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Hydrologist

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Reclamation
Upper Colorado Basin, Regional Office, Projects, Operations, & Modeling Division
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Reclamation is seeking a career professional looking for an opportunity to capitalize on their expertise as a Hydrologist. Make a difference in the West by assisting in meeting increasing water demands while protecting the environment.


Duty Location: Salt Lake City, Utah at the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC) offices. For more information click here.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
07/11/2024 to 07/25/2024
Salary
$72,553 to - $113,047 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 11 - 12
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Salt Lake City, UT
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
12
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
BOR-UCB-24-DE-12463671-LC
Control number
799593900

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Duties

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The duties listed below are at the full performance level.

  • Serve as a project leader or senior project member for complete hydrologic investigations by planning, conducting, and reporting on interpretive studies.
  • Conduct planning, review, and evaluation of multi-basin, multi-aquifer investigations which includes predictive water quantity and quality numerical modeling and adherence to all management-based water resource policies.
  • Serve as subject matter expert for the supported state/region/supported organizations.
  • Oversee, plan and/or perform a wide range of data collection assignments.
  • Analyze, prepare, develop and publish river volume and flood forecasts for river basins under a variety of hydrologic conditions.
  • Write and publish reports of findings as internal or external reports, recommendations to resource managers, or scientific journal publications.

Requirements

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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).

Qualifications

In order to be rated as qualified for this position, the HR Office must be able to determine that you meet the Basic Requirement and Education or Specialized Experience Requirement - this information must be clearly supported in the resume.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: This position requires applicants to meet a Basic Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of specialized experience in order to be found minimally qualified. You MUST meet one of the following basic education requirements:

A. Degree: physical or natural science, or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in any combination of courses in hydrology, the physical sciences, geophysics, chemistry, engineering science, soils, mathematics, aquatic biology, atmospheric science, meteorology, geology, oceanography, or the management or conservation of water resources. The course work must have included at least 6 semester hours in calculus (including both differential and integral calculus), and at least 6 semester hours in physics. Calculus and physics, as described above, are requirements for all grade levels.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience -- course work as shown above in A, (30 semester hours in a combination of courses which included 6 semester hours in calculus (both differential and integral), and 6 semester hours in physics, plus appropriate experience, or additional education equal to a 4-year degree.

In addition to meeting the Basic Requirement above, you must also meet one of the following options below.

To qualify at the GS-11, you must meet one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to at least the GS-09 level in the Federal service having demonstrated experience in hydrologic modeling and analysis procedures and in one of the following duties: 1. Planning, directing, performing and/or coordinating hydrologic studies. 2. Collecting and analyzing networks of basic water resource data.

OR

You could otherwise qualify on the basis of education having three years of progressively higher-level education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in hydrology or other directly related fields of study. Note: Only graduate education in excess of two years is creditable.

To qualify at the GS-12, you must meet one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal Service having demonstrated experience in allof the following duties: 1. Hydrologic modeling and analysis procedures. 2. Planning, directing, performing and/or coordinating hydrologic studies. 3. Collecting and analyzing networks of basic water resource data.

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.

You must meet all Eligibility and Qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors if applicable, by 07/25/2024.

Education

This position does not allow substituting education for experience at the GS-12 grade level.

This vacancy announcement allows substituting education for experience at the GS-11 grade level. You must submit a copy of college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. 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.

This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. Non-submission will result in being rated not-qualified for the position.

You will be required to provide official college transcripts to verify educational qualifications, if selected. An official transcript must be sent directly from the University's Registrar's office and must be provided from the institution awarding the degree. Academic transcripts certified by notary publics are NOT official. Official transcripts must be submitted prior to reporting to work as a condition of employment. Failure to submit official transcripts may be grounds for dismissal or rescission of the job offer.

Accreditation: Only education from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education is acceptable to meet education requirements or to substitute for experience, if applicable. For additional info, refer to the Office of Personnel Management and U.S. Department of Education.

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 additional info, refer to the U.S. Network for Education Information.

Additional information

You may be required to serve an initial probationary period. Current, permanent Federal employees who are selected from this announcement may be required to serve a probationary period.

Reclamation has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and you may be allowed to telework with supervisory approval.

If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information, visit: Recruitment Incentive or Relocation Incentive.

Current agency employees may be eligible to receive a referral bonus for recruitment of this position. For information visit: Referral Bonus Awards.

If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may request consideration for a Superior Qualifications Appointment. For information, visit OPM Fact Sheet.

Related non-Federal experience or related experience as retired members of the uniformed services may be credited towards computing entitlement to leave accrual, at managerial discretion, providing that experience meets certain criteria. This provision allows new employees to earn annual leave at a higher rate than would otherwise be allowed. (5 Code of Federal Regulations, 630). For information, visit: Creditable Service for Annual Leave.

DOI uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including applicant rights and responsibilities, please visit https://www.e-verify.gov/

This position is designated as a LOW RISK position. It requires a fully completed and favorably adjudicated SF85 Background Investigation (T1 or equivalent) that is current (within the last 5 years). This is a condition of employment.

Male applicants born after December 31, 1959 must certify registration with the Selective Service System or that the applicant is exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. Go to: https://www.sss.gov

This is a non-bargaining unit position.

Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement.

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.

How you will be evaluated

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

Category rating and selection procedures will be used to evaluate applications from this announcement. If an applicant meets the basic qualification requirements, his/her on-line responses to the vacancy assessment questionnaire will be used to determine the quality and extent of his/her experience, education, training, etc., for placement in one of the following categories: 1) Best Qualified, 2) Well Qualified, and 3) Qualified. Qualified candidates will be assigned a numerical score on a scale of 70-100. The Category Rating Process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three" but protects the rights of Veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each quality category. Veterans' preference eligibles who meet the minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent will be listed in the highest quality category (except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-09 level or higher). The assessment questionnaire will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

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:

  • Mathematical Reasoning
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Research
  • Written Communication

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 an applicant assessment questionnaire and a Subject Matter Expert (SME) Resume Review. 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/12463671

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 and score at least a 90 on the initial phase, they will continue on to the second phase and will be given an interim score based on the applicant assessment questionnaire.
Phase 2: Candidates who pass the first phase will be forwarded to a SME who will then conduct a resume review and rating based on the following competencies listed above.
Phase 3: Candidates will be given a final score which combines the scores from the first and second phases. Those candidates who score as best qualified will be referred to the selecting official for consideration.

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