The position will serve as the Branch Chief - Wildland Fire Use and report to the Assistant Director (Landscapes and Partnerships) of Fire and Aviation Management. The incumbent serves as a national leader and policy expert responsible for implementing wildland fire use to reduce wildfire risk and maintaining or improving fire adaptive ecosystems. This includes planning, organizing, and coordinating Nation-wide activities that integrate fire, fuels and natural resource program areas.

Duties

Brings together best science, advanced technologies, data, and spatial analysis to improve the application of prescribed fire and naturally occurring wildfire at the right time, the right place and for the right reasons. Provides leadership, coordination, administration for a highly integrated program demanding reliability in a highly visible and fast paced environment. Accountable for a staff of technical experts which support the implementation of wildland fire as part of the overall hazardous fuels management program. Engages internal and external partners to support cross-boundary collaboration in the use of prescribed fire. Accountable for reliable analysis, tracking, and reporting. Analyzes and develops recommendations responding to emerging and critical issues. Coordinates across multiple program areas, monitors progress, and adapts approaches. Provides technical and administrative supervision to employees in a variety of professional and non-professional occupations. Plans and directs the overall work through subordinate supervisors, team leaders, or comparable positions. Provides leadership, allocates resources, and implements activities to accomplish Forest Service multicultural organization direction, and Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights requirements, goals, policies, and objectives.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or 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.
• Successful completion of one year probationary period, unless previously served.
• 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.gov
• Must be 18 years of age.
• This is a Test Designated Position. You will be tested for illegal drugs prior to appointment and randomly thereafter. Appointment and continued employment is conditional on negative results.
• Minimum of 90 days of wildland firefighting experience is required.
• Subject to one year supervisory/managerial probationary period unless prior service is creditable. New USDA supervisors must successfully complete all components of the required training program before the end of their probationary period.
• Some Fire positions may have Conditions of Employment such as: a valid state driver's license; a commercial driver's license (CDL); pre-appointment and random drug testing; or a physical or medical examination.
• There may be additional Conditions of Employment not listed here, however applicants will be notified of any specific requirements at the time a tentative job offer is made.

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. Basic Requirement: Degree: Biological Sciences, Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. -OR- Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major course of study in biological sciences, agriculture or natural resources management, chemistry or at least 24 semester hours in biological sciences, natural resources, wildland fire management, forestry, or agriculture equivalent to a major field of study, plus appropriate experience or additional education that is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in the biological sciences, agriculture, or natural resources. In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience in the amounts listed below. 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. Specialized Experience Requirement: GS-14: You must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the (GS-13) grade level in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience include: being responsible for the overall theories, principles, and practices of fire ecology, fire behavior, fire hazard and risk analysis, fuel volume and flammability assessment, meteorology, and all aspects of wildland fire operations to serve as an authoritative expert and to apply new scientific findings, advances, emerging decision support tools, and risk assessment processes to solve region-wide critical problems of a unique, novel or highly controversial nature affecting wildland fires AND; Allocating and accounting for resources, setting targets, assigning responsibilities, and evaluating objectives and accomplishments of an organization. Selective Placement Factors: A minimum 90 days experience performing on-the-line (Primary/Rigorous) wildland fire suppression duties as a member of an organized fire suppression crew or comparable unit that utilized knowledge of wildland fire suppression, containment or control techniques and practices under various conditions. This experience must be documented with specific dates in the online application or resume. FIREFIGHTER RETIREMENT COVERAGE: This is a secondary position covered under the special retirement provisions of 5 USC 8336(c) for the Civil Service Retirement System and of 5 USC 8412(d) for the Federal Employees Retirement System. TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement. To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

See QUALIFICATIONS section for education requirements.

Contacts

• Address USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT Albuquerque, NM 87109 US
• Name: HRM Contact Center
• Phone: 1-877-372-7248 X2
• Email: [email protected]