Interdisciplinary (Biologist/Ecologist)(Data Manager) Job

Vacancy No. AK-1537-GLBA-25-12571086-DE Department National Park Service
Salary $32.46 to $51.05 Grade 9 to 11
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 10/21/2024 Close Date 11/4/2024
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Bartlett Cove, AKJuneau, AK


Summary

This position is open to Merit Promotion/Status Candidates and those with certain Special Hiring Authorities under announcement number AK-1537-GLBA-25-12571087-ST. You must apply to each announcement separately if you wish to be considered under both recruitment methods.

Failure to submit any of the required documentation/information in this positing will result in loss of consideration. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents/information has been submitted.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

United States Citizens, nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S., Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee (Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP), Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL))

Duties

Location negotiable after selection. Selectee will be approved to work from one of the duty stations listed in this announcement. During the application process, select ALL duty stations you are interested in working at. You will only be considered for the duty location(s) you select when you apply.

This position is located in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in the Resource Management Division.

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 approximately January thru the end of November, and you will be in a non-pay status for the remainder of the year.

This is an interdisciplinary position which may be filled in either of the following occupational series: Biologist - 0401 or Ecologist - 0408.

Duties include but are not limited to the following:

  • Lead data management activities of an interdisciplinary staff and external research that impacts a wide variety of park management issues and activities.
  • Manage and integrate a variety of GIS and database management software to meet program needs. Provide coordination and help develop QA/QC procedures, data documentation standards, and data and information distribution, using appropriate technologies.
  • Work closely with park resource managers, scientists, GIS specialists, and collaborators to evaluate legacy data, assure that relevant and useful data are acquired and integrated.
  • Develop an and implement rigorous study design, data collection workflows, data analysis, data management, proper curation, and reporting standards for park datasets.
  • Assist staff to develop workflows that comply with federal agency open access policies for data and articles that apply to federally funded internal and external research.
Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

Additional duties at the GS-11 include:
  • Use programming languages for application development or enhancement, automate data management tasks, and generate queries.
  • Serve as a primary advisor on technical issues related to data management and provide technical assistance and professional advice to user groups.
Government housing is not available.

Please visit find a park for additional park information.

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.
  • If you are a new employee in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
  • 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 complete training and operate a four-wheel drive vehicle.
  • You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
  • You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, and overtime.
  • You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 2 nights per month.
  • You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-11/04/2024-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the number of hours worked per week, full-time, or part-time. If you indicate part-time, you MUST indicate the number of hours worked per week so that your qualifying experience can be prorated for credit. 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.

This is an interdisciplinary position which may be filled in either of the following occupational series: Biologist - 0401 or Ecologist - 0408. To qualify for this position, you must possess one of the following basic qualifications by close of the announcement:

Basic Requirements for Biologist, GS-0401:
A degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position to be filled. You must include a copy of your transcripts with your application.

-OR-

A combination of education and experience that included coursework equivalent to a major, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The quality of the combination must demonstrate that you possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies required to perform the work of the position and is comparable to that normally acquired through the completion of a full four-year course of study with a major as described above. You must include a copy of your transcripts with your application and the hours worked per week in your resume.

-OR-

Basic Requirements for Ecologist, GS-0408:
A degree in biology, or a related field of science underlying ecological research that included at least 30 semester hours in basic and applied biological sciences. These hours must have included at least 9 semester hours in ecology, and 12 semester hours in physical and mathematical sciences. You must include a copy of your transcripts with your application.

-AND-

In addition, to qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level, you must possess one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

Specialized Experience: At least one year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-07 level in the Federal Service (obtained in either the public or private sectors) that is directly related to the position to be filled. This experience includes activities such as: management of project or research focused data in natural and/or cultural resources; manipulation and synthetization of a wide range of data types (e.g. ecological, physical, bibliographical) in tabular and spatial formats for use in reports, publications, and presentations; scope, plan, develop, test, and implement data management solutions in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams such as scientists, resource managers, and policymakers; use of a range of software and tools relevant to natural and/or cultural resource data collection, management, and analysis (e.g. R, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, QGIS) to meet program needs; development and maintenance of data quality standards and standard operating procedures for various data streams. You must include hours worked per week in your resume.

-OR-

Education: Two years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree in a directly related field. You must include a copy of your transcripts with your application and the hours worked per week in your resume.

-OR-

A combination of Education and Specialized Experience: To calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education, divide your number of semester hours in excess of 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) by 18 semester hours (or 27 quarters), or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. To calculate your percentage of experience, divide your months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Add the two percentages. They must equal at least 100% to qualify using this option. You must include a copy of your transcripts with your application and the hours worked per week in your resume.

To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level, you must possess one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

Specialized Experience: At least one year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 level in the Federal Service (obtained in either the public or private sectors) that is directly related to the position to be filled. This experience includes activities such as: development and implementation of rigorous study design, data collection workflows, data analysis, data management, proper curation, and reporting standards; design, development, and maintenance of database systems to support long-term data management; implementation of standards and workflows to ensure research data and publications are made openly available on authoritative repositories; program languages (e.g. Python, JavaScript, R, VBL, C#) for application development or enhancement, automated data management tasks, and queries. You must include hours worked per week in your resume.

-OR-

Education: At least three years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a directly related field. You must include a copy of your transcripts with your application and the hours worked per week in your resume.

