Archaeologist

Company Description

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is a federal nonprofit wholesale power marketer that sells electricity from 31 federal dams and one nuclear plant to millions of consumers and businesses in eight states, while operating three-quarters of the region’s high-voltage transmission grid. BPA also funds one of the largest fish and wildlife programs in the world and pursues cost-effective energy savings and operational solutions with its partners, ensuring reliable and affordable energy for the Northwest.

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application.

HOW TO APPLY: External Application Link(s): 

     26-BPA-48363-12817116-DE: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/848366800

26-BPA-48363-12817117-MP: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/848361400

Open & Close date:    Open: 10/17/2025   Close: 10/30/2025

LOCATION(s)          Portland, OR

SALARY:                 $ 79,667 - $103,563 per year

Role Description

A successful candidate in the Archeologist position will serve as a cultural resources specialist, working with BPA project environmental leads and members of project teams.

As an Archeologist, you will:

• Provide expertise on compliance with cultural resources laws, their associated regulations, and federal policies and guidelines, including Department of Energy (DOE) tribal policies and guidance.
• Assist with the development and dissemination of the organization's cultural resource information for internal policies and guidance to ensure appropriate compliance.
• Facilitate and streamline compliance processes and negotiates with stakeholders to resolve conflicts that may arise at any stage of project planning, implementation, or post-implementation.
• Serve as a member of interdisciplinary teams conducting NEPA analysis for various projects.
• Perform archaeological fieldwork (including but not limited to pedestrian survey and subsurface excavation) to identify and assess cultural resources within an area that may be impacted by proposed projects.
• Draft consultation documentation, inventory reports, and maps, as well as recommendations to be incorporated in environmental analyses.
• Act as a Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) to monitor performance and compliance to ensure BPA receives goods or services conforming to technical requirements of relevant contracts.

REQUIREMENTS: Conditions of Employment

In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answer to these questions is not scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration.

When you apply you will be asked a series of questions to determine your eligibility for employment and your qualification for this position specifically. You must answer all of these questions completely and truthfully.

Key Requirements:

• Must be a United States Citizen.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males must abide by Selective Service registration requirements.
• You will be required to report in person to the official duty location.

Conditions of Employment:

• Selectee will be required to complete the Office of Government Ethics Standard of Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OFGE450e) within 30 days of employment and annually.
• This position requires a valid driver's license as a condition of employment.
• May be required to serve as Contracting Officers Representative for BPA grants and agreements; this duty includes additional training and certification.
• The position may require extensive travel up to 14 days per month.
• The position may require extended workdays with occasional weekend travel requirements.
• Field work is often in isolated places, although work may be required in suburban and urban areas.
• Work may occur near Transmission facilities including under transmission lines in various voltages and near or within substations.
• Field work may require walking up to 5 miles per day, sometimes to remote sites over rough terrain and/or near transmission line facilities, excavation, working in extreme and sometimes inclement weather conditions while carrying equipment weighing up to 40 pounds.
• Work involves field visitation which may involve driving or flying to locations in five states and possible travel by boat or helicopter.

QUALIFICATIONS:

A. Education

1. Degree that included 3 semester hours each in the following course areas:

• History of archeology.
• Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa.
• Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development.
• Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques.
• Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work

-AND-

• Six semester hours of related course work in:
• geography, geology, or cultural geography;
• history, historiography, or historical archeology;
• environmental studies;
• scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or
• surveying;

-AND-

• Archeological field school.

2. Related Curriculum: degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in A.1 (including archeological field school). -OR-

B. Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education. -OR-

C. Experience: Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-9) in the Federal service.

Specialized experience for this position is defined as: 1) reviewing archeological field or project work for compliance with applicable statutes such as the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other regulatory requirements; AND 2) reviewing and updating NEPA documents for adequacy and accuracy.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Limit your resume to no more than two (2) pages.

How you will be evaluated:

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements above. Once the announcement closes, we will conduct a review of your application package to verify your eligibility and qualifications. If you are found qualified, your application will move forward to additional phases of the review process.

Minimum Qualifications: Once the application process is complete, the Human Resources Offices or Subject Matter Expert (SME) will review the first two pages of your resume and supporting documentation to determine whether you meet the minimum job qualifications.

Merit Promotion & VEOA Procedures: If you are minimally qualified for this job, you will be assessed and evaluated to determine if you are a best qualified candidate. Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements and current employees must have at least a fully successful or equivalent performance rating to receive consideration.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Attention to Detail
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Teamwork

EDUCATION:  

This vacancy has a positive education requirement. Education must be obtained from an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. See Department of Education Accreditation Search to verify school accreditation.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:  

To apply for this position, you MUST provide a complete application package.

 (See Required Documents section on application).

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application.

To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section. A complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the announcement closing date to receive consideration.