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Archeologist

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Explore a new career with the BLM - where our people are our most precious resource.

For more information about these locations, click on the links below:

One position is located in Kanab, Utah.

One position is located in Vernal, Utah.

One position is located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

One position is located in Monticello, Utah.

We expect to fill four vacancies at this time; however, additional positions may be filled from this announcement if they become available.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
12/01/2023 to 12/15/2023
Salary
$69,107 to - $89,835 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 11
Locations
Kanab, UT
1 vacancy
Monticello, UT
1 vacancy
Salt Lake City, UT
1 vacancy
Vernal, UT
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - At times, travel for field work, meetings and/or training may be required.
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
High Risk (HR)
Trust determination process
Announcement number
UTMP-24-12214886-BG
Control number
763606000

Duties

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  • These positions serve as an Archeologist for the Paria River District, West Desert District, Green River District, and Canyon Country District.
  • Applies a professional knowledge of archeological principles, theories, concepts, methods, and techniques to perform a variety of complex assignments related to heritage resource management.
  • Identifies impacts from recreational, commercial, and industrial operations and ensures heritage resources are protected and/or mitigated from the potential effects of these activities.
  • Ensures compliance with Section 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
  • Provides professional recommendations on the significance of archeological sites, historic or prehistoric structures, or objects identified during surveys.
  • Prepares professional reports and studies and reviews reports made by others, ensuring all reports are adequate to meet compliance requirements of legislation, regulation, and needs of BLM management.
  • Conducts inventories to locate heritage resources and determine impacts due to developmental activities in accordance with applicable federal laws, regulations, and policies.
  • Consults with BLM management, landowners, state government officials, tribal governments, consulting parties and the public to provide information, develop opportunities for partnerships, explain and apply legal requirements and new technologies.
  • Provides recommendations and solutions required to achieve compliance and eliminate resource conflicts.
  • Authors heritage and paleontological resource input for portions of environmental documents such as environmental assessments and planning documents in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act.
  • Assesses the planning area at a landscape level to determine the best management for heritage and paleontological resources within that landscape and develops best management practices for such resources.
  • Promotes participation and organizes volunteers and other interested publics in partnerships to protect and manage heritage and paleontological resources.
  • Ensures that inventory and site data are entered, managed, and utilized in various geospatial databases.
  • Utilizes the heritage resource and other resource spatial data to perform analyses to assist with land use planning, decision making, and day-to-day management activities.
  • Advises higher level officials of any deficiencies in the heritage resource program and recommends what resources are needed to eliminate short falls.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship is required.
  • Be sure to read the 'How to Apply' and 'Required Documents' Sections.
  • You cannot hold an active real estate license: nor can you have an interest or hold stocks in firms with interest in Federal Lands.
  • Direct Deposit Required.
  • Appointment will be subject to a favorably adjudicated background/suitability investigation/determination.
  • Your resume must contain enough information to show that you meet the qualification requirements as defined in the announcement. In addition, your responses to the questions must adequately reflect in your resume.
  • An applicant appointed to this position must possess (or obtain within 30 days of entrance on duty) and maintain a valid state driver's license while employed in this position.
  • May require a one year probationary period.

Qualifications

Selective Placement Factors: This position requires a special qualification that has been determined to be essential to perform the duties and will be used as a screen out element. Those who do not provide evidence they possess the following selective factor(s) will be rated not qualified:

  1. An applicant appointed to this position must possess (or obtain within 30 days of entrance on duty) and maintain a valid state driver's license while employed in this position.
In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the qualification requirements - please be sure to include this information in your resume. No assumptions will be made about your experience.

In addition to the basic requirements and selective placement factor, to qualify at the GS-11 level you must meet the following:

Specialized Experience:
Applicants must possess one (1) full year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the GS-09 level equivalent in difficulty and complexity to perform the duties of an Archeologist. Qualifying specialized experience includes: Authoring or reviewing cultural resource sections of resource management plans; developing mitigation strategies to resolve adverse effects to historic properties; and overseeing activities to protect and improve the conditions of cultural resources.

