Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. Citizen. DIRECT HIRING AUTHORITY will be used to fill this position. Veteran's preference and traditional rating and ranking of applications do not apply. All qualified applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration for this position.

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As a Supervisory Wildland Firefighter (Senior Advisor) your duties will include but are not limited to the following:

• This position serves as a Wildland Firefighter (Senior Advisor) in the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Fire Operations Directorate.
• Maintains broad institutional knowledge of USWFS policies and programs and their relationship to the assigned fire management portfolio to ensure alignment with federal natural resource and public land management missions.
• Provides confidential advice and counsel to senior leadership on special projects and enterprise level initiatives, ensuring feasibility and alignment with agency goals and policy direction.
• Advises senior leaders in developing budget guidance and business rules for the assigned national fire management portfolio. Coordinates with other USWFS divisions to ensure policy and budget alignment across fire management programs.
• Provides strategic policy advice and guidance within the assigned national fire management portfolio, which may include fire operations, fire readiness and training systems, fuels and prescribed fire programs, fire ecology and monitoring, safety, aviation, intelligence and analytics, facilities, partnerships, or related program areas.
• Advises and assists senior leadership on matters that cut across the assigned portfolio, including advancing strategic initiatives aligned with organizational needs and mission priorities.
• Plan work to be accomplished by subordinates, set and adjust short-term priorities, and prepare schedules for completion of work.

Conditions of employment

Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.

Suitability for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation.

Direct Deposit Required.

You will be required to submit to a drug test and receive a negative drug test result prior to appointment. In addition, this position is subject to random testing for illegal drug use.

This position may requires the incumbent to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of their official duties. Selectee may be required to hold and maintain a valid state driver's license throughout their employment in this position.

A condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

Supervisory Probationary Period: Selectees who have not previously completed a supervisory probationary period, will be required to serve a one-year supervisory/managerial probationary period for this position.

Notice of Financial Disclosure Report Requirement: This position is subject to a financial disclosure requirement, and you will be required to complete either OGE Form 278e or OGE Form 450 as applicable within 30 days of your appointment

Individuals assigned male at birth after 12-31-59 must be registered for the Selective Service. To verify registration visit SSS.gov.

You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.

Subject to travel up to 25% of the time, particularly during fire season, and you must obtain a government charge card for travel.

You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for this position you must possess the Minimum Qualification requirements listed below.

To receive credit for experience, 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. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

Selective Placement Factor(s): 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.) Candidates must possess Primary/Rigorous wildland firefighting experience, gained through fire line work in containment, control, suppression or use of wildland fire. You must clearly demonstrate this experience in your resume, including the months, days, and hours per week at which the work was performed to be considered.
Applicants must have documented prior primary firefighting experience, with substantial service defined as either:

• At least one full fire season working in a primary wildland firefighting role (e.g., Engine Crew, Fire Effects Crew, Prescribed Fire/Fuels Crew, Hand Crew, Helitack Crew, Hotshot Crew, Smokejumper, Wildland Fire Modules or Fire Suppression Crews, etc.) with a federal, state, tribal, local, or private-sector organization;
  - OR -
• At least 14 days of on-the-ground fireline experience (cumulative or consecutive).

Prior primary wildland fire experience must be clearly documented in your resume.
Note: an IQCS Master Record or equivalent document will not be used to determine or calculate prior primary wildland fire experience eligibility for this requirement.

In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional experience is required.

Only experience and education obtained by 10/05/2026 will be considered.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. Please be sure to include this information in your resume. No assumptions will be made about your experience.

Minimum Qualification

For the GW-14 level:

At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GW-13 level, or higher, in the Federal service, or equivalent. Examples of specialized experience include: Developing, implementing, and evaluating policies, programs, and strategic initiatives that advance fire management objectives. Ensured effective coordination, resource integration, and policy alignment across organizational units and interagency partners; represented senior leadership in internal and external forums; and provided expert guidance on policy, program effectiveness, and strategic initiatives to support federal natural resource and public land management missions.

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.

*Applicants must meet all minimum qualification requirements for the position of interest by the closing date of the Job Announcement.

Secondary Firefighter Retirement Coverage - Applicants for this secondary administrative fire fighter position under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336 (c) (CSRS) and 5 U.S.C. 8412 (d), must possess knowledge of the principles, methods, and techniques of wildland firefighting as demonstrated by direct wildland firefighting experience. In order to receive credit, you must provide a written description of your experience in wildland firefighting. Education without hands-on wildland firefighting experience does not meet this requirement. Periods of wildland firefighting experience, gained through militia and rural fire departments, can also be credited. Wildland fire is defined as any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Two distinct types of wildland fire have been defined and include wildfire and prescribed fires as follows: Wildfire: Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires. Prescribed Fires: Planned ignitions. This description includes only fire line experience on a Prescribed Fire; it does not include experience in the planning stages. Prescribed fire experience must be supplemented by fire suppression experience in order to be creditable as previous wildland firefighting experience.

Physical Demands: Work is carried out primarily in an office or meeting room setting; however, occasional physical activity such as hiking and climbing in wildlands is required during on-site inspections.

Working Conditions: The work is mainly sedentary, usually performed at a desk. There is, as needed, physical exertion while inspecting and evaluating the conditions of the fire sites and overall ground program which will include walking over rough, uneven terrain in any type of weather.

How you will be evaluated

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

Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. The minimum font size is 10-point for all body text. Headers may be slightly larger but must remain legible. All resumes must maintain a minimum 0.5-inch margins on all sides to ensure readability and prevent excessive content compression. Including supplemental pages or attachments disguised as resume extensions are prohibited and will not be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.

You will be evaluated based on how your application materials reflect the minimum qualification requirements of this position. Once the job opportunity announcement closes, your resume and all supporting documents will be reviewed by HR to determine if you are minimally qualified for the position. If an applicant's resume is incomplete or does not support the requirements for minimum qualifications or specialized experience a rating of "ineligible" or "not qualified" will be applied and no consideration for employment will be granted. Due to this vacancy being filled through OPM's Direct Hire Authority, Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to positions filled under this announcement. Applications received as a result of job fairs, recruitment events, and emergency hiring mechanisms in support of this hiring initiative will also be accepted during the duration of the announcement. All minimally qualified candidates will be referred for consideration. Please note that the hiring office may conduct interviews at their discretion. Interviews may be conducted on a pass/fail basis.