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Supervisory Park Ranger (Protection)

Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Southeast Regional Office, Interior Region 2

Summary

You will serve as a Supervisory Park Ranger (Protection), Regional Chief Ranger for the Southeast Region.

Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will be paid if the selectee lives outside of the local commuting area and is otherwise eligible for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulation.

First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the step 1 rate.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.
Salary
$136,693 - $177,706 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 14
Promotion potential
None
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
Yes
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
No
Drug test
Yes
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
Critical-Sensitive (CS)/High Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Financial disclosure required
Yes
Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
Announcement number
LE-MP-26-13026793-JM-SD1
Control number
879232500

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to current and former federal career/career conditional employees with competitive status, Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP and VEOA eligibles, 30% or more Disabled Veterans, Certain Former Overseas and Foreign Service Employees, Military Spouses, Interchange Agreement and Other Miscellaneous Authorities, People with Disabilities, Peace Corps and VISTA, Reinstatement, and Public Land Corps. Refer to Required Documents section.

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Duties

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This position serves as the Southeast Region Chief Ranger and principal advisor to the Regional Directorate and Southeast Region parks and partners in providing expertise and support in the following areas: Law Enforcement, Emergency Management, Structural Fire Program Management, Aviation Management, Special Park Uses Program, and all regulations.

Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following:

  • Ensures that law enforcement operational activities are uniformly implemented in compliance with directives, policies, and law.
  • Investigate, apprehend, and detain individuals suspected or convicted of offenses against the criminal laws.
  • Principal advisor to the Regional Director concerning visitor and resource protection and law enforcement in all park areas in the region.
  • Directs fiscal management for regional visitor and resource protection programs, including implementation of financial plans, operating program, and special accounts.
  • Participates in meetings and conferences with Regional Directorate, park superintendents, regional staff, union officials, and representatives of other Federal agencies, etc., regarding ranger service matters.

Duty Location Clarification: Duty location is negotiable, but must be located at a National Park Service site within 50 miles of the Southeast Regional Office located in Atlanta, GA. Locations may include: Southeast Regional Office; Martin Luther King, Jr. NHP; Chattahoochee River NRA; or Kennesaw Mountain NBP.

For more information about this position, please contact:
Barclay Trimble, Acting Deputy Regional Director
Barclay_Trimble@nps.gov

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
  • Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
  • Direct Deposit participation required.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
  • Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
  • You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 3 nights per month.
  • You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
  • Pre-employment and random drug testing is required. You will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test is received.
  • A physical examination will be required, or a statement regarding physical ability will need to be completed. You must maintain physical fitness standards throughout employment.
  • You are required to wear a uniform and comply with uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
  • You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.
  • A financial disclosure report will be required within 30 days of appointment.
  • Firearm qualification and certification are required for the role, and ongoing proficiency must be maintained
  • You must at least 21 years old. You must be free of any domestic violence convictions.
  • Prior to appointment, you must be determined physically fit by an authorized physician to perform strenuous and physically demanding duties, pass a medical examination, and pass the Physical Efficiency Battery (PEB). The PEB is a fitness test consisting of five different components: 1) agility run - measures the ability to get up from the ground and sprint while changing directions; 2) bench press - measures upper body strength for one repetition; 3) 1.5 mile run - measures cardio/respiratory fitness; 4) sit and reach - measures flexibility in the lower back, legs and shoulders; and 5) body composition - measures body fat. Prior to appointment, selectees will be tested in all five components, and must pass the agility run, bench press and 1.5 mile run in the 25th percentile.


*Additional Requirements located under Qualifications*

Qualifications

Requirements Continued...

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest.

This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

This is a supervisory position that may require completion of a supervisory probationary period.

Qualifications:

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 08/21/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume MUST state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience.

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. If you do not provide evidence that you possess the following selective factor(s), you will be rated not qualified.
  • Applicants must be at least 21 years of age.
  • Must currently possess or previously held (within the past three years) a valid Type 1 National Park Service Law Enforcement Commission, or equivalent, by 08/21/2026. More information can be found in the 'Education' section of this job announcement.
  • This is a covered secondary law enforcement position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S. C. 8336(c) (CSRS) and 8412(d) (FERS). In addition to the qualifying experience and/or education described above, applicants for this position must possess experience gained by substantial service in a primary law enforcement position or equivalent.

-AND-

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications:

Experience: To qualify at the GS-14 grade level, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). 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 may include:

  • Managing resource and visitor protection programs including law enforcement, search and rescue, emergency medical services, and backcountry management.
  • Serving as a senior advisor to management.
  • Supervising a workforce engaged in resource and visitor protection.
  • Representing parks at interagency meetings and with special interest groups.
  • Performing program management duties including developing and executing single and multi-year financial plans.
  • Position management, and long and short range planning.


Volunteer 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.

Education

Type 1 Law Enforcement Commission: Must currently possess or previously held (within the past three years), a FLETC issued Land Management Police Training, full Type I Law Enforcement Commission or equivalent; or be qualified to receive a Type 1 Commission upon appointment.

This position does not allow substituting education for experience.

Additional information

Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement.

If otherwise 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. A continued service agreement may be required if it is determined you are eligible for a permanent change in duty station (PCS), recruitment, or relocation incentive.


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).


All Department of the Interior (DOI) employees, their spouses, and minor children may not acquire or retain any claim, permit, lease, small tract entry, or other rights granted by the Department in Federal lands, with limited exceptions. Additional ethics prohibitions can be found here, DOI Ethics Prohibitions | U.S. Department of the Interior.

Physical Demands: Most work is generally sedentary requiring mental more than physical stamina. Frequent travel to meetings is required, sometimes to remote locations. Site-specific field work associated with program responsibilities may involve occasional strenuous activities, exposure to rugged terrain and travel by small plane, helicopter, watercraft, or specialized vehicles. There may be many days of primarily sedentary work in an office environment, but the incumbent may be required, at very short notice, to participate in strenuous physical activities in emergency situations.
Due to the law enforcement requirements of this position, mandatory physical fitness and medical standards apply to the incumbent.

Work Environment: Most of the work is performed in an office environment, but field work can entail a wide variety of geographical settings and exposure to natural elements and extreme weather.

Telework: The duties of this position are suitable for approved situational telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

How you will be evaluated

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

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(s) required for this position.

Your resume must not exceed 2 pages. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed.

You will be assessed in the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

  • Communication
  • Financial Management
  • Leadership
  • Technical Competence


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 additional assessment(s), including a structured resume review. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

All qualified non-competitive applicants and the best-qualified Merit Promotion applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration.

DUE WEIGHT: Please submit 1) a copy of your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation dated within the last 18 months 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, you must submit a statement as to why it is not available. Please indicate if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration or your score may be lowered. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Current surplus and current or former displaced Federal individuals who have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) must be well qualified for the position to receive consideration for special priority selection. Well qualified means that the applicant meets the following: OPM qualification standards for the position; all selective placement factors, where applicable; special qualifying conditions that OPM has approved for the position, where applicable; is physically qualified with reasonable accommodation, where appropriate to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry; and is rated by the organization at least at the well qualified level.

National Park Service

The Department of the Interior protects and manages the Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other information about those resources; and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and affiliated Island Communities. Click here to learn more about The Department of the Interior and its bureaus.

The mission of the National Park Service is to preserve the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. You can make a difference by bringing your unique experience, background, and perspective to our work. Click here to learn more about The National Park Service.

Agency contact information

Jennifer Mengel
Email
jennifer_mengel@ios.doi.gov
Address
Interior Region 2
100 Alabama Street
Building 1924
Atlanta, GA 30303
US

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