Archeologist

Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens, Nationals, or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

As an Archeologist, some of your duties will include, but are not limited to:

• Responsible for ensuring that the Regions' construction and maintenance activities are completed in compliance with applicable cultural resource related laws and regulations in an appropriate and timely manner.
• Works closely with internal (e.g. the respective Regions' construction, maintenance, and Environment Department personnel) and external stakeholders (e.g. State Historic Preservation Officers; Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; Tribes; Federal, state, and private landowners.
• Identifies the need for and coordinates contract support to accomplish cultural resource compliance for the Regions' construction and maintenance activities.
• Prepares portions of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents related to cultural resources.
• Coordinates the development of agreement documents memoranda of agreement (MOAs) and programmatic agreements (PAs), as necessary.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by a background investigation.
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary/trial period. Employees serving on a probationary or trial period may be terminated at any time during the probationary or trial period for performance, conduct, or business-related reasons in the interest of Federal service.
• In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to the four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answers to these questions are not scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration.
• Limit your resume to no more than two (2) pages. If more than two pages are submitted, only the first two pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.
• You may be required to complete a financial disclosure (OGE-450).
• You must be able to obtain and maintain the required DOE/WAPA certification to serve as a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) or Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR).

Qualifications

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy.

This position has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) for the 0193 Series listed below that must be met:

1. Education
   1. 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.
  • 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

2. Combination of Education and Experience

College-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education.
OR

3. Experience

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.

To qualify for the GS-11: Applicants must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience at the GS-9 grade level or equivalent pay band in the Federal service. You must meet 3 of the 5 bullets listed below:

• Using basic geographic information system (GIS) programs and collecting data using global positioning system (GPS) to assist in locating sites.
• Conducting archeological surveys, record sites, field analysis of artifacts, making determinations of eligibility, perform archeological monitoring, write survey and monitoring reports, and communicate results to stakeholders.
• Applying cultural resource laws and regulations to ensure projects and activities are compliant with organization policies, plans, memoranda of agreements, or programmatic agreements.
• Providing technical assistance and guidance to internal and external stakeholders regarding cultural resource compliance.
• Coordinating with tribes and other resource agencies, conduct Section 106 consultation, and represent the organization in technical meetings and workshops.

OR

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: Applicants may have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related.

OR

A combination of education and experience to successfully perform the duties of the position.

To qualify for the GS-12: Applicants must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience at the GS-11 grade level or equivalent pay band in the Federal service. You must meet 3 of the 4 bullets listed below:

• Working with planning teams to develop and coordinate cultural resource compliance strategies for projects and activities.
• Conducting cultural resource background research, surveys, and monitoring to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Section 106.
• Developing and implementing tribal consultation plans, coordinating environmental and cultural resource studies, and preparing documents in compliance with cultural resource related laws and regulations.
• Conducting archeological surveys, record sites, field analysis of artifacts, making determinations of eligibility, perform archeological monitoring, write survey and monitoring reports, and communicate results to stakeholders to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Section 106.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations. 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.

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 on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

Career Transition Assistance Programs: To receive selection priority for this position, you must: 1) meet the eligibility criteria; and 2) be rated "well-qualified".

Reasonable Accommodation Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a reasonable accommodation in your online application. Requests for Reasonable Accommodations (RA) for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for Reasonable Accommodations are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a Reasonable Accommodation, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date (10/02/2026) of this announcement.

To preview the Assessment Questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13073506.

To apply for this position, you MUST provide a complete application package which includes:

• Your two (2) page RESUME showing all relevant work experience (paid and unpaid) including: duties performed; full name and address of the each employer; start and end dates (month/day/year); work schedule (part-time, full-time, number of hours if intermittent); salary; and any completed education and training (program title, subject area, number of hours completed, and completion date).
• Transcripts, if specific educational requirements are indicated in this job announcement.Unofficial transcripts or any report listing institution, course title, credits earned (semester or quarter hour) and final grade is acceptable. It is your responsibility to provide adequate proof that you meet the educational requirements.

If applicable:

• Veterans' Preference documentation,if applicable, DD-214 Member Copy 4 showing type of discharge/character of service; current active duty members- certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions dated within 120 days; SF-15 Form and related documentation; VA letter. For more information visit the USAJOBS Help Center & OPM CHCOC website for VOW information.
• Career Transition Assistance Program/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program documentation, if applicable(e.g., Certification of Expected Separation, Reduction-In-Force Separation Notice, or Notice of Proposed Removal; SF-50 that documents the RIF separation action; and most recent performance appraisal.) For more information see the OPM Guide to Career Transition.

Failure to submit any of the above mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

NOTE: The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

Next steps

Additional locations