Department: Department of Agriculture
Location(s): Phoenix, Arizona, Des Plaines, Illinois, Linden, New Jersey, Amityville, New York, Avoca, New York, Modena, New York, Bethel, Ohio, Licking County, Ohio, Lucas County, Ohio, Glenside, Pennsylvania, Minersville, Pennsylvania, Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, Aguada, Puerto Rico, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Carolina, Puerto Rico, Ponce, Puerto Rico, Hollywood, South Carolina, El Paso County, Texas, Los Indios, Texas, Winchester, Virginia, Saint Croix, Virgin Islands
Salary Range: $40736 - $62407 Per Year
Job Summary: As a Plant Protection Technician, you implement domestic programs within an assigned geographic area to prevent the establishment and/or artificial spread of plant pests and diseases into new areas. If selected, you provide support to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Officers with surveys; control measures; biocontrol and biotechnology activities; and export of regulated agricultural commodities within PPQ, Field Operations (FO).
Major Duties:
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. FOR THE GS-05 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-04 level) that may have been obtained in the private or public (local, county, state, Federal) sectors which demonstrates: Experience identifying economically significant target pests. Experience collecting insect and disease samples suspected to be plant pests for identification by subject experts. Experience in using and maintaining survey equipment, including electronic field data equipment such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), GPS, computer tablets, cellular phones, and digital cameras. Experience assisting in inspecting routine agricultural products for import/export. Experience in reading x-ray images and/or operating x-ray equipment to identify and confiscate prohibited materials. OR Successful completion of 4 years of study that included at least 16 semester hours in courses such as biology, plant pathology, entomology, zoology, botany, forestry, chemistry, agriculture, or physics. Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level. TRANSCRIPTS are required if: 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-05 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 instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m., Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement in order to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resume cannot exceed two pages. This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact the Agency Contact to request this. Step 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. Step 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). Step 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. 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: 2026-05-06