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Meteorologist, GS-1340-09/11/12 (MAP)

Department of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

IMPORTANT APPLICATION DEADLINE: A cut off of candidates from this announcement will not be established prior to Tuesday, October 23, 2018.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
10/09/2018 to 02/06/2019
Salary
$50,598 - $115,157 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 09 - 12
Locations
MANY vacancies in the following locations:
Anchorage, AK
Fairbanks, AK
Juneau, AK
Birmingham, AL
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional Travel is required - 10%.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—Payment of relocation expenses is authorized.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Full Time / Career or Career-Conditional
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
12 - If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you may be non-competitively promoted if you perform successfully and if recommended by management.
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Drug test
No
Announcement number
NWS-2019-0010
Control number
513124400

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

*This announcement is open to current Department of Commerce (DOC) employees on a competitive and permanent appointment and DOC CTAP eligibles.

Duties

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This position is located in the National Weather Service (NWS), Weather Forcast Office (WFO), with potential vacancies across the United States and its territories.

Salary ranges will vary based on the location. Please visit: OPM Salary Charts for specific salary information related to a specific location.

Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau Alaska is 3.74% for San Juan, Puerto Rico is 3.48% and for Barrigada, Guam is 13.01%. The COLA is not reflected in the locality salary shown in this vacancy announcement.

Post Differential may be authorized for Barrigada, Guam for hires outside of the local area. You may be entitled to 20% post differential allowance in addition to the salary.

COLAs are exempt from Federal income taxes; post differentials are not.

Employees filling positions in Guam or San Juan, PR may be eligible for home leave under the provisions of 5 C.F.R. § 630.601.

As a General Forecaster, you will be performing the following duties:

  • Integrate meteorological data from a variety of sources to analyze and assess the current and forecast weather situation at both synoptic and mesoscale levels.  Participate in all forecast and service programs assigned to the office. Devise, formulate, compose and issue all watch, warning, advisory, and forecast products and services assigned to office. Provides Impacted-based Decision Support Services to core partners and customers.
  • Conduct a weather watch using remotely sensed and in situ meteorological and hydrologic data. Determine appropriate and relevant data, identify questionable or conflicting data (resolving those if possible) and analyze available data sets to determine the need for warnings, statements, or advisories, and the need for issuing or updating public and specialized-sector (e.g., aviation, fire weather, and marine) forecasts.
  • Provide weather advice and guidance to core partners (e.g., emergency management, law enforcement, aviation, land management, transportation), the media, and the general public through various means such as forecast products, social media, and in-person or remote briefings.
  • Provide hydrologic service products for assigned area of responsibility, including forecasts and warnings of floods and river stage for the public and numerous users dealing with water resources and/or land management, transportation, emergency management, river and flood plain control, etc.
  • Participate in local studies and developmental projects designed to capitalize on or incorporate the benefits of new science/technology/local techniques into operations. Apply this developing body of knowledge and experience to the warning and forecast environment.

 These duties are described at the FPL GS-12; the GS-09 and GS-11 are developmental leading to such performance.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National to apply.
  • Required to pass a background investigation and fingerprint check.
  • Must be suitable for Federal employment.
  • Must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable (www.sss.gov).
  • Time-in-grade requirements must be met by closing date of announcement.

* A one year probationary period may be required.

* This position is in the bargaining unit.

OTHER EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS:

Rotating shift work is required with the WFO in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. During periods of threatening weather or rapidly changing weather conditions, the increase in workload and the necessity for rapid dissemination of weather warnings and updates requires periods of acute mental alertness and produces considerable mental stress. Adverse weather conditions often require the incumbent to work hours longer than the usual shift, adding to mental and physical stress.

College Transcript: If you are qualifying based on education, submit a copy of your college transcript that lists college courses detailing each course by the number and department (i.e., bio 101, math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours and grade earned. You must submit evidence that any education completed in a foreign institution is equivalent to U.S. education standards with your resume. You may submit an unofficial copy of the transcript at the initial phase of the application process. If course content cannot be easily identified from the title of the course as listed on your transcript, you must submit an official course description from the college/university that reflects the content at the time the course was taken.

Note: Your college transcript is used to verify successful completion of degree, or college course work. An official college transcript will be required before you can report to duty.

Applicants must meet ALL application requirements, to include a complete online resume, by 11:59 p.m. EASTERN TIME (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.

