Department of Agriculture

Supervisory Forest Aviation Officer (Wildland Firefighter)

Boise, Idaho, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Full time

Supervisory Forest Aviation Officer (Wildland Firefighter)

Department: Department of Agriculture

Location(s): Boise, Idaho, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Salary Range: $83639 - $126835 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in a USDA Forest Service unit. These positions provide leadership, coordination, guidance, and direction to aerial project and fire management activities, and integrates operations of the Forest Aviation Operations program and the Forest Management Programs. See ADDITIONAL INFORMATION for Regional contacts.

Major Duties:

  • Duties listed are at full performance grade GW-12 level.
  • Responsible for the strategic oversight and safety management of all aviation operations; provides information and technical direction for all planned and continuing Forest aviation operations.
  • Coordinates with Regional aviation management on Forest aviation operations, technical guidance, special projects for aviation support personnel, and other aviation related aspects; coordinates inspections of aviation facilities.
  • Initiates procurement and oversight of aviation contract and support services; designated Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) for the Forest's aviation contracts.
  • Coordinates, plans, and establishes priorities for the Forest's aircraft use. Coordinates annual contract inspections of aircraft and pilots with Regional aviation inspectors.
  • Provides technical and administrative supervision to the Forests Aviation Program; supervises the aviation modules, including subordinate supervisory positions, on multiple units.

Qualifications: In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary. Specialized Experience Requirement: For the GW-11: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GW-09) in the Federal Service; OR A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., (coursework must be directly related to the position being filled such as forestry, range management, agriculture); OR An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, (i.e., more than 36 semester/54 quarter hours leading to a Ph.D.). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. Specialized experience is defined as: Assisting with providing oversight and management of aviation activities including fire detection, suppression, use of fire retardant, aerial non-fire projects. Conducting contract management, safety training, and risk assessment for aviation programs. Assisting with providing technical and administrative supervision for aviation programs. For the GW-12: You must have one-year specialized of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GW-11) in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: Providing oversight and management of aviation activities including fire detection, suppression, use of fire retardant, and aerial non-fire projects. Conducting contract management, safety training, and risk assessment for aviation programs. Providing technical and administrative supervision for aviation programs. Conducting analysis of aircraft use to determine long term organizational and budgetary needs to meet Aviation expectations. 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. FIREFIGHTER RETIREMENT COVERAGE: This is a secondary firefighter position under 5 USC 8336 (CSRS) and 8412(d) (FERS). Prior wildland firefighting experience is required. There is no age limit for entry into secondary positions. Firefighter retirement coverage of the incumbent depends upon his or her individual work history. To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How to Apply: Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process. 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 (7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Mountain Time Zone, 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. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.

Application Deadline: 2026-01-22