Physical Scientist

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-06/12/2024-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience.

Basic Requirement for Physical Scientist GS-1301:
A degree in physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics. You must provide copies of your transcripts.

-OR-
Combination of education and experience in one of the majors shown above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education. You must provide hours per week and to/from dates (month/year) on your resume.

To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following OPM's Qualification Standards by close of the announcement:

Specialized Experience: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-9 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equips the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of qualifying specialized experience includes but is not limited to: developing and preparing portions of climate adaptation plans or resource management plans related to climate change; preparation of specific action plans; identifying research needs, preparing proposals, and oversight of research; designing, developing, testing, and implementing scientific monitoring protocols; developing scientifically credible protection, mitigation, and restoration projects; developing and carrying out statistically valid data collection protocols; using spatial data in a geographic information system (GIS) to analyze and document results. You must provide hours per week and to/from dates (month/year) on your resume.

-OR-
Education: 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study. If that number cannot be obtained from school, 18 semester hours should be considered an academic year of graduate study. You must provide copies of your transcripts.

-OR-
Combination of Education and Experience: Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. NOTE: Only graduate level education in excess of two years may be combined with experience. To calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education, divide your number of semester hours in excess of 36 semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. To calculate your percentage of experience, divide your months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Add the two percentages. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must provide copies of your transcripts and the hours per week and to/from dates (month/year) on your resume.


Volunteer Experience: 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.