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Geophysicist

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Reclamation
Technical Service Center, Geotechnical Services Division, Seismology and Geomorphology Group
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Reclamation is seeking a career professional looking for an opportunity to capitalize on his or her expertise as a Geophysicist. Make a difference in the West by assisting in meeting increasing water demands while protecting the environment.

Location - Lakewood, Colorado

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
10/30/2020 to 11/16/2020
Salary
$84,118 to - $109,358 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
Few vacancies in the following location:
Lakewood, CO
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
BR-DO-2020-216 (MPP)
Control number
583309500

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Duties

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The primary duties of this position are:

-Plans and conducts seismological investigations including theoretical seismology, earthquake hazard evaluation, ground motion assessment, earthquake source mechanisms, and seismic wave propagation.
-Appraises data pertaining to seismic hazard characterization, including recurrence information, zonation source characteristics, wave propagation, site attenuation and response, as well as conducts probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for a variety of engineered structures.
-Provides guidance on seismological investigations involving the use of strong motion data, for the purpose of defining appropriate ground motions for use in the analysis and design of engineered structures.
-Attends meetings with other organizational units within Reclamation with the goal of ensuring appropriate technical utilization of the Group's capabilities.
-Prepares reports and written documents.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

To be eligible, an applicant must meet the following:

  • U.S. Citizen or National
  • Suitability for Federal employment determined by background investigation
  • Submit a resume and supporting documentation - See How to Apply
  • Meet specialized experience requirements - See Qualifications
  • Submit transcripts, if required, to verify education requirements
  • For veterans consideration, submit documents under Required Documents
Applicants must meet all qualification requirements, including time-in-grade restrictions, by the closing date of the announcement 11/16/2020.

TIME IN GRADE: Current career or career-conditional employees of the Federal government, or former career or career-conditional employees, who have a break in service of less than one year, are required to meet the time-in-grade restriction of one year of Federal experience at the next lower-grade, with few exceptions outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b). Applicants eligible under the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) are not required to meet time-in-grade restrictions in order to be considered.

Applicants may be required to serve an initial probationary period.

Due Weight Consideration: You must submit 1) a copy of your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation and 2) a list of any awards (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc.) you received in the last 5 years. Any performance appraisal/evaluation and award documentation you provide will be forwarded to the selecting official. The selecting official will review this documentation and give it due weight consideration during the overall selection process. If you do not have your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation, please submit a statement as to why it is not available. Please indicate if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level.

Qualifications

Basic Education Requirements:

  1. Degree: that included at least 30 semester hours in mathematics (including calculus) and the physical sciences (geophysics, physics, engineering, geology, astronomy, meteorology, electronics, etc.).

    or

  2. Combination of education and experience -- courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.


Specialized Experience Requirements: In addition to the basic education requirement, in order to be rated as qualified for this position, the HR Office must be able to determine that the applicant meets the specialized experience requirement - this information must be clearly supported in the resume.

To qualify at the GS-12 level, applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in Federal service. Specialized experience at this level is defined as: Applies geophysical and seismological principles required to complete probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, seismic source characterization, time histories and other geophysics investigation sunder general administrative supervision; and resolves new geophysical and seismological problems in a routine range of geophysical and seismological studies, from field investigations and data collection through processing, analysis, and the application under general administrative supervision; and leads seismic hazard and geophysics investigations including technical oversight and project management.

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. Applicants will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

If selected, the selectee will be required to provide official college transcripts to verify educational qualifications. An official transcript must be sent directly from the University's Registrar's office and must be provided from the institution awarding the degree. Academic transcripts certified by notary publics are NOT official. Official transcripts must be submitted prior to reporting to work as a condition of employment. Failure to submit official transcripts may be grounds for dismissal or rescission of the job offer.

Education

This position has a mandatory education requirement. Applicants must submit a copy of college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. Non-submission will result in being rated not-qualified for the position.

Accreditation: Only education from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education is acceptable to meet education requirements or to substitute for experience, if applicable. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management at https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/ and U.S. Department of Education websites at https://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html websites.

Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, applicants must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For further information visit: https://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

Position is being advertised concurrently under vacancy announcement BR-DO-2020-217. Applicants interested in applying under both announcement numbers, must submit application packages for each.

At the present time, we have few vacancies; however, this announcement may be used to fill additional, equivalent positions at this duty location.

Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other Bureaus/Offices within the Department of the Interior (DOI) who have vacancies with the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s). Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.

Reclamation has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisory approval.

The selectee(s) for the vacancy, if otherwise eligible and qualified, may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive to the selectee(s) of this vacancy will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information visit:
Recruitment Incentive
Relocation Incentive

The selectee(s) for the vacancy, if otherwise eligible and qualified, may request consideration for a Superior Qualifications Appointment: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/superior-qualifications-and-special-needs-pay-setting-authority/

DOI uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including applicant rights and responsibilities, please visit https://www.e-verify.gov/

Selective Service: Male applicants born after December 31, 1959 must certify registration with the Selective Service System or that the applicant is exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Go to: https://www.sss.gov

Related non-Federal experience or related experience as retired members of the uniformed services may be credited towards computing entitlement to leave accrual, at managerial discretion, providing that experience meets certain criteria. This provision allows new employees to earn annual leave at a higher rate than would otherwise be allowed. (5 Code of Federal Regulations, 630). For additional information, please visit: Creditable Service for Annual Leave

How you will be evaluated

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

Human Resources (HR) will review resumes and submitted documents, if applicable, to ensure applicants meet the basic qualification requirements. We will evaluate each applicant who meets the basic qualifications on the information provided in the assessment questionnaire. The assessment questionnaire will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Applicants determined best qualified will be referred to the selecting official.

Applicants will be further evaluated on the following competencies through his/her resume and responses to the online questions.

  • Geology
  • Geophysics
  • Oral Communication
  • Technical Competence
  • Writing


Applicant's answers to questions will be verified against information provided in their online resume. Be sure that the resume clearly supports the responses to all the questions by addressing experience, education, and/or training relevant to this position. Applicants must make a fair and accurate assessment of their qualifications. If a determination is made that an applicant has rated themselves higher than is apparent in his/her description of experience, competencies, skills, and/or education/training OR that his/her resume/application is incomplete, the applicant may be rated ineligible or his/her score may be lowered.

Preview assessment questions here:https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/10953035

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