Qualifications

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: This position has a positive Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of Specialized Experience OR substitution of education for experience OR combination (GS-09 and GS-11 only) in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with your application package. You MUST meet the following requirements:

A. Degree: meteorology, atmospheric science, or other natural science major that included:

  1. At least 24 semester (36 quarter) hours of credit in meteorology/atmospheric science including a minimum of:
    a. Six semester hours of atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics; *
    b. Six semester hours of analysis and prediction of weather systems (synoptic/mesoscale);
    c. Three semester hours of physical meteorology; and
    d. Two semester hours of remote sensing of the atmosphere and/or instrumentation.
  2. Six semester hours of physics, with at least one course that includes laboratory sessions. *
  3. Three semester hours of ordinary differential equations. *
  4. At least nine semester hours of course work appropriate for a physical science major in any combination of three or more of the following: physical hydrology, statistics, chemistry, physical oceanography, physical climatology, radiative transfer, aeronomy, advanced thermodynamics, advanced electricity and magnetism, light and optics, and computer science.
* There is a prerequisite or corequisite of calculus for course work in atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics, physics, and differential equations. Calculus courses must be appropriate for a physical science major.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience: course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations e.g., professional; philanthropic, religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies; knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

To qualify at the GS-09 level:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must also possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following:
  • Preparing and issuing statements for a geographic area concerning a number of hazardous high-impact weather conditions; and
  • Conducting a weather watch using remotely sensed and in situ meteorological and hydrologic data.
-OR-

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: Master’s Degree or equivalent graduate degree in Meteorology or other related discipline or 2 years of progressively higher graduate level education leading to such a degree.

-OR-

COMBINATION: A combination of education and experience as described above.

Note: Only graduate education in excess of one year is qualifying for combination.

To qualify at the GS-11 level:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must also possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following:
  • Assessing the current and forecast weather situation at both the synoptic and mesoscale levels; and
  • Conducting a weather watch using remotely sensed and in situ meteorological and hydrologic data.
-OR-

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: Ph.D. degree or equivalent doctoral degree in Meteorology or other related discipline or 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree.

-OR-

COMBINATION: A combination of education and experience as described above.

Note: Only graduate education in excess of two years is qualifying for combination.

To qualify at the GS-12 level:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must also possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following:
  • Analyzing and assessing the current and forecast weather situation and weather trends at both the synoptic and mesoscale levels;
  • Devising and formulating warning, advisory and forecast products and hydrologic service products;
  • Conducting a weather watch using remotely sensed and in situ meteorological and hydrologic data; and
  • Providing advice and assistance to peers and staff on complex weather situations and data.

Additional information

CTAP candidates will be eligible if it is determined that they have exceeded the minimum qualifications for the position by attaining at least a rating of 85 out of 100. Information about CTAP eligibility is on the Office of Personnel Management’s Career Transition Resources website at: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

CTAP applicants MUST submit the following documents:

  1. A copy of your specific RIF notice; notice of proposed removal for failure to relocate; a Certificate of Expected Separation (CES); or certification that you are in a surplus organization or occupation (this could be a position abolishment letter, a notice eligibility for discontinued service retirement, or similar notice).
  2. A copy of your SF-50 “Notification of Personnel Action”, noting current position, grade level, and duty location;
  3. A copy of your latest performance appraisal including your rating; and
  4. Any documentation from your agency that shows your current promotion potential.
NOAA participates in e-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that enables participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for the position. If you meet the minimum qualifications stated in the vacancy announcement, we will compare your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation to your responses on the scored occupational questionnaire (True/False, Yes/No, Multiple Choice questions). However, your resume or optional cover letter must support your responses to the scored occupational questionnaire, or your score may be lowered. The best-qualified candidates will be identified for referral to the hiring manager and may be invited for an interview.

The scored occupational questionnaire will evaluate you on the following competencies; please do not provide a separate written response:

  • Knowledge of operational and applied meteorology.
  • Ability to use complex electronic and electro-mechanical systems utilized in data acquisition, communications and service programs.
  • Ability to effectively distill complex weather and water information into usable information for decision makers.
  • Ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing.
  • Knowledge of operational hydrology as it pertains to water resources, flooding, and flash flooding.
  • Skill in conducting and integrating local research into forecast operations.
Due weight shall be given to performance appraisals and awards in accordance with 5 CFR 335.103(b)(3), during the interview/selection process conducted by the hiring manager. If referred, all relevant documents including performance appraisals and awards submitted with your application package will be forwarded to the hiring official for review.

To preview questions please click here.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Agency contact information

Arthi Chandrasekara
Phone
703-259-9418
Fax
000-000-0000
Email
arthi.chandrasekaran@noaa.gov
Address
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
WFMO Staffing Division
601 E 12th Street
Room 1713
Kansas City, Missouri 64106
United States

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