Biologist

Summary

You will serve as a Biologist with the National Park Service, Shenandoah National Park.

Duties

As a Biologist, you will perform the following duties: Develops and implements long-term resource management plans, including invasive plant control, forest health restoration, and monitoring protocols. Manages invasive plant treatment, forest pest management, and vegetation restoration. Applies herbicides utilizes chemical and biological methods to treat pest. Develops appropriate species lists, manages nursery stock, and conducts planting and ongoing maintenance. Designs and conducts ecological inventory and monitoring. Ensures compliance of pesticide use. Drafts cooperative agreements and participates in inter-park initiatives. Prepares technical reports, proposals, and presentations. Represents leadership in professional forums. Oversees project logistics to include contracting, budgeting, volunteer coordination, and compliance with environmental regulations. Requirements

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/. Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.. You are required to wear a uniform and comply with uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided. You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority. You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 1 night per month. 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 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 - 10/28/2026-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. Basic Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet one of the following Basic Requirement for the 0401 series: A. 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 a major subject such as biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. You must submit transcripts. -OR- B. Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as listed above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. You must submit transcripts. In addition to the Basic Requirement listed above, to qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level you must also meet one of the following minimum qualifications requirements: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Developing and implementing resource management plans addressing biotic resources; Designing and executing scientific monitoring protocols to identify, evaluate, and perform long-term monitoring of natural resources; Identifying research needs, preparing, and/or overseeing research projects. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- Education: Successfully completed 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a major subject such as biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. You must submit transcripts. -OR- Combination of education and experience: Successful completion of course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. To compute this percentage, first divide the total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide the number of completed higher level graduate education semester hours of education (that are in excess of 36 semester hours) by 54. Add the two percentages together; the total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. NOTE: Only higher-level graduate education in excess of more than one-year may be used to qualify for this position and must be in a major such as those listed above. 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.

Education

This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: https://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications How You Will Be Evaluated

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): Forest Management Plant Ecology Project Management Restoration Ecology 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. 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. Other Information

This is a Merit Promotion announcement for career and career conditional Bureau employees, Career Transition eligibles(CTAP), Current or former time-limited employees eligible under Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) and those who are eligible under the hiring paths listed above. Refer to Required Documents section for more information. Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement. All DOI employees, their spouses, and minor children may not acquire or retain any claim, permit, lease, small tract entry, or other rights granted by the Department in Federal lands, with limited exceptions. Additional ethics prohibitions can be found here, DOI Ethics Prohibitions | U.S. Department of the Interior. Physical Demands/Work Environment: Work is performed both indoors and outdoors. The position may require strenuous physical activity including periods of standing, walking, climbing, and lifting and carrying heavy objects. Assignments may be performed in steep slopes, rocky terrain, or forests. The duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.