This position is located within the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Natl Pk Svc, Southeast, ofc of Natural Science Studies-South Florida Natural Resource Center (SFNRC), HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA

Develops and prepares major sections of the park resources management plan that requires the application of ecological principles. Prepares specific resources action plans and strategies needed to successfully manage and protect natural ecosystems and environmental conditions. Represents Park on NPS regional task groups or similar organizations. Makes presentations in the parks, in public gatherings, and at professional meetings.

Assists natural resources management staff in parks, centers and support offices by providing direct professional and programmatic advice and support. Carries out program management duties by developing work plans and schedules, scopes of work, cost estimates, and proposals and/or grants to justify funding requests and accomplish goals. May administer and track project funds and prepare accomplishment reports, as needed. Maintains awareness of applicable funding sources within NPS and outside.

Develops and implements long range plans for the inventory, evaluation, documentation, preservation, research, and interpretation of ecology within the appropriate mission, objectives and resources contexts. Develops guidelines to deal with the more complex or unusual problems, or with novel, undeveloped or controversial aspects of ecology and other natural resources and their management. Coordinates the park's ecological strategies and programs with those on adjacent lands for the purposes of achieving broad ecosystem protection strategies and preventing human impacts. Negotiates cooperative and interagency agreements and other cooperative instruments needed to effectively carry out resource's stewardship goals. Identifies research needs, prepares requests for research proposals or statements of work, and provides oversight for research projects. Serves as the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative for projects conducted through contracts and serves as the Agreement Technical Representative for Interagency Agreements, and Cooperative Agreements. In cooperation with appropriate staff, researchers, and partners, the incumbent designs, develops, tests, and implements scientific monitoring protocols to identify, evaluate, and conduct long-term monitoring of ecosystem components, such as flora and fauna, and ecological processes. This includes conducting inventories to determine statistically valid plot distributions and design.

Writes new monitoring documents that define monitoring techniques and develops methods for future refinements of protocols. Based on results of inventories, in-depth studies, and monitoring, the incumbent develops and conducts scientifically credible protection, mitigation, and restoration projects needed to prevent resource damage, restore and/or maintain critical habitats, plant and animal communities, and managed landscapes, minimize human impacts. Develops and carries out statistically valid data collection protocols. Performs data collection using advanced technology such as electronic data collectors when appropriate.

Performs data entry and carries out quality control checks on data collection and entry performed by others. Conducts analysis of complex data, determining and documenting the significance of findings. Prepares scientific reports regarding the results of management, protection, restoration, inventory, monitoring, and research. Summarizes new information for use by the scientific community, park staff, cooperators and partners. Incorporates appropriate Geographic Information System (GIS) technology into job to provide comprehensive and scientifically sound answers to inquiries from managers and others. Uses automatic methods for data collection, analysis or illustration. Inputs data into digital form and uses computer applications for data analysis, manipulation, and presentation. Prepares environmental assessments (EAs) related to park projects in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act. Evaluates EAs and environmental impact statements prepared by other federal agencies for projects that may affect park resources. Works closely with the park education staff to incorporate new information into park and partner education programs. Acquires and maintains equipment and supplies necessary for conducting field activities. Prepares and maintains botanical specimens in the park herbarium. Maintains records on the collection. The incumbent must be able to perform high level statistical analyses (e.g., nonparametric, time-lagged, autocorrelation, spatial statistics, etc.) and must come with knowledge of how to perform statistical analyses in R and Python.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
• Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
• You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest.

This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 09/14/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience.

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications: Basic Educational Requirement AND Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying.

Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following:

Degree: biology, or a related field of science underlying ecological research that included at least 30 semester hours in basic and applied biological sciences. These hours must have included at least 9 semester hours in ecology, and 12 semester hours in physical and mathematical sciences. (You must include a copy of your transcripts). You must submit official transcript if selected by entrance-on-duty (EOD).

AND:

In addition to meeting all of the Basic Qualifications Requirements above, select a response that best describes how your background meets the specialized experience or education requirement for an Ecologist GS-0408-12 position.

To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level:

Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level or higher in Federal Service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of qualifying specialized experience includes duties involved in the Incumbent having the ability to: develop ecological models, evaluate restoration modeling output, develop Conceptual Ecological Models linking operations to ecosystem outcomes; identify ecosystem resource needs and develop associated projects to address those needs; conduct research to understand factors affecting ecosystems and publish findings in peer-reviewed journals and/or technical reports; design and implement scientific monitoring programs; establish water quality and flow-based thresholds and numeric nutrient standards; perform spatial statistical analyses; evaluate agricultural Best Management Practices; provide expert witness testimonies surrounding the Everglades litigation; and advance existing water quality models and stormwater treatment models. (You must include the number of hours worked per week within your resume.)