Department: Department of Agriculture
Location(s): Kansas City, Missouri
Salary Range: $90968 - $195469 Per Year
Job Summary: This position is located in the United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Rural Economy Branch. In this position, you will be responsible for formulating research plans, developing methodology, determining data needs, and defining resources needed to carry out complex social science research and analysis programs of great significance and difficulty.
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. Basic Requirements: Degree: A full 4-year degree of study in behavioral or social science; or related disciplines appropriate to the position. Related disciplines may include demography, sociology, geography, economics, and agricultural economics. OR A combination of education and experience that provided the applicant with knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field. AND In addition to the basic requirements above, all applicants must also meet the following minimum qualification requirements: Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: GS-12: Qualifying experience for GS-12 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-11; or its non-Federal equivalent that includes experience applying advanced social science research methodologies and quantitative analysis techniques to the conduct of complex demographic and/or socioeconomic research and analysis relevant to rural development; communicating research findings through peer-reviewed publications or equivalent government reports. GS-13: Qualifying experience for GS-13 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-12 level; or its non-Federal equivalent that includes experience coordinating and analyzing data for the development of policies to implement programs that enhance the health of rural communities; collaborate with various stakeholders to gather information on the performance of rural and agricultural research; and assist in conducting program evaluations to improve the administration and efficacy of research and education programs. GS-14: Qualifying experience for GS-14 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-13 level; or its non-Federal equivalent that includes experience developing and providing input and direction for regional or national rural and agricultural science programs; participating in the development of policies to implement programs to enhance health of rural communities; leading workgroups with various stakeholders in the performance of agricultural research or education activities; and participating in conducting program evaluations to improve the administration and efficacy of research and education programs. GS-15: Qualifying experience for GS-15 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-14 level; or its non-Federal equivalent that includes experience in primary authorship of a number of important papers, models, theories, and/or techniques that impact the advancement of or are accepted as authoritative in the field of rural economics; conducting policy-related research on the drivers of economic and population growth and decline in rural areas; participating in symposia that define the state of the discipline or introduce new areas in the field of rural economics. 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 to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not 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. To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents. 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. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration.
Application Deadline: 2026-05-07