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Archeologist

Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Division of Visitor Services and Outreach

Summary

You will serve as a Archeologist with US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Location is negotiable within Department of the Interior (DOI) facilities located in the following states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Iowa, and Missouri.

Pay will vary based on grade level and/or duty location for which you're selected. First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the step 1 rate.

Overview

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Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—This position is suitable for telework and may be allowed to situationally telework with supervisory approval.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—PCS authorized; Discretionary benefits are not authorized
Salary
$89,508 - $150,852 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12 - 13
Promotion potential
13
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
No
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Financial disclosure required
No
Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
Announcement number
CBYM-27-13105138-MP-BRZ
Control number
892515900

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Duties

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

  • Implement a cultural resource program that ensures all Fish and Wildlife Service programs and undertakings comply with applicable legislation, regulations, and policies. Provide technical advice and guidance to the Regional Director, National Wildlife Refuges, Fisheries, Federal Aid, and Ecological Services Field Offices on cultural resource issues throughout the state. Serve as the state's highest level of professional expertise and the Regional Director's principal advisor on cultural resources, museum properties and collections, Native American repatriation issues, paleontological resources, and Indian Religious Freedom Act issues.
  • Oversee the maintenance of background data and inventories of known cultural resources on Fish and Wildlife Service lands and projects, including properties eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Serve as the liaison to the State Historic Preservation Office, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and Tribes. Conduct archaeological surveys, site identifications, and evaluations to ensure compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA for all field stations. Prepare site, project, and evaluation reports using formats acceptable to the State Historic Preservation Office.
  • Serve as Regional Museum Property Coordinator with lead responsibility for coordinating with Fish and Wildlife Service National Curator in Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters. Negotiate agreements that fulfill the requirements of applicable laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
  • Prepare and implement archaeological scopes of work, both by contract and in-house, that balance the requirements of cultural resource law, the needs of the FWS, and current archaeological research and cultural resource management practices. Negotiate, manage, monitor, and review contracts, contract products, and in-house products for timeliness, quality, and scientific rigor. Develop procedures, including Memoranda of Agreement and Programmatic Agreements, to simplify and streamline the inventory, identification, evaluation, and reporting of cultural resources while maintaining compliance with the law. Negotiate implementation of these procedures with the State Historic Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
  • Initiate, design, manage, and execute major university- or government-sponsored studies of historic resources. This includes helping establish project goals and objectives, making recommendations to improve research designs, managing the permit program, and consulting on and participating in specific aspects of field and/or laboratory research. Review and prepare Archaeological Resource Protection Act permits for cultural resource studies conducted on Service-managed lands in the region, and provide regional guidance and technical advice on all paleontological issues.

Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • 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.

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.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 12/04/2026-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.

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications:
Basic Educational Requirement AND/OR Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying.

Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following:
A. Degree: possess 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.. You must submit transcripts.
-OR-
B. Degree:
possess a 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 in A.1 (including archeological field school).
-OR-
C. Combination
of education and experience: course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
-OR-
D. Experience:
possess 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.

-AND-

Specialized Experience: To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level:
To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: 1) conducting archaeological surveys, cultural resource inventories, site evaluations, and Section 106 compliance activities; 2) applying cultural resource laws and regulations, including the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA); 3) preparing archaeological and cultural resource reports and documentation; 4) coordinating with Tribes, State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs), and other stakeholders regarding cultural resource matters; 5) administering archaeological permits, agreements, contracts, or projects; and 6) maintaining cultural resource records, inventories, museum property, and associated documentation. You must include hours per week worked. -OR-

Specialized Experience: To qualify for this position at the GS-13 grade level:
To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: 1) administering a cultural resource management program; 2) conducting or overseeing archaeological surveys, cultural resource inventories, site evaluations, National Register evaluations, and Section 106 reviews; 3) applying the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (PRPA), and 5 CFR 79: Curation of Federally Owned and Administered Archeological Collections; 4) preparing and reviewing cultural resource reports and documentation; 5) coordinating with Tribes, Tribal and State Historic Preservation Officers, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and Federal agencies regarding cultural resource matters; 6) developing and implementing cultural resource compliance agreements and procedures; and 7) administering archaeological permits, contracts, studies, museum property, collections, and cultural resource projects.

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

This position has a mandatory education requirement.

You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | U.S. Department of Education. How do I receive credit for a college degree obtained in a foreign university in another country? - OPM.gov

Applicants must submit all necessary documents to a private U.S. organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials, commonly called a credential evaluation service. To be acceptable, the foreign credential evaluation must include/describe:

  • The type of education received by the applicant;
  • The level of education in relation to the U.S. education system, and state that its comparability recommendations follow the general guidelines of the International Education Standards Council;
  • The content of the applicant's educational program earned abroad and the standard obtained;
  • The status of the awarding foreign school's recognition and legitimacy in its home country's education system; and
  • Any other information of interest such as what the evaluation service did to obtain this information, the qualifications of thee valuator, and any indications as to other problems such as forgery.

Foreign credential evaluations that do not contain the above information or that state there is insufficient information provided by the applicant on which to base an evaluation should not be accepted. If the requested evaluation shows the foreign education to be legitimate and comparable to that expected of a candidate with U.S. credentials, it may be accepted at the discretion of the agency.

Additional information

Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement.

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor.

PCS
Entitlements for payment of basic moving expenses, as required and to the extent allowed by the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) 302-3.101, are authorized for eligible applicants changing duty station when the change meets the distance tests as provided in FTR 302-1.1 and 302-2.6. All moving expenses are taxable.

  • Discretionary entitlements are not authorized for this position

All 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.

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

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. To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

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):

GS-12
  • Technical Competence
  • Compliance
  • Contracting/ Procurement

GS-13
  • Accountability
  • Compliance
  • Contracting/Procurement
  • Partnering
  • 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.

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

Current or former displaced Federal employees who are surplus, displaced, or involuntarily separated have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). To be considered under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be well-qualified, score at least 85 (i.e., meet the minimum qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors; education, and experience requirements), and be able to perform the duties of the position upon entry.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife 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 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is to work with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. Click here to learn more about the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Agency contact information

DOI Staffing Team 6 (FWS)
Email
StaffingTeam6@ios.doi.gov
Address
Division of Human Resources
Division of Human Resources
5600 American Blvd, West Suite 990
Bloomington, MN 55437
US

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