The APHIS/Wildlife Services (WS)/National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) is the research unit of the WS program. The Data Scientist will be responsible for data management and analysis pipelines including but not limited to data storage, cleaning/curation of data, creation of data pipelines among databases, automation of data flows, maintenance of appropriate computational infrastructure, conducting statistical analysis, development of software, and communicating results to stakeholders.

Duties

The duties may include, but are not limited to: Provides data-driven solutions to complex challenges by developing processes to transform raw structured or unstructured data into useful, actionable information for critical mission systems. Designs data storage solutions, manage data pipelines, and ensure efficient data organization and retrieval. Designs, builds, and maintains scalable data pipelines using commercial cloud, open source, and/or custom software solutions to process large datasets. Develops automation for movements of data between different systems and create automated validation methods to load data into systems accurately and consistently. Establishes data quality checks and procedures to ensure accuracy and consistency of data. Derives meaning from big data (i.e., datasets that may be large, disparate, unstructured, and/or complex), including structured, loosely structured, and unstructured data. Analyzes a variety of data sources to provide data-driven insights to streamline program evaluation and oversight and provide inferences for research and operational program data. Collaborates with Agency and Program teams to develop research or surveillance designs and management plans, procedures, and methodology for Agency and Program evaluation and integrity. Develops interactive data visualizations and software that is accessible to a variety of stakeholders.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Individuals who were born male after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• 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/
• Successful completion of one-year trial period.
• All USDA employees are required to be enrolled in Continuous Vetting, which authorizes government agencies to receive notifications of criminal activity on individuals who hold low risk, public trust, or national security positions.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement, including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. BASIC REQUIREMENT: Degree: Mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science or field directly related to the position. The degree must be in a major field of study (at least at the baccalaureate level) that is appropriate for the position. OR Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major field of study (30 semester hours) as shown in the paragraph above, plus additional education or appropriate experience. In addition to the basic requirement applicants must also possess: FOR THE GS-13 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-12 level) that may have been obtained in the private or public (local, county, state, Federal) sectors which demonstrates: Developed automated pipelines for data extraction from databases or publicly available data sources to combine data for statistical analysis, construction of new databases, and construction of data products that create spatial layers for additional analyses. Developed software packages and interactive data visualizations including interactive dashboards and analytic tools that help users visualize their data in different subsets. Regular use of programming languages in multiple data science areas: statistical data analysis (e.g., C++, python, or R), software or web application development (e.g., JavaScript or HTML), database management (e.g., SQL), and/or of cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, or GCP). Developed statistical models of ecological systems, especially of disease surveillance data, as evidenced through authorship on research articles or software. Led research or software development projects, including communicating technical information, both orally and in writing to non-technical end-users and building effective developer/end-user relationships for collaborative development. Note: There is no education substitution for this grade level. TRANSCRIPTS are required if: This position requires specific coursework or a degree in a specific field to be basically qualified. You are qualifying for this position based on a combination of experience and education. This education must have been successfully completed and obtained from an accredited school, college, or university 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.

Education

Please see above for education qualification requirement information.

Contacts

• Address Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service USDA APHIS MRPBS 250 Marquette Avenue, Suite 410 Minneapolis, MN 55401 US
• Name: MRP Human Resources
• Phone: 612-336-3227
• Email: [email protected]