Wildland Firefighting Manager Branch Chief National Fire Fleet - Direct Hire Authority

Summary

One position will be filled at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) duty location Boise, ID. Incumbent serves as Branch Chief for the National Fire Fleet, providing strategic direction, policy leadership, and oversight to ensure a safe, effective, interoperable, mission-ready wildland fire fleet supporting national preparedness, response, and extended operations across all Geographic Areas and partner agencies. For additional questions please contact Dennis Strange at [email protected].

Duties

Establish program goals, policies, standards, and guidance for fleet acquisition, maintenance, utilization, replacement, and retirement to support wildland fire preparedness, response, and extended operations. Oversee all aspects of national fire fleet acquisition, including coordination with GSA Fleet, federal procurement processes, and interagency partners to obtain vehicles and equipment that meet wildland fire mission requirements. Direct the development and implementation of national policies and standards for fleet utilization, maintenance, and repair to ensure mission readiness, cost efficiency, and safety. Lead development of national fleet policies, technical guidance documents, and standard operating procedures that support consistent implementation across all wildland fire operational units and partner agencies. Provide subject-matter expertise and authoritative recommendations on fleet issues to senior leadership, including budget submissions, risk assessments, and strategic initiatives. Represent the National Fire Fleet Program in interagency working groups, committees, and forums, including NWCG, GSA, DOI/USFS operational councils, and other national stakeholder organizations. Direct the development of integrated fleet data systems, performance dashboards, risk analysis tools, and reporting mechanisms that inform national decision-making, resource allocation, and operational planning.

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. Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your 2 page 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 total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time or part-time, hours must be included). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. You may only submit one resume. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed. If an applicant's resume is incomplete or does not support the requirements for minimum qualifications or specialized experience a rating of "ineligible" or "not qualified" will be applied and no consideration for employment will be granted. Prior primary wildland fire experience must be clearly documented in your resume. Note: an IQCS Master Record or equivalent document will not be used to determine or calculate prior primary wildland fire experience eligibility for this requirement. Basic Qualification Requirements: Candidates must possess Primary/Rigorous wildland firefighting experience, gained through fire line work in containment, control, suppression or use of wildland fire. You must clearly demonstrate this experience in your resume, including the months, days, and hours per week at which the work was performed to be considered. Applicants must have documented prior primary firefighting experience, with substantial service defined as either: At least one full fire season working in a primary wildland firefighting role (e.g., Engine Crew, Fire Effects Crew, Prescribed Fire/Fuels Crew, Hand Crew, Helitack Crew, Hotshot Crew, Smokejumper, Wildland Fire Modules or Fire Suppression Crews, etc.) with a federal, state, tribal, local, or private-sector organization. -OR- At least 14 days of on-the-ground fireline experience (cumulative or consecutive). Prior primary wildland fire experience must be clearly documented in your resume. Note: an IQCS Master Record or equivalent document will not be used to determine or calculate prior primary wildland fire experience eligibility for this requirement.; AND In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional experience is required: For the GW-14 level: At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS/GW-13 level, or higher in the Federal service, or equivalent. Examples of specialized experience include: Served as the senior leader responsible for strategic direction, oversight, and state/regional or national execution of a wildland fire or fleet program, directing subordinate staff and supervisors and coordinating state/regional activities across Unit Boundaries and partner agencies. Established state/regional program goals, policies, standards, guidance, long-range plans, investment strategies, and performance metrics governing acquisition, maintenance, utilization, replacement, and retirement. Oversaw state/regional acquisition, authorized purchases, replacements, and upgrades, and aligned acquisition strategies with appropriations, Wildland Fire Funding Mechanism, Cooperative Funding Agreements, and other available resources. Directed state/regional utilization, maintenance, repair, asset tracking, lifecycle planning, replacement strategies, cost projections, and standardized maintenance protocols to sustain mission readiness, cost efficiency, and safety. Provided authoritative recommendations to senior leadership on budget submissions, risk assessments, strategic initiatives, modernization, emergency support agreements, and shared resource planning. Represented the State/Regional/National Fire Program in interagency working groups, committees, councils, and national stakeholder organizations and served as the principal liaison for modernization and resource planning. Directed integrated data systems, performance dashboards, risk analysis tools, and reporting mechanisms and analyzed performance data to identify improvements, cost savings, strategic investments, and operational risks. Led continuous improvement through after-action reviews, lessons learned, emerging technologies, industry practices, and data-informed and risk-informed decision-making. Substantial wildland firefighting experience is required to meet qualifications for secondary (administrative) covered positions. The Department of Interior defines wildland firefighting experience as: On-the-line wildland firefighting experience gained through containment, control, suppression, or use of wildland fire. This experience can be met by serving in a temporary, seasonal, or equivalent private sector fire position. Periods of wildland firefighting experience, gained through militia and rural fire departments, can also be credited. Wildland fire is defined as any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Two distinct types of wildland fire have been defined and include wildfire and prescribed fires as follows: Wildfire: Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires. Prescribed Fires: Planned ignitions. This description includes only fire line experience on a Prescribed Fire; it does not include experience in the planning stages. Prescribed fire experience must be supplemented by fire suppression experience to be creditable as previous wildland firefighting experience. You must clearly d