Clarification from the agency

See Who May Apply under Requirements for more information on who is eligible to apply for this position.

-Develops, performs, and reviews engineering geologic field studies for the purpose of gathering engineering geologic data applicable to the evaluation of foundation conditions at various project sites. As directed, performs simple to complex geologic studies or investigations for major Reclamation projects with significant independence.

-Maintains a high degree of current awareness in state-of-the-art practice for engineering geology, techniques for appropriate applications to Reclamation operations, procedures and programs. Communicates with fellow workers and professional community on technical investigations and results. Provides technical guidance as a Principal Geologist for simple to complex geologic projects.

-Prepares engineering geologic reports and written documents. Provides technical review for engineering geologic products and reports.

Conditions of employment

You must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National.
You must be suitable for federal employment, determined by a background investigation.
You must submit a resume and supporting documentation (see Required Documents).
You must submit eligibility documents for veterans consideration (see Required Documents).
You must meet any minimum education and/or experience requirements (see Qualifications).
You must submit transcript(s) to verify education requirements (see Qualifications/Education).

Who May Apply:

• Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)
• Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)

Qualifications

In order to be rated as qualified for this position, you must meet BOTH the Basic Education Requirement and Additional Qualification Requirements.
Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience

Basic Education Requirements: To be eligible for consideration, you must first meet the Basic Education Requirement for this position, having a
A. Degree: geology, plus 20 additional semester hours in any combination of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological science, structural, chemical, civil, mining or petroleum engineering, computer science, planetary geology, comparative planetology, geophysics, meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, physical geography, marine geology, and cartography.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience: course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
Evaluation of Experience: Acceptable experience may have been gained through geological field or laboratory work that provided a means of obtaining professional knowledge of the theory and application of the principles of geology and closely related sciences, e.g., geophysics, geochemistry, or hydrology. Such work generally must have involved making close observations, taking samples, handling various types of instruments and equipment, assembling geologic data from source materials, and analyzing and reporting findings orally and in writing. Experience that involved only one phase of geology work, e.g., collecting samples, would not be acceptable as providing the required professional knowledge of the theory and principles of geology. In some situations, professional scientific experience in other fields may be accepted in part as professional geological experience. Such experience must have been preceded by appropriate education in geology or by professional geological experience, and must have contributed directly and significantly to the applicant's professional geological competence. Examples include some positions in geophysics, mining engineering, soils science, physical oceanography, hydrology, climatology, biology, analytic or experimental chemistry, metallurgy, and comparable fields where the normal duties or results of investigations have been extended to the solution of geologic problems by the applicant. Ordinary functions of positions such as seismic, computer, petroleum or mining engineer, mine superintendent, or metallurgist generally are not considered professional geological experience. To receive credit for geological experience obtained in positions that are not full-time professional geological positions, the applicant is responsible for indicating clearly the actual time or percentage of time devoted to geologic duties within such positions, and for giving adequate descriptions of the geologic functions.

Please submit both undergraduate and graduate level transcripts, as applicable, to meet Basic Education qualification requirement.

~AND~

Additional Specialized Experience Requirement:
In order to be rated as qualified for this position, the HR Office must be able to determine that you meet the education and/or specialized experience requirement - this information must be clearly supported in the resume.

To qualify at the GS-09 level, you must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to at least the GS-07 level in federal service having demonstrated experience including performing duties associated with the planning and execution of geological investigations including the collection, interpretation, and analysis of geologic data, and the preparation of reports, figures, and presentations for simple to moderately complex projects with oversight.

GS-09 level: You could otherwise qualify on the basis of Education having at least 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a masters in geology or other directly related field OR possess a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree. You may combine specialized experience and education to meet the minimum qualifications.

To qualify at the GS-11 level, you must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to at least the GS-09 level in federal service having demonstrated experience including performing duties associated with the planning and execution of engineering geological investigations including the collection, interpretation, and analysis of geologic data, and the preparation of reports, figures, and presentations for simple to moderately complex projects with oversight; and experience in engineering geology including the engineering geologic characterization of soil, rock and man-made materials.

