Biological Science Technician

This position is in Inventory and Monitoring Data Networks.

Career-Seasonal appointments are permanent positions and include the same benefits as Career appointments, but do not provide work on a year-round basis. You will work from approximately 11 months, and you will be in a non-pay status from June 1 to June 14 each year.
Open to the first 35 applicants or until Jan 3, 2025 whichever comes first. All applications submitted by 11:59 (EST) on the closing day will receive consideration.

Overview

• Accepting applications

• Open & closing dates

  12/20/2024 to 01/03/2025

  
  

  This job will close when we have received 35 applications which may be sooner than the closing date.

• Salary

  $44,910 – $64,879 per year

  
  
• Pay scale & grade
  

  GS 6 – 7

• Location

  1 vacancy in the following location:

  
  
• Remote job
  

  No

• Telework eligible

  Yes-as determined by the agency policy.

  
  
• Travel Required

  50% or less – You may be expected to travel for this position.

• Relocation expenses reimbursed
  

  No

• Appointment type
  

  Permanent

• Work schedule

  Full-time – Career Seasonal (subject to periods of non-pay)

  
  
• Service
  

  Competitive

• Promotion potential
  

  7

• Job family (Series)
• Supervisory status
  

  No

• Security clearance
• Drug test
  

  No

• Position sensitivity and risk
• Trust determination process
• Financial disclosure
• Bargaining unit status
• Announcement number

  WO-1614-IMD-25-12645357IMP

• Control number
  

  825523400

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Videos

Duties

The major duties of the Science Communication Technician position include, but are not limited to, the following:

• A part of a team of 3-4 members, collect natural resource monitoring data (plants, soils, wildlife, aquatic ecology) from remote sites across national park units in AZ, NM and TX . Carefully follow established protocols to ensure data are collected to program science and safety standards.
• In a team setting, synthesize and communicate monitoring results for technical (park managers, partners, scientists) and non-technical (interpreters, educators, and the general public) audiences through briefs, summaries, web articles, social media posts and other NPS information systems.
• Using standard statistical and mathematical analysis techniques, summarize and describe natural resource monitoring results using established methods in published monitoring protocols.

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

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males
• Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
• Any individual who is currently holding, or has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet time-in-grade requirements (must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent in the Federal service); with few exceptions as outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b). Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal civilian employees applying for reinstatement who have had a break in service of less than one year, as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointments. Time-in-grade does not apply to new excepted service appointments and must be met by the closing date of this announcement.
• You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver’s license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator’s License and Driving Record. You must also submit (within a State sealed envelope or submitted directly by the State authorities), and at your own expense, all certified driving records from all States that disclose all valid driver’s licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you.
• You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
• You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 10 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
• You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
• Applicant must perform work and camp in rugged mountainous and high elevation, desert backcountry areas for extended periods of time. This includes 1) walking and hiking long distances, up to 10 miles per day, with heavy packs, up to 50 pounds, over extreme terrain, in extreme weather conditions with exposure to thorny plants, biting insects and wild animals; and 2) camping in the backcountry for extended periods of time and 3) perform work above 5,000 feet elevation.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-01/03/2025-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 for each federal position listed as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of qualifying 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 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. 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.

To qualify for this position at the GS-06 grade level, you must possess all of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience must include all of the following: 1) executing field studies on plants, animals, and aquatic resources; 2) safely and efficiently work within a field crew in backcountry settings, often under arduous conditions (steep terrain, weather extremes, long hikes, camping) on multi-day field hitches; 3) summarizing simple ecological datasets using standard descriptive statistics and mathematical reasoning; 4) contributing to scientific reporting via short summaries, briefs, and routine reports on resource condition; and 5) copy editing scientific reports, briefs, and other media to ensure they are accurate, clear, and have suitable graphics to convey key information to resource managers. You must include hours per week worked.

To qualify for this position at the GS-07 grade level, you must possess all of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-06 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience must include all of the following: 1) organizing and leading field crews in the collection of natural resource monitoring data in backcountry settings, including arranging logistics, scheduling, and ensuring efforts are conducted safely and efficiently; 2) providing advice, assistance, and training to lower graded employees and volunteers; 3) authors original short communications products (briefs, social media posts, web pages, reports) to effectively convey resource condition and monitoring findings to non-technical audiences, including the general public; 4) edits written and digital content to ensure they are accessible to all audiences and at a suitable level of detail and voice; and 5) as part of a team, uses coding approaches to explore monitoring datasets using multivariate, covariate analysis, and graphical approaches.

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.

You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience. One year of specialized experience is equivalent to 12 months at 40 hours per week. Part-time hours are prorated. You will not receive any credit for experience that does not indicate exact hours per week or is listed as “varies”. Experience listed as full-time will be credited at 40 hours per week.

Education

There is no substitution of education for experience at the grade level(s) of this announcement.

Additional information

A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.
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.