-OR-

A combination of Education and Specialized Experience: To calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education, divide your number of credit hours in excess of 36 semester hours (or 54 quarter hours) by 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours), or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. To calculate your percentage of experience, divide your months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Add the two percentages. They must equal at least 100% to qualify using this option. You must include a copy of your transcripts with your application and the hours worked per week in your resume.

Volunteer 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

To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

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.

Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will be paid if the person selected for the position is from outside the local commuting area and is otherwise eligible for reimbursement of relocation expenses under the Federal Travel Regulations.

Alaska currently does not have a state income tax. Salary and COLA subject to annual review and adjustment.

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for occasional telework or during an emergency or natural disaster with prior supervisory approval.

Physical Demands: The work is often sedentary; fieldwork may occasionally require some physical exertion such as long periods of standing and walking over uneven terrain.

Working Conditions: A majority of the work is performed in an office setting with adequate light, heat and ventilation. Occasional field visits may create exposure to a variety of physical settings and may require adequate clothing.

A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal employee who is transferring to the National Park Service from another component, bureau or Federal agency and who does not meet the conditions under 5 CFR §575.102 is not eligible for a recruitment incentive.

A Relocation Incentive May Be Authorized for a Federal employee when the employee must move, as directed by the National Park Service (NPS) either through a management directed reassignment or selection for employment, to a different location at least 50 miles away from the one where his/her position of record held at time of selection is currently located, due to a need of the NPS. A relocation incentive is not the same as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and, as such, may be granted in conjunction with one another.

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. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

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) and the responses you provide on the application questionnaire. 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 will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. These procedures place candidates with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Veterans with a service-connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher. Under Category Rating, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

  • Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position
  • Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job
  • Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.
You will be evaluated on the following competencies:
  • Data Management
  • Information Management
  • Knowledge Management
  • Manages and Organizes Information
  • Technical Competence


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

Required Documents

The following documents are required and must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 11/04/2024:

  1. Resume - Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the number of hours worked per week, full-time, or part-time. If you indicate part-time, you MUST indicate the number of hours worked per week so that your qualifying experience can be prorated for credit. If military or civilian, please include your rank and/or grade.
  2. Complete all required Assessments.
  3. Other Supporting Documents, if applicable, such as:
    • Veterans Preference Documentation:
      • If you are a Discharged, Non-Disabled Veteran, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 showing character of discharge (Member 4 copy), or other Documentation of Service and Separation under Honorable Conditions, as listed on the SF15. If you don't have your DD-214, you may request it after discharge from the National Archives.
      • If you are a veteran within 120 days of discharge, you must submit signed documentation from the Armed Forces certifying: 1) your expected release/retirement from active duty, 2) under honorable conditions, 3) your pay grade/rank/rate at time of discharge, 4) dates of active-duty service, 5) any campaign or expeditionary medals received, and 6) dated within 120 days of your separation.
      • If you are a Disabled Veteran, Purple Heart Recipient, or Mother or Spouse of a Disabled or Deceased Veteran, you must submit all additional proof required by the SF15, and if applicable, a completed SF15. You may request a copy of your Department of Veterans Affairs letter from www.ebenefits.va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000 to establish proof of disability.
  4. College transcripts, if qualifying based on education.
  5. Documentation for Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Plan 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.
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.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

To apply for this position: You must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. To receive consideration, the complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 11/04/2024. You must provide documentation to support your claim for each eligibility selected. Please review the required documentation listed in the eligibilities language to ensure you submit the appropriate information. Note: You will only be marked eligible for those eligibilities that you selected and provided the appropriate supporting documentation.

WE DO NOT ACCEPT HARD-COPY OR E-MAIL APPLICATION PACKAGES.

  1. Select Apply. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to login or create an account.
  2. Prompted to Start the Application Process by selecting "Start Application."
  3. Select or add the resume you want to use for this application. Click here on how to build a resume in USAJOBS.
  4. Select documents you want included in this application.
  5. Review package to acknowledge your documents were reviewed.
  6. Select if you want to include your demographic information.
  7. After reading and certifying the application is true and submitted in good faith, select "Continue to Agency Site."
  8. Follow onscreen prompts and instructions to complete your application.
  9. Add the supporting documents by indexing your documents with the dropdown.
    • Upload any missing required documents or optional documents.
  10. Review and Submit Application.
  11. While logged in, you can check the status of your application by selecting "+" next to the job title for this position.
  12. You can review or revise your application at any point during the open period of the announcement.
    • To update an application, you should log into your USAJOBS account and select "+" next to the job title for this position. Select "Update Application" for this job.
    • Note: When you click Update Application, you will be prompted to re-select your documents from USAJOBS. Documents submitted with the first application will no longer be associated with the applicant record. So it is important that you select all documents you want to use in the re-application.

Agency contact information

Cherilyn Alexander
Address
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
P O Box 140
Gustavus, AK 99826
US
Learn more about this agency

Next steps

Once the Occupational Questionnaire is received you will receive acknowledgement that your submission was successful. If you are among the most qualified candidates and your name is referred to the hiring official, you may be contacted directly for a possible interview. You will be notified of the status of your Application Package at the time candidates are referred for consideration, and when the selection process is complete.


Note: We cannot accept applications on behalf of Federal Agencies. Application instructions are listed within the Job Description.


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