint Anthony the Abbot in Cuzco, Peru. In 1999, while writing her thesis on the “biological control for the potato moth and virus translocation in potatoes,” she met José Koechlin, the founder and chief executive of Inkaterra Hotels in Peru. He wanted to figure out how to control the wood weevil and moth, both of which had been attacking the eucalyptus beams and other wood used in building Inkaterra’s Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. He offered Ms. Soto a full-time job to help him.

She accepted.

Within a year, Ms. Soto, was the resident biologist and orchid specialist at that hotel and at Inkaterra Asociación, the company’s nonprofit organization. Since then, she and her team of nearly a dozen workers have helped identify 372 orchid species, 22 of which are new. While continuing to identify new species of birds, butterflies and flora in the cloud forest, she also organizes specialized excursions for guests and educational workshops for area schoolchildren.

For her, it’s the ideal job. “The happiness I get being able to work in a field that I love — sustainable tourism and conservation,” said Ms. Soto, 55.