Biologist

Summary

You will serve as a Biologist with the National Park Service, Shenandoah National Park.

Duties

As a Biologist, you will perform the following duties: Develops and implements long-term resource management plans, including invasive plant control, forest health restoration, and monitoring protocols. Manages invasive plant treatment, forest pest management, and vegetation restoration. Applies herbicides utilizes chemical and biological methods to treat pest. Develops appropriate species lists, manages nursery stock, and conducts planting and ongoing maintenance. Designs and conducts ecological inventory and monitoring. Ensures compliance of pesticide use. Drafts cooperative agreements and participates in inter-park initiatives. Prepares technical reports, proposals, and presentations. Represents leadership in professional forums. Oversees project logistics to include contracting, budgeting, volunteer coordination, and compliance with environmental regulations.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 10/28/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized 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 periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. 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. Basic Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet one of the following Basic Requirement for the 0401 series: A. Degree: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree a major subject such as biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. You must submit transcripts. -OR- B. Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as listed above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. You must submit transcripts. In addition to the Basic Requirement listed above, to qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level you must also meet one of the following minimum qualifications requirements: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Developing and implementing resource management plans addressing biotic resources; Designing and executing scientific monitoring protocols to identify, evaluate, and perform long-term monitoring of natural resources; Identifying research needs, preparing, and/or overseeing research projects. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- Education: Successfully completed 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a major subject such as biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. You must submit transcripts. -OR- Combination of education and experience: Successful completion of course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. To compute this percentage, first divide the total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide the number of completed higher level graduate education semester hours of education (that are in excess of 36 semester hours) by 54. Add the two percentages together; the total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. NOTE: Only higher-level graduate education in excess of more than one-year may be used to qualify for this position and must be in a major such as those listed above. 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.

Education

This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: https://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications