This position is located within the Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) with one vacancy located in Seattle, WA. This position is also announced under vacancy number NMFS-24-12162695-ST, which is open to Status Candidates. You must apply to both announcements if you want to be considered for both.

Duties

As a Fish Biologist, you will perform the following duties: - Under periodic supervision, examine, identify, and quantify egg, larval, and juvenile fishes collected from arctic, subarctic, and North Pacific Seas in the Recruitment Processes Program of the Resource Assessment and Conservation Engineering (RACE) Division at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. - Under periodic supervision, apply ingenuity and originality to the adaptation of existing experimental techniques or assist in development of novel research techniques or methodologies to support field and laboratory work. - Examine ichthyoplankton ecology and dynamics. Relate results of ichthyoplankton investigations to broader ecosystem functioning including climate, oceanography, fisheries and recruitment.

Requirements

Qualifications

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. 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. CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT: - Incumbent participates in at sea deployments for up to 60 days per year with individual trips spanning up to 35 days. Sea duty occurs in remote areas while exposed to weather and various sea states with long work hours. Lifting and moving heavy objects (up to 50 pounds) are required throughout the day. - Position requires driving a government vehicle for field work, movement of equipment and/or supplies between buildings, acquisition of supplies, or meetings at other locations. Must be able to obtain and maintain a valid state driver's license to operate a government vehicle. To qualify for the 0482 series: BASIC REQUIREMENTS: This position requires applicants to meet the Basic Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of specialized experience OR substitution of education for experience OR combination (if applicable) in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with an application package. You MUST meet one of the following basic education requirements: A. Degree: major in biological science that included: - At least 6 semester hours in aquatic subjects such as limnology, ichthyology, fishery biology, aquatic botany, aquatic fauna, oceanography, fish culture, or related courses in the field of fishery biology; and - At least 12 semester hours in the animal sciences in such subjects as general zoology, vertebrate zoology, comparative anatomy, physiology, entomology, parasitology, ecology, cellular biology, genetics, or research in these fields. (Excess course work in aquatic subjects may be used to meet this requirement when appropriate.) -OR- B. Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in biological science (i.e., at least 30 semester hours), of which a minimum of 6 semester hours were in aquatic subjects and 12 semester hours were in the animal sciences, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. To qualify at the ZP-2 or GS-07: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must also possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZP-1 or GS-05 in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following: - Assisting in verifying taxonomic assignment of field-collected fish egg, larval, and juvenile samples; and - Assisting in maintaining databases of fish eggs, larvae, and juveniles. -OR- SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: 1 year of graduate-level education or superior academic achievement. S.A.A. is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership. 1. Class standing -- Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses. 2. Grade-point average (G.P.A.) -- Applicants must have a grade-point average of: - 2.9 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or - 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. 3. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society in one of the national scholastic honor societies recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies. -OR- COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: A combination of graduate-level education and experience, as described above, may be used to qualify for this position.

Education

College Transcript: If you are qualifying based on education, submit a copy of your college transcript that lists college courses detailing each course by the number and department (i.e., Bio 101, Math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours and grade earned. You must submit evidence that any education completed in a foreign institution is equivalent to U.S. education standards with your resume. You may submit an unofficial copy of the transcript at the initial phase of the application process. If course content cannot be easily identified from the title of the course as listed on your transcript, you must submit an official course description from the college/university that reflects the content at the time the course was taken.

Note: Your college transcript is used to verify successful completion of degree, or college course work. An official college transcript will be required before you can report to duty.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities must be evaluated in terms of equivalency to that acquired in U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants educated in whole or in part in foreign countries must submit sufficient evidence, including transcripts, to an accredited private organization for an equivalency evaluation of course work and degree. A listing of these accredited organizations can be found on the Department of Education's website. You MUST provide a copy of the letter containing the results of the equivalency evaluation with a course by course listing along with your application. Failure to provide such documentation by the closing date of the announcement will result in lost consideration. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated visit: OPM Foreign Education Evaluation.

Contacts

• Address NOAA Office of Human Capital Services (OHCS) 1315 East West Hwy SSMC4 Silver Spring, MD 20910 US
• Name: Antoinette Gartrell
• Email: [email protected]