Physical Demands: The work is partially sedentary with prolonged standing, walking, and bending often required. Heavy items (e.g., equipment and packs up to 50 pounds) must be lifted and carried on a routine basis.

Working Conditions: The work is performed in an office, laboratory, and in the field. Field work includes exposure to extreme weather conditions and terrain, pesticides, poisonous plants, biting insects, and wild animals. Laboratory work may involve exposure to hazardous chemicals

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

Documentation for the eligibility. You must submit ALL SF-50s and performance information for each period of temporary/term employment that qualifies for LMWFA. Performance documentation can be obtained by contacting the supervisors for the positions you served in during your 24 months. If they did not complete performance appraisals ask them to provide a statement of performance for each period of service. The statement must specify the dates for each employment period and your level of performance consistent with your SF_50s.

• Benefits
  

  A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. .

  
  
  

  Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. 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 assessments required for this position. A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Assessment Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated ‘ineligible’, ‘not qualified’, or your score will be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you can lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully; errors or omissions can affect your rating.

Candidates who apply under Competitive Merit Promotion procedures will undergo a quality review to determine if they are highly qualified based on the content of their resume and their responses to the questionnaire. Best qualified candidates will be referred if all required supporting documentation has been provided.

Candidates who apply under Noncompetitive Merit Promotion procedures will undergo a quality review to determine if they are minimally qualified based on the content of their resume and their responses to the questionnaire. Qualified candidates will be referred if all required supporting documentation has been provided.

You will be evaluated on the following competencies:

• Communications and Media
• Ecology
• Mathematical Reasoning
• Physical Strength and Agility
• Teamwork
• Technical Competence
• Writing

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 additional assessments, including a panel resume review. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

The self assessment includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Please submit 1) a copy of your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation 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, please submit a statement as to why it is not available. Please indicate if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level.

• Benefits
  

  A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. .

  
  
  

  Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

• Required Documents

  As a new or existing federal employee, you and your family may have access to a range of benefits. Your benefits depend on the type of position you have – whether you’re a permanent, part-time, temporary or an intermittent employee. You may be eligible for the following benefits, however, check with your agency to make sure you’re eligible under their policies.

  
  
  

  The following documents are required and must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 01/03/2025.

  1. Resume which includes a list of all significant jobs held and duties performed, with dates specified in month and year format, and indicate hours worked per week . If military or civilian, please include your rank and/or grade. Your resume must clearly show how long your have held each grade in a federal position.
  2. Complete All Required Assessments.
  3. Merit Promotion Eligibility Documentation such as:
     • Federal employees or former federal employees must submit a copy of their latest or last SF-50 “Notification of Personnel Action” reflecting career or career-conditional status in the competitive service, shows position title, series, grade and an additional SF-50 showing highest permanent grade ever held, if not reflected on your latest SF-50. Examples of acceptable SF-50s include: Promotion, Within Rate Increases (WRI/WGI), or Appointment SF-50s. Do not submit an Award SF-50. Time in grade will be determined by reviewing your resume and required SF-50s. Your last Federal performance appraisal plan for your last position must reflect a rating of Fully Successful or equivalent. If the SF-50 showing highest permanent grade ever held has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess the one-year time-in-grade, as required by this announcement. In this instance, your resume must clearly show that you held that grade for one-year
     • Documentation for the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act eligibility, which includes ALL Appointment AND Termination SF-50s for EACH appointment as well as ALL performance evaluations, for each qualifying period of temporary employment claimed.
     
     
  4. Performance Appraisals and Awards:
     • • All applicants must submit their most recent performance appraisal showing the official rating of record and signed by a supervisor. If submitting a performance appraisal not dated within the last18 months, a statement as to why it is the most recent must be submitted. If no performance appraisal is available, applicants must submit a statement as to why it is not available (including if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level).
       
       
     
     
  5. Documentation for consideration if you are a displaced Federal employee within the local commuting area. You must include: 1) Proof you are a displaced Federal employee, e.g., RIF Separation Notice, Notice of Proposed Removal, etc; 2) SF-50s (Notifications of Personnel Action) showing career/conditional tenure competitive status, promotion potential and duty location; and 3) your most recent performance appraisal. To exercise selection priority, displaced or surplus Federal employees must be rated well-qualified or above 85 on the rating criteria for this position.
  6. Noncompetitive or Special Hiring Authority. Applicants who are eligible to be considered based on a Noncompetitive or Special Hiring Authority (i.e. Schedule A, VRA, Peace Corps, AmeriCorp Vista, former PLC member, certain Military Spouses, 30% or More Disabled Veterans, Pathways Interns who have met the eligibility requirements for noncompetitive conversion, etc.) must submit appropriate documentation to verify your eligibility.
  7. Failure to submit any of the above-mentioned required documents will result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.
  
  

  Do not submit photographs with your application package. Documents with photographs may not be seen by hiring officials – you must remove your image from any badges, licenses, etc.
  Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents. Adobe portfolio documents are not viewable by our agency’s staffing offices.

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