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Geospatial Systems Specialist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

There are several vacancies being filled in the Rocky Mountain Region. Please see "Additional Information" section below for Duty Station location information.

Responsible for supporting managers and resource specialists in the use of geospatial technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for land, natural resources and ecosystem management.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact please contact Christina Schofield at christina.schofield@usda.gov.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
06/03/2022 to 06/13/2022
Salary
$54,727 - $86,074 per year

Salary shown is for Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.

Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Locations
Few vacancies in the following locations:
Fort Collins, CO
Glenwood Springs, CO
Lakewood, CO
Chadron, NE
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional travel may be required for meetings, trainings and/or site visits.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
22-R2-GVA-11519242-G-CLS
Control number
658056700

Duties

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  • Duties listed are at the full performance level GS-11.
  • The incumbent is responsible for supporting managers and resource specialists in the use of geospatial technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for land, natural resources and ecosystem management.
  • Determine type, amount and level of information required to develop and analyze ecosystem management alternatives.
  • Assess quality, compatibility, and limitations of various data used in land management and planning efforts.
  • Develop data dictionaries, data models, and metadata for multi-disciplinary information and geospatial applications.
  • Organize and maintain resource information and data to facilitate analysis across multiple disciplines including but not limited to recreation, silviculture, planning, engineering and fire.
  • Use geospatial technology to facilitate geospatial model design and analysis procedures.
  • Manipulate and analyze geospatial data to support resource management decisions for multiple resource, jurisdictional, and ownership units or a large geographical region.
  • Perform multi-scale and/or multi-resource analysis in support of planning, analysis, and monitoring activities.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Successful completion of one year probationary period, unless previously served.
  • Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

Specialized Experience Requirement:
Specialized experience is defined as experience that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position.

For the GS-09 Level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of specialized experience include: Under the guidance of a higher level specialist, participated in developing data dictionaries, data models, and metadata for multi-disciplinary information and geospatial applications; participated with higher level specialists in the manipulation and analysis of geospatial data linking a variety of resources such as socio-economics, land, air, water, timber, recreation, wildlife, fisheries and/or special management areas; created increasingly more complex thematic map products and presentation materials using established automated map and chart making processes; and/or applied basic geographic and cartographic principles to the resolution of more complicated issues in geospatial database construction and map compilation. Provided technical assistance to Geospatial Information System (GIS) users in accessing, troubleshooting, and/or using geospatial software, data, and applications; applied geospatial technology and analyzed data to support resource management decisions for natural resource programs; and/or assisted with organizing and maintaining resource information and data to facilitate analysis across multiple natural resource disciplines.

OR
a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related;
OR
an appropriate combination of specialized experience and education (only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level)

For the GS-11 Level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-9 grade level. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of specialized experience include: Worked with managers and resource specialists to determine type, amount and level of information required to develop and analyze ecosystem management alternatives; developed data dictionaries, data models and metadata for multi-disciplinary information and geospatial applications; applied advanced principles to facilitate geospatial model design and analysis procedures related to natural resource and relevant socio-economic data and products; operated complex computer systems and software packages and used established procedures to produce intricately detailed maps and graphics for a variety of natural resource programs and planning documents. Provided technical assistance to Geospatial Information System (GIS) users in accessing, troubleshooting, and/or using geospatial software, data and applications; applied geospatial technology and analyzed data to support resource management decisions for natural resource programs; and/or assisted with organizing and maintaining resource information and data to facilitate analysis across multiple natural resource disciplines.

OR
Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related;
OR
an appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.)

**Note on Related Education** The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university, and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. Related education should provide a focus in areas such as Geography, Cartography, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Map Projections/Design, and Geographic Information Systems.

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.

TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

See above for education that may be qualifying for the specific grade level.

Additional information

For information on the Rocky Mountain Region National Forests, visit- https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/r2/home
Duty Station Information: Location Negotiable at time of Job Offer.
Lakewood, CO
Fort Collins, CO
Glenwood Springs, CO
Chadron, NE

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Veterans who are preference eligible or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after three years or more of continuous active service are eligible for consideration under the Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA).

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) provides current or former temporary or term employees of federal land management agencies opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Part-time and intermittent service will be credited only for time actually worked. Non-pay status such as leave without pay is credited for up to six months in a calendar year; anything beyond six months is not credited. Applicants are responsible for providing sufficient information/documentation to determine if the 24 month criteria is met.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Employees: Permanent County employees without prior Federal tenure who are selected for a Civil Service position under Public Law 105-277 will be given a career-conditional appointment and must serve a 1-year probationary period.

For more information on applying under special hiring authorities such as the Veteran's Recruitment Act (VRA), 30 percent disabled veterans, certain military spouses, Schedule A Disabled, etc., explore the different Hiring Paths on the USAJOBS website.

PROMOTION POTENTIAL: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied or guaranteed.


This position may be eligible to telework up to four days per week, based upon the duties of the position. This position may also be eligible for flexible work arrangements as determined by agency policy and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.
The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional information is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-and-leave-flexibilities-for-recruitment-and-retention/

Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.

We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

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 your qualifications for this position as evidenced by the experience, education, and training you described in your application package, as well as the responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine the degree to which you possess the competencies listed below:

  • Cartography
  • Data Management
  • Planning and Evaluating
  • Technical Competence
  • Technical Writing


Your application, including the online Assessment Questionnaire, will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position.

If you meet the qualification requirements and are determined to be among the best qualified, you will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. Noncompetitive candidates and applicants under some special hiring authorities must meet minimum qualifications to be referred.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11519242

Forest Service

A career with the Forest Service will challenge you to manage and care for more than 193 million acres of our nation's most magnificent lands, conduct research through a network of forest and range experiment stations and the Forest Products Laboratory, and provide assistance to State and private forestry agencies.

It's an awesome responsibility - but the rewards are as limitless as the views.

Agency contact information

HRM Contact Center
Phone
1-877-372-7248 X2
Email
SM.FS.FSJobs@usda.gov
Address
USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US

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