Department of the Interior

Seasonal Biological Science Technician

Key West, Florida Full time

Seasonal Biological Science Technician

Department: Department of the Interior

Location(s): Key West, Florida

Salary Range: $25.49 - $33.15 Per Hour

Job Summary: This position is located in Dry Tortugas National Park, in the Resource Management Division. Open to the first 100 applicants or until 12/31/2025 whichever comes first. All applications submitted by 11:59 (EST) on the closing day will receive consideration.

Major Duties:

  • The typical seasonal entry-on-duty period for Dry Tortugas National Park is May 2026, but the season may be extended or reduced due to weather conditions, project needs, or funding. Anticipated Entry on Duty: May 3, 2026. Not to Exceed: 1039 Hours. Major Duties: Conduct routine biological fieldwork both in water and on land including; habitat assessments, population monitoring, and invasives species management. Work with staff, interns, partners, and volunteers to achieve program goals. Maintain equipment and databases for the natural resources program. Educate, interpret, and inform visitors about park natural resources. Area Information: These positions are duty stationed at Dry Tortugas National Park (DRTO) which is located 70 miles west of Key West, Florida, in the southeastern Gulf of America. The park is 101 square miles of mostly ocean with a sub-tropical coral reef system. There are currently 7 small keys that make up less than 0.2% of the park area. These keys are home to a variety of nesting seabirds including: sooty terns, brown noddys, magnificent frigatebirds, and masked boobies. The keys are also hosts for several hundred loggerhead and green sea turtle nests each year. The marine part of the park consists of a large variety of coral reefs. Work will include a mixture of terrestrial and marine focused duties; which will include conducting monitoring studies for seabirds and sea turtles, invasive species management, marine surveys (coral, fish, benthic invertebrates, seagrass, etc...), and restoration projects. Work priorities can shift rapidly due to the remote nature of the park, weather patterns, and logistical difficulties, so being flexible is vital to this position. Available recreational activities include: snorkeling, diving, paddleboarding, fishing, sailing, birding, and other outdoor pursuits. For more information about Dry Tortugas National Park please visit Dry Tortugas National Park (U.S. National Park Service). Information about the city of Key West can be found at Key West, FL | Official Website.

Qualifications: All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-12/31/2025-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. To qualify for this position at the GS-07 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement: EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-06 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: research activity or control program work; nursery work that required the growing and maintenance of plants in a controlled environment; work comparable to that with a large dairy farm where production records, animal environment, and sanitary conditions were kept in accordance with modern dairy practice. Farming experience that was not performed in a controlled environment, or experience as a laborer who was not responsible for planning and scheduling his/her own work, but only performed assigned tasks, would not qualify as specialized experience. Assists professional staff in implementing restoration, research, and monitoring programs to evaluate marine and coastal natural resources including but not limited to rare, threatened, and endangered species; implements a wide variety of field activities in support of marine and coastal resource management programs; provides logistical support and area orientation for contractors and cooperating scientists; provides guidance to lower graded technicians, interns, students, and volunteers in gathering field data in marine and coastal environments, including proper and safe handling of equipment and tools; and operation of motorized vehicles and boats (up to 28' in length). Ability to interact with the public and record accurate data. This would include population and habitat parameters. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least one full year of graduate education with coursework in a field of study directly related to the position to be filled including biology, ecology, environmental science, marine biology, marine ecology, etc.... One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. You must include transcripts. -OR- Successful completion of a combination of experience and education as described above. To combine experience and education, first take the number of months of qualifying, full-time work experience and divide by 12. Multiply the resulting decimal by 100. Then take the number of graduate credits completed and divide by 18. Multiply the resulting decimal by 100. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts. 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. Current surplus and current or former displaced Federal individuals who have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) must be well qualified for the position to receive consideration for special priority selection. Well qualified means that the applicant meets the following: OPM qualification standards for the position; all selective placement factors, where applicable; special qualifying conditions that OPM has approved for the position, where applicable; is physically qualified with reasonable accommodation, where appropriate to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry; and is rated by the organization at least at the well qualified level on all competencies. Federal employees seeking CTAP/ICTAP eligibility must submit proof that they meet the requirements of 5 CFR 330.605(2) for CTAP and 5 CFR 330.704 for ICTAP. This includes a copy of the agency notice, a copy of their most recent Performance Rating, and a copy of their most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location. Please annotate your application to reflect that you are applying as a CTAP/ICTAP eligible. If you are selected for Federal employment, you will be required to fill out a Declaration of Federal Employment, OF-306, prior to being appointed to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation. Failing to answer all questions truthfully and completely or providing false statements on your application may be grounds for not hiring you, or for firing you after you begin work. Also, you may be punished by fine or imprisonment (U.S. Code, Title 18, section 1001).

How to Apply: 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 12/31/2025. 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/12841144 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.

Application Deadline: 2025-12-31