Physical Scientist Job

Vacancy No. 26-TEMP1-R4-3817-9DT-MG Department Forest Service
Salary $29.28 to $29.28 Grade 9 to 9
Perm/Temp Temporary FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 7/1/2025 Close Date 7/14/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Location Negotiable After SelectionJackson, WY


Summary

This position is located within a National Forest. The incumbent is responsible for serving as an Avalanche Specialist as well as managing an Avalanche Center. The incumbent analyzes and interprets various meteorological and physical data upon which local and regional avalanche advisories are prepared for backcountry travelers and others in the forecast area.

Duties

  • Provides leadership and guidance and maintains the Avalanche Center as outlined in the Forest Service National Avalanche Center (FSNAC) Business Plan.
  • Carries out work planning and organization such as planning work on a weekly basis, reviewing work schedules, planning for supplies and equipment, preparing accomplishment reports, etc.
  • Prepares overall program budgets for the continuance and maintenance of the program.
  • Directs and conducts field work and oversees the development of avalanche advisories and avalanche warnings. Conducts snow stability tests and records snowpack observations in the field.
  • Using own judgment, and without supervision, interprets and evaluates raw data dealing with snow stability and, in conjunction with other observations from field personnel, issues daily avalanche hazard advisories and warnings to the public.
  • Using professional judgment and experience, determines when avalanche conditions have abated sufficiently to recommend termination of existing avalanche warnings.
  • Establishes procedures, work priorities, and general operating requirements necessary to redeem responsibilities for insuring accurate avalanche advisories.
  • Evaluates National Weather Service products and observations to create a daily mountain weather forecast, which is included in the avalanche advisories.
  • Oversees and directs the maintenance and operation of avalanche weather stations within the forecast area. Inspects and performs routine user level maintenance and services on various weather station equipment and instruments.
  • Gathers and maintains data about snow conditions, weather, and condition trends using current technology.
  • Performs such tasks as observing, recording, and transmitting atmospheric and weather information including air pressure, temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, and cloud.
  • Performs such tasks as observing, recording, and transmitting ultraviolet conditions, snow stability, and analyzes and interprets weather data.
  • Maintains professional knowledge of snow physics including snow metamorphism, the distribution patterns of common weak layers, the mechanics of slab failure and classification of snow crystals.
  • In the event of avalanche accidents or fatalities, aids in the preparation of detailed reports of the incident which include snow stability and avalanche information, and facts and observations concerning the conditions leading up to the incident.
  • In the event of avalanche accidents or fatalities, aids in the preparation of detailed reports of the incident which include the incident occurrence, and the rescue or recovery operations.
  • Identifies the need for and coordinates critical incident stress briefings for avalanche specialists and search and rescue personnel in connection with avalanche accidents and fatalities.
  • Possesses excellent skills in alpine and cross country skiing in steep backcountry avalanche terrain in order to conduct field observations.
  • Practices mountain and avalanche safety measures while collecting data in high-elevation and avalanche prone terrain.
  • Directs, conducts and oversees avalanche education and outreach efforts, including print, radio, television, internet and social media venues.
  • Writes avalanche related articles for the public in local newspapers, magazines and/or trade journals. Functions as a local point of contact for all media communications regarding avalanches.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a US Citizen or US National.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Direct Deposit Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of your choosing.
  • Must be 18 years of age.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-Verify.
  • Applicant must possess excellent skills in alpine and cross-country skiing in steep backcountry avalanche terrain to conduct field observations.
  • Practices mountain and avalanche safety measures while collecting data in high-elevation and avalanche prone terrain.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

You must possess the Basic Requirements identified below to be considered qualified for this position, which includes all positive education requirements if applicable. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. When using previous work experience to qualify for the position, your resume must clearly detail the appropriate experience requirements.

Basic Requirement:

A. Education

Degree: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that included a major field of study in: physical science, and/or related engineering sciences such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics.

OR

B. Combination of Education and Experience - Education equivalent to one of the majors shown above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below.

GS-09: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 grade level. Examples of specialized experience include: Work involving the acquisition, processing, and dissemination of daily weather data from weather stations, climatic grids, or maps of weather indicators; using snowboards, snow gauges/rain gauges or other ultrasonic depth sensors to determine snowpack conditions and stability; conducting backcountry weather forecasting, winter weather forecasting, avalanche-weather forecasting or mountain weather forecasting; and inside out skiing comfortably in all terrain, adjusting skiing technique to suit all snow conditions through Snowsport or snow-related job requirements.

