Supervisory Physical Scientist

Clarification from the agency

This is a Merit Promotion announcement for current National Park Service Career and Career Conditional Federal employees and Career Transition eligibles. Refer to Required Documents section for more information.

The Supervisory Physical Scientist at Denali National Park and Preserve leads the park's physical science resource program, integrating geology, hydrology, air quality, acoustics, paleontology, and related disciplines into park planning and operations. The position provides expert scientific guidance, directs complex resource management activities, and supervises a multidisciplinary team. The incumbent serves as a key advisor to park leadership, partners, and researchers to advance long-term stewardship of physical resources.

Common Daily Duties:

• Direct and supervise physical science staff, assigning work, reviewing products, mentoring employees, and ensuring workplace safety and equity.
• Develop and manage work plans, schedules, project proposals, budgets, and long-range strategies for physical resource inventory, monitoring, protection, and restoration.
• Provide expert guidance to park leadership on physical resource issues and represent the park in meetings, interagency coordination, and partnerships.
• Identify research needs, oversee scientific studies, coordinate GIS and data management activities, and ensure incorporation of scientific findings into management decisions.
• Design and implement monitoring protocols, conduct field data collection and analysis, and prepare scientific and management reports on physical resource conditions and trends.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.

• You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.
• A financial disclosure report will be required within 30 days of appointment.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest.

This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

This is a supervisory position that may require completion of a supervisory probationary period.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 09/23/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized 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 periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. 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.

To qualify for this position, you must meet the following Basic Qualifications:

A. Degree: physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics. You must submit transcripts.

-OR-

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

To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level, you must also meet the following Minimum Qualifications:

Specialized Experience:You must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes performing work that demonstrates advanced knowledge and application of physical science principles in areas such as geology, hydrology, soils, air quality, acoustics, and paleontology; developing and implementing scientific monitoring protocols; conducting analyses and preparing scientific reports; leading or coordinating resource management projects; and providing technical guidance to staff, partners, or managers.Your experience must show the ability to manage complex physical science programs and supervise staff engaged in scientific or resource management activities.

Additional Requirements:Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience.You must include hours worked per week for each position.

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.

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 based on your application materials (e.g. resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessment(s) required for this position. To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

Your resume must not exceed 2 pages. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed.

You will be assessed in the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Accountability
• Administration and Management
• Applies Technology to Tasks
• Communications and Media
• Program Management

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.These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

All qualified non-competitive applicants and the best-qualified Merit Promotion applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration.

DUE WEIGHT: 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, you must submit a statement as to why it is not available. Please indicate if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration or your score may be lowered. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.

Current or former displaced Federal employees who are surplus, displaced, or involuntarily separated have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). To be considered under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be well-qualified, score at least 85 (i.e., meet the minimum qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors; education, and experience requirements), and be able to perform the duties of the position upon entry.

The following documents are required and must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) -09/23/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement:

1. Resume which includes a list of all significant jobs held and duties performed, with dates in month-year format (include month/day/year format if needed for 52 weeks of experience), and indicate hours worked per week (or full-time). Your resume must clearly show how long you have held each grade/rank. Resumes must not exceed 2 single-sided pages and resumes longer than 2 pages will not be accepted. The minimum font size is 10-point for all body text. 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. Your 2-page resume must contain information sufficient to make a valid determination that you fully meet the specialized experience requirements. Resume Builder: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/what-to-include
2. Complete All Required Assessment(s).
3. 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 the performance appraisal is not dated within the last 18 months OR no performance appraisal is available, you must submit a statement as to why it is not available (including if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level).
4. All College Transcript(s),
5. Eligibility Documentation:
   • Current and former Federal employees must submit latest SF-50 (i.e. Promotion, Separation, Within Grade Increase (WGI)) showing tenure 1 or 2 in block 24, grade, and if applicable, an additional SF-50 showing the highest grade or promotion potential held. Time in grade will be determined by reviewing your resume and required SF-50s. If your SF-50 showing highest permanent grade held has an effective date within the past year, your resume must clearly show that you held that grade for one year. Do not submit award SF-50s.
   • Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP): You MUST submit proof of eligibility including 1) copy of the agency notice, 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 well qualified. For more information visit: USAJOBS Help Center - Career Transition Programs (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL).

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. Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents.

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