Department of the Interior

Investigator

Washington, District of Columbia Full time

Investigator

Department: Department of the Interior

Location(s): Washington, District of Columbia

Salary Range: $102415 - $133142 Per Year

Job Summary: Civilian employees serve a vital role in supporting the United States Park Police mission. They provide the skills that are not readily available within the police force, but crucial to support law enforcement operations. An Investigator will conduct pre-employment and other background investigations. This position will perform a full range of investigative functions including planning, fact-finding, interviews, record searches, analysis and result reporting.

Major Duties:

  • The duties of this position include but are not limited to: Plan and conduct investigations and interviews of a high degree of complexity involving matters of a suitability and or security nature, and follows leads, researches records, reconstructs events, prepares reports of findings, makes presentations and drafts letters and memorandums. Conduct pre-employment and other background investigations of applicants, employees and reinstatement eligible candidates, and reviews relevant records to include education, police, court, motor vehicle, military, security, medical and other records to elicit information pertinent to the background of the subject of the investigation. Obtain statements and release forms regarding any adverse/contradictory information developed or provided by the subject and conducts investigative inquiries in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, rules and agency objectives. Identify suitability issues and mitigating circumstances, prepares documentation, substantiates investigative findings, and presents candidate information to the agency's Selection Committee. Compile completed investigative reports, selection actions and related pertinent information to create an investigative summary and the Office of Law Enforcement Security (OLES) Security Clearance Waiver for presentation to the National Park Service (NPS) for adjudication for each applicant.

Qualifications: Requirements Continued... Any individual who is currently holding, or has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet time-in-grade requirements (must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent in the Federal service); with few exceptions as outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b). Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal civilian employees applying for reinstatement who have had a break in service of less than one year, as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointments. Time-in-grade does not apply to new excepted service appointments and must be met by the closing date of this announcement. You will be required to submit to a drug test and receive a negative drug test result prior to appointment. In addition, this position is subject to random testing for illegal drug use. You may be required to travel overnight away from home occasionally. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes. You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator's License and Driving Record. The position to which you will be appointed is subject to a financial disclosure reporting requirement and you will be required to complete a new entrant Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days of your appointment. All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-03/16/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 for each federal position listed as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of qualifying 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 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. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected. EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes all of the following: Conducting Federal Personnel Background Investigations, many of which are sensitive or controversial, where allegations, hearsay information, or other vague or intangible information of an adverse nature exist. Evaluate individual's trustworthiness for access to classified information, placement in a sensitive position or placement in Federal employment. Identifies suitability issues and mitigating circumstances, prepares documentation, substantiates investigative findings and presents candidate information to the agency's selection committee. You must include hours per week worked. 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 to Apply: Noncompetitive or Special Hiring Authority. Applicants who are eligible to be considered based on a Noncompetitive or Special Hiring Authority (i.e. Schedule A, VRA, Peace Corps, AmeriCorp Vista, former PLC member, certain Military Spouses, 30% or More Disabled Veterans, Pathways Interns who have met the eligibility requirements for noncompetitive conversion, etc.) must submit appropriate documentation to verify your eligibility. 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. Documents with photographs may not be seen by hiring officials - you must remove your image from any badges, licenses, etc. Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents. Adobe portfolio documents are not viewable by our agency's staffing offices. To apply for this position: You must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. To receive consideration, the complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 03/16/2026. You must provide documentation to support your claim for each eligibility selected. Please review the required documentation listed in the eligibilities language to ensure you submit the appropriate information. Note: You will only be marked eligible for those eligibilities that you selected and provided the appropriate supporting documentation. WE DO NOT ACCEPT HARD-COPY OR E-MAIL APPLICATION PACKAGES. Select Apply. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to login or create an account. Prompted to Start the Application Process by selecting "Start Application." Click here for USAJobs Help with "How to create an application" To PREVIEW the application questionnaire, select the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12903443 Select or add the resume you want to use for this application. Click here on how to build a resume in USAJOBS. Select documents you want included in this application. Review package to acknowledge your documents were reviewed. Select if you want to include your demographic information. After reading and certifying the application is true and submitted in good faith, select "Continue to Agency Site." Follow onscreen prompts and instructions to complete your application. Add the supporting documents by indexing your documents with the dropdown. Upload any missing required documents or optional documents. Review and Submit Application. While logged in, you can check the status of your application by selecting "+" next to the job title for this position. You can review or revise your application at any point during the open period of the announcement. To update an application, you should log into your USAJOBS account and select "+" next to the job title for this position. Select "Update Application" for this job. Note: When you click Update Application, you will be prompted to re-select your documents from USAJOBS. Documents submitted with the first application will no longer be associated with the applicant record. So it is important that you select all documents you want to use in the re-application. Please note, the eligibility section of the application process is designed to allow you to choose how you wish to be considered for this vacancy announcement. You will ONLY be considered for the appointment eligibilities that you select. You must provide the supporting documentation to support your claim. Please review the list of documentation provided in the eligibilities language to ensure you provide the appropriate information. You may choose more than one eligibility.

Application Deadline: 2026-03-16