OR

A master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., that is directly related to this position.

OR

Combination of specialized experience and education that together meets the qualification requirements for this position. Only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level. The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

Selective Placement Factors
  • Applicant must possess excellent skills in alpine and cross-country skiing in steep backcountry avalanche terrain to conduct field observations. Practices mountain and avalanche safety measures while collecting data in high-elevation and avalanche prone terrain.
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.

To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Additional information

PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy is being used to fill positions for FY2026 Temporary Employment Hiring season. The expected start date for this position will be between October 19, 2025 to December 28, 2025.

By selecting the "Location Negotiable" option during the application process, implies your willingness to be considered for any official duty location listed on this announcement and/or those duty locations not listed for this Regional announcement. Pay rates vary depending on location. The salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.

This position is temporary, has a Not-to-Exceed date and will be filled for up to 6 months or as a not to exceed (NTE) 1 year, however an extension of the appointment may be possible without further competition. The appointment may also end early due to lack of work or lack of funds.

Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other groups within the Region who have vacancies within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in any of the geographic location(s) listed on the announcement. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.

The duty station for this position will be at one of the duty locations listed in this announcement. Salary range as shown is the locality pay Rest of U.S. (RUS). Pay rates vary by location. Please visit the Office of Personnel Management's website for additional information on pay rates.

The USDA Forest Service has legislative authority to recruit and fill Permanent (Career/Career-Conditional), Temporary, and Term Appointments under the USDA Demonstration Project. Under this authority, any U.S. citizen may apply.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligible must meet the agency's definition for a quality candidate as provided in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement to be considered.

If you are retired from the Federal Government and are selected for this vacancy, your retirement annuity may be offset from your pay.

This position is not eligible for telework.

Availability of government housing and federal day care facilities will vary by location.

Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.

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 in accordance with the category rating procedure as defined in the USDA Demonstration Project Plan. Applicants who meet the basic minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be placed in the Eligible category. Eligible applicants will be further evaluated against criteria for placement in the Quality category. This evaluation is based on the level of your experience, education, and/or training as determined by your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire. Applicants with veterans' preference are listed ahead of applicants who do not have veterans' preference within each category.

Applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be referred to the selecting official.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities, or you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service.

Required Documents

The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.

Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the responsibilities section including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment (day/month/year); title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) other qualifications.


If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application if it includes your name and the necessary course information; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the NACES website. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.

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.

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

Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.

Read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.

Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. (MST), Monday - Friday. If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be returned to Human Resources no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement in order for it to be entered into the system prior to the closing date.

This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this.

To begin, in USAJOBS click "Apply" and follow the instructions to attach your resume and supporting documents, complete the assessment questionnaire, and submit your application.

NOTE: If a document is resubmitted, it replaces the previous submission, which means the previous document is no longer available to the Human Resources Office. If you are adding to, rather than replacing a previous submission, you must upload both the old document and the new document. You must verify that uploaded documents from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Applicants may combine all like required documents (e.g. SF-50s or veteran docs) into one or more files and scan for uploading into the application. Each file must not exceed 3MB. Grouping like documents into files will simplify the application process. Documents must be in one of the following formats: GIF, JPEG, JPG, PDF, PNG, RTF, or Word (DOC or DOCX). Uploaded documents may not require a password, digital signature, or other encryption to open.

Agency contact information

HRM Contact Center
Address
USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US

Next steps

Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.

You must choose to turn on email notifications in your USAJOBS profile if you want to receive important email notifications that may impact your applicant experience (e.g. If you start an application and do not submit it prior to the closing date, USAJOBS will send an email reminder that the closing date is approaching and your application is in an incomplete status).

Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.

Under the Fair Chance Act, agencies are not allowed to request information about an applicant's criminal history until a conditional offer of employment has been made, except as allowed for access to classified information; assignment to national security duties or positions; acceptance or retention in the armed forces; or recruitment of a Federal law enforcement officer. An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information related to an organization's alleged noncompliance with the Fair Chance Act. The complaint must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the date of the alleged noncompliance. To make a Fair Chance Act inquiry or complaint, send an email with the appropriate information to sm.fs.hrm_elr@usda.gov, subject line: Fair Chance Act.


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


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