This position is located in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Office of the Associate Chief, Climate Officeat National Headquarters. This recruitment is for a TEMPORARY PROMOTION not to exceed 1 year. Please see Additional Information section for more details.

Duties

Interfaces closely with discipline leaders at NRCS National Headquarters as well as other Federal agencies and agricultural advocacy groups, cooperating State entities, state universities, and consultant organizations. Integrates the latest climate science, including strategies for adaptation to climate changes and mitigation of the causes of climate effects, to develop, coordinate, and implement NRCS new or revised policies. Works with discipline leaders across NRCS and USDA to integrate climate science resiliency, mitigation, and adaptation into conservation practices and technical guidance as appropriate. Develops planning criteria, assessment procedures, and key considerations for determining climate adaptation and mitigation-related resource concerns and components. Serve as a technical clearing house for climate adaptation and mitigation information to ensure advances in technology or process refinements and best practices are reflected in the technical assistance and training provided. Provides leadership for greenhouse gas quantification efforts in support of agency activities.

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.
• 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.
• 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/.

Qualifications

This recruitment is for a TEMPORARY PROMOTION not to exceed 1 year. Please see Additional Information section for more details. 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. (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). One year at the GS-13 level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-14 level. One year at the GS-14 level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-15 level. Basic Education Requirement: General Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences Series 0401 Degree: bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position (Note: You must attach a copy of your 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. General Physical Science Series, 1301 Degree: bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in physical science, engineering, or mathematics which included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) OR Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to one of the majors, as shown in A above, that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, 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-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: Developing conservation planning criteria, assessment procedures, and key considerations for determining climate adaptation and mitigation-related resource concerns; Participating in the integration of climate science into state, regional, or national strategies and policies; Partnering with other Agencies, States, and organizations to create awareness of or formulate strategies to advance climate issues; Providing input for training strategies to address high priority issues, such as climate adaptation and mitigation; AND Providing input and/or was on a Team drafting state, regional and/or national policy. GS-15 Specialized Experience: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-14 grade level in the Federal service that included: Working with water and climate national experts to create quality control standards for a department, organization, or Agency; Leading or supervising a team performing climate data and analyses to conduct drought monitoring and associated hydrologic information for the United States; Issuing guidance or creating policy for water and climate national experts on data acquisition and data quality control program; AND Proving oversight and approval on human resource functions related to employee performance and personnel actions. (Your resume must CLEARLY demonstrate this experience) There is no substitution of education at the GS-12 or higher 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. Please check out this link for more information Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | International Affairs Office (ed.gov)

Contacts

• Address Natural Resources Conservation Service 1400 Independence Ave SW Washington, DC 20250 US
• Name: Staff Acquisition
• Phone: 8164265706
• Email: Kansascity@opm.gov