Interdisciplinary - Biologist/Physical Scientist

Interdisciplinary - Biologist/Physical Scientist

Department: Department of the Interior

Location(s): Lakewood, Colorado, Reston, Virginia

Salary Range: $140239 - $187093 Per Year

Job Summary: The STEM Occupations direct hire authority is being used to fill this position. This is an interdisciplinary position that may be filled as a Biologist, GS-0401; or Physical Scientist, GS-1301. Duty Station: The duty station will be Lakewood, CO or Reston, VA and will be agreed upon by the selecting official and the selectee upon selection. If the agreed upon location results in the relocation of the selectee, travel, transportation, and relocation expenses are not authorized.

Major Duties:

• As a Biologist or Physical Scientist within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Mission Area (WMA), your duties will include but are not limited to the following: Serves as a senior technical science expert in the broad areas of laboratory science, complex scientific quality-assurance practices, and quality management. Develops and maintains discipline-specific, scientifically complex quality-assurance, and laboratory science policies and procedures aimed to support USGS, DOI, and stakeholder requirements. Leads scientifically diverse teams of subject matter experts to research and inform laboratory policies, procedures, and leverages DOI and USGS partners' best practices to inform development of WMA and USGS policies and requirements. Provides technically sound recommendations for high-value capital investments, establishing centers of excellence, consolidating WMA capabilities, and leveraging resources. Evaluates quality performance for WMA-funded laboratories nationwide for ensuring that work products and results achieve technical excellence. Physical Demands: The work is primarily sedentary. Site visits and observation of USGS laboratories may require the incumbent to be subjected to laboratory environments and associated hazards. Work Environment: Work is primarily performed in an office setting. Travel may be required for optimum program leadership and policy development. May involve occasional field or site visits and exposure to laboratories that involves risks and hazards requiring safety precautions. Salary: Lakewood, CO: $140,39 (step 01) to $182,316 (step 10); Reston, VA; $143,913 (step 01) to $187,093 (step 10). NOTE: First time hires to the Federal Government are typically hired at the Step 01.

Qualifications: Definitions: EXPERIENCE: One year of work experience is twelve months working full-time (at least 35-40 hours per week). Part-time experience can be pro-rated (i.e., a year at 20 hours per week is credited as 6 months of experience). If your position consisted of mixed duties, experience credit is given for the percentage of time that you spent on qualifying duties (i.e., if you held a position for 2 years, full-time, consisting of 25% personnel work and 75% budget work, and then applied for a budget position you could calculate your experience as follows:. 2 yrs = 24 months. 24 months x 75% [percentage of time spent on budget duties] = 18 months of qualifying experience.) UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A year of undergraduate education is 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours or the equivalent of college study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite. GRADUATE EDUCATION: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. BIOLOGIST, GS-0401 BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: Applicants must meet A or B below to satisfy the basic education requirement for Biologist, all grade levels. A. Degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. -OR- B. Combination of education and experience--courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above (24 semester hours or the equivalent in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position), plus appropriate experience and/or additional education for a total of 4 years. The education or combined education and experience must be comparable in type, scope and thoroughness to that acquired through successful completion of a 4-year course of study as described in "A" above. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE) PHYSICAL SCIENTIST, GS-1301 BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: Applicants must meet A or B below to satisfy the basic education requirement for Physical Scientist, all grade levels. A. Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours or the equivalent in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics. -OR- B. A combination of education and experience--education equivalent to one of the majors shown in "A" above (24 semester hours or the equivalent in physical science, engineering, or mathematics) that included at least 24 semester hours or the equivalent in physical science and/or related engineering science as described above, plus appropriate experience and/or additional education for a total of 4 years. The education or combined education and experience must be comparable in type, scope and thoroughness to that acquired through successful completion of a 4-year course of study as described in "A" above. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE) For GS-14: In addition to the basic education requirement as stated above, applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-14 level: One year of appropriate professional experience that is in or directly related to the duties of the position to be filled is qualifying if it is equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal service, and if it equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. Examples of such experience may include: Serving as a senior expert involved in biological or physical science work for which technical problem definitions, methods and/or data were highly incomplete, controversial, or uncertain and whose evaluations and recommendations were accepted by others as those of a technical expert. Providing advisory, planning, or reviewing services as a technical specialist on a biological or physical science issues, where called upon to resolve issues that significantly affect science programs, inform policy decisions, and make recommendations in high level forums. Developing and interpreting broad quality assurance requirements to niche areas of laboratory science, ensuring compliance. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

How to Apply: --Applications (resume and application questions) for this vacancy must be received on-line via USAJOBS BEFORE midnight Eastern Time (Washington, D.C. time) on the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to submit a complete online resume, you will not be considered for this position. Requests for extensions will not be granted. Most libraries, employment offices, and all USGS personnel offices can provide access to the Internet. If applying online poses a hardship for you, you must speak to someone in the Servicing Human Resources Office listed on this announcement PRIOR TO THE CLOSING DATE for assistance. --Instructions for Applying Online for this Vacancy Announcement: 1) Click the blue "Apply Online" button. 2) If you are not a registered USAJOBS user, please create a new account and follow the instructions to complete your application process. If you are a registered user, login to access your existing USAJOBS profile. 3) As a registered user, select a stored resume and select one or more of your stored documents to attach to your application. 4) Check the "Certification" box and click the "Apply for this position now!" button located at the bottom of the screen. 5) Address the eligibility questions as well as the questionnaire containing questions and/or task statements that address the knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies for this vacancy. 6) Submit required documents. 7) If you experience technical difficulties during the online application process, please contact the USAJOBS helpdesk. 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 within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s), including within the same metro/commuting area. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.

Application Deadline: 2026-05-12