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These TERM positions will be funded through project funds and grants for the life of major infrastructure projects in Grand Canyon National Park, including the Trans Canyon Waterline Project, the North Rim infrastructure Project, the South Rim Wastewater Treatment Plant project, and others.

The Hydrologist performs scientific work (hydrology, geomorphology, caves, and other studies) related to major Park infrastructure projects, including the Trans-Canyon Water Line (TCWL), the South Rim Wastewater Treatment Plant, the North Rim infrastructure project, and other priority Park hydrology projects, including Climate Change impacts on hydrological resources. This includes gathering, processing, and interpreting surface and groundwater hydrologic data, inventory and monitoring studies, data management, data analysis, and a dynamic collaborative program of hydrologic research with numerous internal and external partners. The incumbent works under the direction of a higher-graded Hydrologist or the Geosciences Program Manager.

The Hydrologist exercises independent judgement to plan, coordinate and lead moderately difficult hydrological investigations, inventory and monitoring projects, and scientific research. S(he) plans, executes, and may lead field work in remote canyon environments to generate new or verify existing mapped hydrological information, and to monitor ongoing activities.

The Hydrologist plans and performs data collection, management, and analysis using current technologies, including ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, Field Maps, Aquarius, R, and other software, performs data entry, carries out quality control checks on data collected and entered by others, conducts analysis of data sets, prepares maps and scientific reports, and determines, documents, and communicates the findings to management, other science professionals, and the public. S(he) ensures a safe work environment and policies for self and subordinate staff and may act as work leader for lower-graded personnel, interns, or volunteers. The incumbent assists with project planning, work and funding proposals, budget tracking, and other administrative tasks.

The Hydrologist communicates effectively, orally and in writing, with other Park staff and offices, other agencies, institutions, academia, researchers, and others regarding collaboration, compliance, and ongoing work, and may participate in conferences or other technical meetings.

Major Duties:

• Plans, performs, coordinates, and directs comprehensive hydrologic field studies.
• Collects, manages, analyzes, and interprets hydrologic data.
• Develops, modifies, and utilizes spatial and relational databases and related applications to maintain hydrologic data for planning and analysis.
• Plans and performs a wide range of data collection assignments.
• Writes and publishes reports of findings in internal or external reports, recommendations to resource managers, or scientific journal publications.

This is a term position (more than 1 year) with an initial appointment expecting to last at least 13 months but may be extended up to a total of ten (10) years. Term positions do not convey permanent status in the Federal service.

The National Park Service retains the right to extend the duration of this appointment after selection and/or appointment, based on changes to the regulation governing the number of years term appointments may last. This change, which may be made at the agency's sole discretion and without further competition, shall not be construed or interpreted as the granting of a right to a selectee or employee to such an extension. No extension to a term appointment shall be granted to a selectee/employee to an amount of time that exceeds the maximum number of years authorized under any present or current regulation, unless such regulation expressly allows such action.

Flagstaff Area Information: This position is stationed at the Grand Canyon National Park offices in Flagstaff, Arizona. Flagstaff is located about 70 miles from the park and has a population of about 75,000. Flagstaff has an elevation of 7,000 ft. and includes multiple K-12 public and private schools, Northern Arizona University, a diverse community, medical and other support services. The rental and home markets in Flagstaff can be relatively expensive and limited. Summers in Flagstaff are warm with temperatures in the 80's and frequent monsoon thunderstorms. Winters are cold, with low temperatures near zero and snow averaging around 90 inches. Recreational opportunities in both areas cross all four seasons in environments ranging from low deserts to high mountains and include hiking, backpacking, fishing, cross-country and downhill skiing, and golfing in nearby communities. Government housing is not available.

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
• Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
• You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator's License and Driving Record. You must also submit (within a State sealed envelope or submitted directly by the State authorities), and at your own expense, all certified driving records from all States that disclose all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you.
• You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime, and shift work.
• You will be required to complete a one-year trial period.
• You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to10 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
• You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
• Applicants must be at least (1)18 years old or (2) at least 16 years old and: (a) Have graduated from high school or been awarded a certificate equivalent to graduating from high school; or (b) Have completed a formal vocational training program; or (c) Have received a statement from school authorities agreeing with their preference for employment rather than continuing their education; or (d) Be currently enrolled in a secondary school and either work only during school vacation periods or work part-time during the school year under a formal student employment program.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-10/25/2024-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: This position has basic requirements required by the Office of Personnel Management. Candidates who do not meet this requirement by close of this announcement will receive no further consideration for this position. It is recommended to upload any and all transcripts you have to justify this requirement (under grad, grad, etc). Applicants must meet one of the following before the close of the announcement:

Degree: physical or natural science, or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in any combination of courses in hydrology, the physical sciences, geophysics, chemistry, engineering science, soils, mathematics, aquatic biology, atmospheric science, meteorology, geology, oceanography, or the management or conservation of water resources. The course work must have included at least 6 semester hours in calculus (including both differential and integral calculus), and at least 6 semester hours in physics. You must provide transcripts that verify you meet this requirement.
-OR-
Combination of education and experience: course work as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Acceptable experience must have included performance of scientific functions related to the study of water resources, based on and requiring a professional knowledge of related sciences and the consistent application of basic scientific principles to the solution of theoretical and practical hydrologic problems. The following is illustrative of acceptable experience: field or laboratory work that would require application of hydrologic theory and related sciences such as geology, geo-chemistry, geophysics, or civil engineering to making observations, taking samples, operating instruments, assembling data from source materials, analyzing and interpreting data, and reporting findings orally and in writing. In some cases, professional scientific experience that is not clearly water resource experience may be acceptable if such experience was preceded by appropriate education in hydrology or by professional hydrology experience. You must include hours per week worked and provide transcripts that verify you meet this requirement.

AND

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: In addition to meeting the Basic Education Requirement, to qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level, you must possess one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

Experience: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-7 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. This experience includes activities such as: collecting, managing, and maintaining hydrologic data; monitoring spring, surface, and ground water quality and flow patterns; performing wetland delineation and modeling; participating in field investigations in remote or backcountry environments. You must include hours per week worked.
-OR-
Education: Two years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree from an accredited educational institution concentrated in a field that is directly related to the work of this position, such as hydrology, water science, environmental science, atmospheric science, or other directly related subject matter. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study. If that number cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered an academic year of graduate study. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. You must provide transcripts.
-OR-
Combination: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience may be used to meet total experience requirements. Only graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be combined with experience. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate experience equivalent to GS-7 (50 percent of the experience requirement for GS-9) and 27 semester hours of appropriate graduate education (50 percent of the education requirement for GS-9, in excess of that required for GS-7) would be qualified for a GS-9 position (assuming that there is no evidence that the attended college or university requires more than 18 semester hours as equivalent to a year of graduate study). You must include hours per week worked and provide transcripts.


Volunteer Experience: 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.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position. A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Assessment Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score will be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you can lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully; errors or omissions can affect your rating.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. These procedures place candidates with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Veterans with a service connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher. Under Category Rating, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

• Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position
• Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job
• Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.

You will be evaluated on the following competencies:

• Hydrology
• Interpersonal Skills
• Manages and Organizes Information
• Project Management
• Research

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.