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Physical Scientist/Biological Scientist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is with the Pacific Northwest Research Station located in Corvallis, OR, Olympia, WA, or Anchorage, AK.

This employee analyzes, catalogs, and/or archives environmental databases; works with professional staff to improve annotation of databases with descriptive metadata and to provide data to online depositories.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Joseph Donnegan Email: Joseph.Donnegan@usda.gov

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
10/25/2022 to 11/04/2022
This job will close when we have received 75 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$79,363 to - $79,363 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Locations
1 vacancy in the following locations:
Anchorage, AK
Corvallis, OR
Olympia, WA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Overnight travel 2-6 times per year to visit other Forest Service offices or field locations and to attend other professional meetings.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
12
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
23-RES-11699496-DH-TC
Control number
685149200

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. citizen. Direct Hire Authority will be used to fill this position. Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy.

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Duties

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  • Provides advice for the collection, compilation, storage, analysis, reporting, and distribution of strategic multi-resource data.
  • Provides technical expertise, staff coordination and consultation in the areas of biometrics, data visualization and analytics, field collection techniques, and data applications.
  • Provides feedback and communicates changes necessary to develop, improve, and enhance methodologies and databases.
  • Analyzes work processes and operations to determine the feasibility of upgrading data management programs or implementing new ones.
  • Applies research methodologies to evaluate data and ensure statistical consistency and accuracy.
  • Conducts analyses of systems to determine nature of requirements, logical work, and information flows.
  • Assists with planning and project management activities in relation to research project operations.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service 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.
  • Occasional travel to the field where physical activity involving walking long distances, bending, or climbing over rough, steep, or rocky terrain could occur.

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 university course descriptions as necessary.

Basic Education Requirements:
Biological Science Series (0401): https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0400/general-natural-resources-management-and-biological-sciences-series-0401/
A. Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.
OR
B. Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Physical Science Series (1301): https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1300/general-physical-science-series-1301/
A. Degree: physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics.
OR
B. Combination of education and experience -- education equivalent to one of the majors shown in A above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience in the amounts listed below.

Specialized Experience Requirement:
One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in federal service. To qualify at this level, your resume must reflect52 weeks of ALL of the following duties:

Applying and integrating techniques from statistical analysis, image processing and analysis, forest inventory, geographic information systems (GIS), geospatial analysis, database operations, and computer science to improve techniques or provide solutions for collection, compilation, storage, analysis, reporting, and distribution of strategic multi-resource data.

Testing computer programs to ensure accurate and statistically consistent operation, identifying problems and bottlenecks in the information management system, and making corrections and improvements.

Curating research data collected by other researchers and/or from sensor networks, which includes accurately transferring data and reconciling inconsistencies, creating metadata records to document changes, and storing backup versions of original data files following data governance processes and protocols.

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.

Education

There is no substitution of education for experience for the GS-12 grade level.

Additional information

This announcement has been extended. It will now close on 11/4/2022.

Pay rates vary depending on location, the salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.

This is not a remote position.

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.

Government Housing is not available

Daycare facilities are not available

This position is eligible for telework and other flexible work arrangements.

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

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/

How you will be evaluated

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

This is a Direct-Hire Authority position, all applicants who meet the minimum qualifications, to include any selective placement factor(s), if applicable, will be referred to the selecting official. Before a certificate is issued to the selecting official, the resume is reviewed to ensure that you meet all the qualification requirements. A rating will not be used; veteran's preference does not apply due to the existence of the Direct Hire authority for this position.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, you may be found ineligible. 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 up to including removal from the Federal service.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11699496

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