OR Education: To qualify based on education you must have 54 semester hours of graduate-level education leading to a Ph.D. degree or equivalent doctoral degree in a related field of study.

OR Combination of Education and Experience: You may meet qualifications requirement for this position with an equivalent combination of specialized experience and appropriate graduate education. Graduate level education must demonstrate the difficulty and complexity to do the work of this position. Only graduate level education in excess of 36 semester hours may be combined with 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.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement.

Federal employees in the competitive service are also subject to the Time-In-Grade requirement in accordance with 5 CFR 300.604. If you are a current Federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks at the next lower grade level.

Physical Demands: Field work routinely requires physical exertion such as long period of standing or walking over rough, uneven, rocky surfaces or mountainous terrain; recurring bending, crouching, stooping or reaching; using hand tools such as shovels, trowels, or screening devices; and lifting of moderately heavy items such as equipment and samples.

Work Environment: The work regularly involves moderate risks or discomforts which may require special safety precautions, e.g., adverse weather conditions, hazardous driving conditions, irritating or occasionally hazardous chemicals; hostile wildlife; and travel in off-road vehicles. Incumbent will adhere to all safety rules and regulations as prescribed in manuals/supplements or by the designated Safety Officer.

Education

This position has a positive education requirement which requires that you have a:

Degree that included 3 semester hours each in the following course areas:

  • History of archeology.
  • Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa.
  • Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development.
  • Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques.
  • Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work
AND
  • Six semester hours of related course work in:
    • geography, geology, or cultural geography;
    • history, historiography, or historical archeology;
    • environmental studies;
    • scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or
    • surveying;
AND
  • Archeological field school.
Related Curriculum: degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements(including archeological field school).

OR

Combination of Education and Experience

College-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education.

OR

Experience

Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project.

Additional information

DOI uses E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit E-Verify.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/lnteragency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP): These programs apply to employees who have been involuntarily separated from a Federal service position within the competitive service or Federal service employees whose positions have been deemed surplus or no longer needed. To receive selection priority, you must: 1) meet CTAP or ICTAP eligibility criteria; 2) be rated well qualified for the position with a score of 90 or above; and 3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your CTAP or ICTAP eligibility. For more information: CTAP or ICTAP

Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered for Selective Service

Travel and relocation expenses will not be paid by the Department of the Interior. Any travel, transportation and relocation expenses associated with reporting for duty in this position will be the responsibility of the selected employee.

The official worksite for the selectee is the duty station identified in this vacancy announcement. The selectee will typically report to this duty location on a regular and recurring weekly basis. The selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

These positions are being advertised as a GS-07 under UTDE-24-12221796-AA and as a GS-09 under UTDE-24-12224321-AA. If you wish to be considered for each grade level you must apply separately.

Certain incentives (such as Recruitment, Relocation or Student Loan Repayment) may be authorized to eligible selectees. If eligible and qualified, you may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information visit: Recruitment Incentive or Relocation Incentive or Student Loan Repayment.

How you will be evaluated

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

After the vacancy closes, a review of your application package will be made to ensure you meet all qualification requirements. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your resume, supporting documentation and responses to the online questionnaire will be made. Your responses to the online questionnaire will be used to measure the degree to which your background matches the requirements for this position. However, your resume 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 contacted for an interview.

Your answers to the online questionnaire will be used to evaluate your competencies in the following areas:

  • Legal, Government, and Jurisprudence
  • Oral Communication
  • Partnering
  • Technical Competence
  • Writing


In the evaluation process, due weight will be given to job related experience, education, training, incentive awards and performance appraisals. Applicants must have a performance rating of at least the equivalent of fully successful to be eligible for promotion or placement. Applicants may provide a copy of a performance appraisal of record dated within the last 18 months. If the applicant is unable to provide a performance appraisal of record dated within the last 18 months, the applicant may provide a written explanation as to why.

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of the following additional assessment: Subject Matter Expert Resume Panel Review. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

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