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Social Scientist

Department of the Interior
Geological Survey
Integrated Information Dissemination Division
This job announcement has closed

Summary

What General Information Do I Need To Know About This Position?

  • Base Salary: $71,099(Step 01) to $92,429(Step 10); NOTE: First time hires to the Federal Government are typically hired at the Step 01.
  • Location Negotiable:The duty station of this position may be any USGS location that is agreed upon by the selecting official and the selectee. Salary dependent upon the agreed upon duty location of the position. Locality pay tables can be found here.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
12/18/2023 to 12/22/2023
Salary
$71,099 to - $92,429 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Location Negotiable After Selection,
Remote job
No
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
USGS-SAC-24-12180936-DE-DLP
Control number
765360800

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Duties

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As a Social Scientist within the Integrated Information Dissemination Division, some of your specific duties will include:

  • Designs and leads projects for collecting detailed social science data that inform water availability modeling efforts, help to build understanding of water resources decisions, and build transferrable criteria that may be applicable to new geographies.
  • Leads and coordinates stakeholder engagement initiatives to determine user needs, develop product lines, as well as serves internal stakeholders and scientists in development of products that address water-resources management needs.
  • Leads and supports multidisciplinary teams investigating human dimensions of a wide variety of water resources issues such as extreme events, water availability, and climate change.
  • Integrates data or methods from the natural and social sciences to answer research questions.
  • Develop training modules related to qualitative social science research that helps natural and physical scientists.
  • Consults with natural and physical scientists interested in incorporating human dimensions into their risk-related research as to how to improve their approaches, as well as their data collection instruments and methods.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

Key Requirements:

  1. Applicants must be U.S. Citizens.
  2. Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation.
  3. Selectee may be subject to serving a one-year probationary period.
  4. More requirements are listed under Qualifications and Other Information.
Are There Any Special Requirements For This Position?
  • Because this position requires travel for official business, the selectee will be required to apply for a charge card within 30 calendar days of appointment. Individuals who have delinquent account balances from a previous Government charge card will be required to satisfy their existing obligation before a new card can be issued.
  • A background investigation will be required for this position. Continued employment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination.
  • Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENT: Applicants must meet A, B, or C below to satisfy the basic requirement for Social Scientist, all grade levels.
A: Degree: behavioral or social science; or related disciplines appropriate to the position.
B: Combination of education and experience that provided the applicant with knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.
C: Four years of appropriate experience that demonstrated that the applicant has acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.

FOR GS-12:
In addition to the basic education requirements as stated above, applicants must have one year of specialized experience at or equal to the GS-11 level.
Examples of this experience may include but are not limited to: Lead the collecting and analyzing of social and economic data; Investigating human dimensions of water resources issues such as extreme events, water availability and climate change; lead or assist with the development of training, education, and risk assessment or structured decision-making activities pertinent to the mission area.

You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements for the position by the closing date of the announcement.





Education

  • 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 completed in colleges or universities outside the United States may be used to meet the above requirements. You must provide acceptable documentation that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: https://www.usgs.gov/about/organization/science-support/human-capital/how-foreign-education-evaluated-federal-jobs .

Additional information

Other Information:

  • Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.
  • Under Executive Order 11935, only United States citizens and nationals (residents of American Samoa and Swains Island) may compete for civil service jobs. Agencies are permitted to hire non-citizens only in very limited circumstances where there are no qualified citizens available for the position.
  • USGS employees are subject to Title 43, USC Section 31(a) and may not: (a) have any personal, private, direct or indirect interest in lands or mineral wealth of lands under survey; (b) have any substantial personal, private, direct or indirect interests in any private mining or mineral enterprise doing business with the United States; or (c) execute surveys or examinations for private parties or corporations.
  • The application contains information subject to the Privacy Act (P.L. 93-579, 5 USC 552a). The information is used to determine qualifications for employment, and is authorized under Title 5, USC, Section 3302 and 3361.
  • DOI uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify.
  • The Department of the Interior (DOI) places a high value on diversity of experience and cultural perspectives and encourages applications from all interested eligible candidates. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) are fundamental principles that guide the Department and allow us to successfully achieve our mission.
  • THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.
Agency Benefits:

How you will be evaluated

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

--Vacancy Related Questions: As part of the online application process, you will need to respond to a series of questions designed to assess your possession of the following knowledge skills, abilities and/or competencies:

  • Plan & Organize Work
  • Scientific Knowledge
  • Program/Project Management
  • Written Communication
  • Compile/Analyze Data
  • Pressure/Deadline

Basis of Rating:
Category rating will be used in the ranking and selection process for this position. The quality categories are Best Qualified and Qualified.. 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 assessment required for this position. Your responses must be substantiated by your resume. If you do not respond to the application questions you may be rated ineligible. Veterans' preference rules for category rating will be applied.

Additional Assessment Required: If you meet the eligibility and basic qualification requirements for this position a subject-matter-expert will perform a structured review of your resume to evaluate your knowledge, skills, abilities, and competences as they directly relate to the duties of this position.

--NOTE: If it is determined that you have rated yourself higher than is supported in your description of experience and/or education as described in your resume/application, or that your resume or application is incomplete, you may be rated ineligible, not qualified, or your score may be lowered.

To preview the announcement questionnaire, click here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12180936

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