This position is located in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Office of the Deputy Chief for Programs, Easement Programs Division (EPD), Implementation and Stewardship Branch and serves as an Easement National Program Manager and is a recognized authority with primary responsibility for support of national programmatic, policy and procedural functions.

Duties

Provides leadership assisting in developing and maintaining Agency-wide policies and procedures for implementing and supporting Agricultural Conservation Easement Program - Agricultural Land Easements (ACEP-ALE). Provides leadership assisting in developing and maintaining Agency-wide policies and procedures for implementing and supporting Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), and other NRCS easement program. Represents EPD, NRCS, and USDA at assigned committees, task forces, and other technical or strategic planning groups involving assigned program functions as appointed. Provides leadership in maintaining and developing financial and programmatic data that supports the NRCS easement programs and related activities and that supports the NRCS budget and allocation of funds. Utilizes resources inventory and assessment data, workload analysis information, program performance data and other sources of information for program analyses. Represents EPD, NRCS, and USDA during the engagement with partners, including state and local government and non-governmental organizations.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. If selected you will be sent instructions on obtaining fingerprints. Please note we are not able to reimburse any fees incurred for fingerprints.
• Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
• Direct Deposit--Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at https://www.e-verify.gov/.
• Must possess and maintain a valid state motor vehicle operator's license for the type of vehicle(s) operated to perform the duties of this position.
• Position has a Confidential Financial Disclosure (Form OGE-450) requirement. If selected, you will be required to submit Form OGE-450 within 30 days of your initial appointment date, and annually thereafter.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. AREA OF CONSIDERATION: Please note that this job opportunity announcement is only open to current Career/Career-Conditional employees of the NRCS. If you do not possess this status, you will not receive consideration. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENTS: Merit promotion applicants must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year at the GS-12 level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-13 level. One year at the GS-13 level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-14 level. (Please submit your SF-50 that shows Time-in-Grade eligibility and reflects your title, series, and grade. No Award or General Adjustment SF-50's will be accepted). BASIC REQUIREMENT: Degree: Bachelor's or higher degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. (You must submit transcripts.) OR Combination of education and experience:Courses equivalent to a major, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The quality of the combination of education and experience must be sufficient to demonstrate that the applicant possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform work in the occupation, and is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study with a major in the appropriate field. In addition to courses in the major and related fields, a typical college degree would have included courses that involved analysis, writing, critical thinking, research, etc. These courses would have provided an applicant with skills and abilities sufficient to perform progressively more responsible work in the occupation. Therefore, creditable experience should have demonstrated similarly appropriate skills or abilities needed to perform the work of the occupation. (You must submit transcripts.) In addition to meeting one of the Basic Requirements listed above, applicants must meet the following Minimum Qualifications Requirement in order to be considered: MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required specialized experience and/or education for the respective grade level in which you are applying: GS-13 Specialized Experience: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service that included: providing guidance on policies, procedures, and implementation strategy as it pertains to agency easement programs; monitoring and enforcing conservation easements; implementing conservation easements, including review of appraisals, titles, deeds, and closing statements; and engaging with partners including state and local government and non-governmental organizations. GS-14 Specialized Experience: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service that included: assisting with developing policies and procedures for easement programs; providing recommendations to improve internal operations related to easement programs; analyzing and making recommendations on existing rules, regulations, procedures and techniques regarding easements to better reconcile or resolve operational issues; and collaborating with officials of other Federal and State agencies, Tribal governments, conservation and user groups, and others to express agency policy and negotiate programmatic procedures that will further agency objectives as requested. (Your resume must CLEARLY demonstrate this experience) Note: There is no education substitution at the GS-13 or GS-14 grade level. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). 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. The OPM Qualification Standards for this position can be found at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=List-by-Occupational-Series

Education

You must submit a copy of your college transcripts or a list of college courses with credit hours, dates completed, and grades received to verify all education requirements (i.e. substitution of education and/or basic education requirement). If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g. special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college for that particular course to ensure you are properly evaluated. Please note that qualifications determinations are based solely on the information submitted for each particular vacancy announcement. You must document all requirements on every vacancy; we cannot use previous determinations as a basis for rating. All required information must be received by the closing date of this announcement, and non-submission of all required documents/documentation will result in non-consideration. Unofficial transcripts will be accepted. This information must be received by the closing date of this announcement. Non-submission of these documents will result in non-consideration.

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Applicants must, therefore, only report attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation via this link. All education claimed by applicants will be verified accordingly. Important: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Click on this link for more information.

Contacts

• Address Natural Resources Conservation Service 1400 Independence Ave SW Washington, DC 20250 US
• Name: Midwest Services Branch
• Phone: 8164265706
• Email: [email protected]