Identifier-Plant Protection and Quarantine Officer

Identifier-Plant Protection and Quarantine Officer

Department: Department of Agriculture

Location(s): El Segundo, California, Long Beach, California, International Falls, Minnesota, Seatac, Washington

Salary Range: $61722 - $93549 Per Year

Job Summary: Identifiers provide expertise in pest biology, taxonomy and risk analysis as a recognized specialist and consultant within the Plant Protection and Quarantine program (PPQ). They also reviews, evaluate and suggest modifications of inspection or trapping methodologies and approaches as an enhancement to plant pest and plant disease surveillance systems.

Major Duties:

• The duties described are for the full-performance level. At developmental grade levels, assignments will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity.
• The duties may include, but are not limited to:
• Provides expertise in pest biology, taxonomy and risk analysis as a recognized specialist and consultant to Agency import policy staff, survey design groups, survey personnel, and program managers.
• Performs specialized and difficult taxonomic work, and provides taxonomic, biological and regulatory expertise in support of plant quarantine program activities.
• Identifies or verifies identification of plant pests and plant parts, such as seeds, leaves, dormant parts of wood, to family, genera or species for quarantine or regulatory action.
• Serves as a recognized specialist in the broad area of entomology, botany or plant pathology and deals primarily in programs involving CITES, Threatened Endangered plant species and Federal Noxious weeds.
• Maintains, develops, and supplements information on taxonomy, hosts, distribution and other related information pertaining to intercepted and/or survey plant pests.
• Consults with and advises Department of Homeland Security (DHS), State departments of agriculture and other cooperators on the identity and biology plants and plant parts.
• Develops or aids in developing training modules and appropriately illustrated identification aids and works with national program staff to deliver training to PPQ, DHS and State employees.
• Exercises agency regulatory authority by initiating regulatory action, e.g. for quarantine pests intercepted from imported commodities or new State or county determinations from domestic surveys.
• Provides technical assistance regarding PPQ domestic program pests and exotic pests, and the pathways with which they enter the US by analyzing interception records for trends of pest entry.
• Keeps current and uses state of the art technology to perform taxonomic duties such as digital imaging, chemical diagnostic tests, and microscopy and specimen preparation techniques and equipment.

Qualifications: Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement, including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. BASIC REQUIREMENT: Degree: Biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. OR Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. FOR THE GS-09 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-07 level) that may have been obtained in the private or public (local, county, state, Federal) sectors which demonstrates: Experience identifying a variety of plant pests. Experience maintaining specimen collections of plant pests and consulting with and advising federal agencies, state departments of agriculture and other cooperators on the identity and biology of and procedures for detecting plant pests. Experience developing or aiding in developing informative and educational training material and identification aids for plant pests and assisting in delivering training to the general public. Experience maintaining information on taxonomy, hosts, distribution and other related information pertaining to intercepted and/or survey plant pests. OR 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level. TRANSCRIPTS are required if: This position requires specific coursework or a degree in a specific field to be basically qualified. You are qualifying for the position based on education. You are qualifying for this position based on a combination of experience and education. This education must have been successfully completed and obtained from an accredited school, college, or university COMBINATION OF EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE AT THE GS-09 GRADE LEVEL: Applicants may have combinations of successfully completed education and specialized experience to meet total qualification requirements. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade level. 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 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 to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments, and required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. Resume cannot exceed two pages. The application process is as follows: 1: Create a USAJOBS account (if you do not already have one) at www.usajobs.gov. It is recommended that as part of your profile you set up automatic email notification to be informed when the status of your application changes. If you choose not to set up this automatic notification, then you will have to log into your USAJOBS account to check on the status of your application. 2: Create a Resume with USAJOBS or upload a Resume into your USAJOBS account. You may want to customize your resume to ensure it documents duties and accomplishments you have gained that are directly related to this position in order to verify that qualifications are met. In addition, your resume must support your responses to the online questionnaire (you may preview the online questionnaire by clicking on the link at the end of the How You Will Be Evaluated section of the job announcement). 3: Click "Apply Online" and follow the prompts to complete the Occupational Questionnaire and attach any additional documents that may be required. You can update your application or documents anytime while the announcement is open. Simply log into your USAJOBS account and click on "Application Status." Click on the position title, and then select "Update Application" to continue. 4: If you are required to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. 5: Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. 6: Set aside at least 2 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. 7: Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Click on this: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. NOTE: Please verify that documents you are uploading 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. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Only one resume will be reviewed. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration.

Application Deadline: 2026-05-05