GS-11 level: You could otherwise qualify on the basis of Education having 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. You may combine specialized experience and education to meet the minimum qualifications.

To qualify at the GS-12 level, you must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to at least the GS-11 level in federal service having demonstrated experience including independently performing duties associated with the planning and execution of engineering geological investigations related to the engineering evaluation and design of civil structures including the collection, interpretation, and analysis of geologic data, and the preparation of reports, figures, and presentations; and experience in engineering geology including the engineering geologic characterization of soil, rock and man-made materials to support engineering evaluation and design of civil structures.

GS-9/11/12 levels: 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.

Time-In-Grade: Current career or career-conditional employees of the Federal government, or former career or career-conditional employees, who have a break in service of less than one year, are required to meet the time-in-grade restriction of one year of Federal experience at the next lower-grade, with few exceptions outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b).

You must meet all Eligibility and Qualification requirements, including time-in-grade restrictions and any selective placement factors if applicable, by 11/21/2025.

How you will be evaluated

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

Please limit your resume to no more than 2 pages. If more than 2 pages are submitted, only the first 2 pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide to the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics): Geology, Technical Competence, and 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 assessment(s), including a Structured Resume Review by Subject Matter Expert (SME) Panel. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

The application questionnaire can be previewed here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12795912

Your answers will be verified against information provided in your resume. Your resume must clearly support the responses to all the questions by addressing experience, education, and/or training relevant to this position. You must make a fair and accurate assessment of your qualifications. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than what is apparent in the description of your experience, competencies, skills, and/or education/training (or that your resume/application is incomplete), you could be rated ineligible or your score could be lowered.

For evaluating the quality of candidates for referral to the selecting official, a three-phased process will be used.

Phase 1: Applicant resumes will be reviewed by Human Resources to ensure they meet the basic qualification requirements (see definition of specialized experience). If applicants meet basic qualifications, they will continue on to the second phase.

Phase 2: Candidates who pass the first phase will be referred to a Structured Resume Review by Subject Matter Expert (SME) Panel.

Phase 3: Candidates will be given a final score from the second phase. Those candidates who score as best qualified will be referred to the selecting official for consideration.

Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other Bureaus/Offices within the Department of the Interior (DOI) who have vacancies with the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s). Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration. You may choose to opt in of having your information shared with other agencies when applying for this position. If an agency requests a copy of a certificate you are on, you will be notified.

Please submit the supporting documents outlined below applicable to your claimed eligibility status and the position and grade to which you are applying. Failing to submit required documents will result in non-consideration due to an incomplete application package.

RESUME: You must submit a resume that demonstrates how skills and experiences through job duties meet the qualifications and requirements listed in the job announcement to be considered for the job. Each job experience must include dates of employment including start and end dates (month and year), work schedule (full-time or part-time), and hours worked per week. 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.For more information, click here.

TRANSCRIPTS: You must provide a copy of your college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable). Transcripts must include the name of the college or university, specific courses, the number of semester/quarter hours currently enrolled and a conferred/graduation date.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: 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/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.

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES: Competitive Service current and/or former federal employees eligible for Promotion, Reassignment, Transfer, Reinstatement, etc. You must submit a copy of your SF-50, verifying highest rate of pay and documenting career or career-conditional status in the competitive service (Tenure 1 or 2) for which the applicant is claiming eligibility. Do not submit award SF-50s. If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old). For more information, click here.

CAREER TRANSITION PROGRAMS: Permanent Federal employees who are surplus, displaced, or involuntarily separated. You must submit a copy of your most recent performance appraisal, proof of eligibility, and most current SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location. To be considered under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be well-qualified (i.e., meet the minimum qualification requirements, including selective factors, education and experience requirements) and score at least 85.0 on the assessment questionnaire as established, and be able to perform the duties of the position upon entry. For more information, click here.

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