Physical Scientist

This position is located in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), Office of Satellite Products and Operations (OSPO), with one vacancy in Fairbanks, AK; Suitland, MD; College Park, MD; Asheville, NC; or Boulder, CO.

Qualifications:

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: This position has a positive Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of Specialized Experience in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with your application package. You MUST meet the following requirements:

To qualify for the 1301 series:
EDUCATION:

A. Degree: 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.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience: education equivalent to one of the majors 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.

AND

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government.

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.

To qualify at the ZP-4 or GS-13 level:
SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must also possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZP-3 or GS-12 in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following:

• Performing administrative and support functions such as budget formulation or project management of employee performance;
• Conducting or validating maintenance, repair, or refresh of satellite ground station equipment; and
• Utilizing testing equipment to monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot Radio Frequency (RF) or fiber optic signal paths between receiving and transmitting equipment.

Responsibilities:

This position will be filled under the DOC Alternative Personnel System (CAPS). Under CAPS, positions are classified by career, pay plan, and pay band. The ZP-4 is equivalent to the GS-13/14.

As a Physical Scientist, you will perform the following duties:

• Provide oversight for testing, evaluation, and transition of new satellite interpretive methodologies, experimental products, and state of the art technology into operations.
• Formulate, implement and direct program resources and operations of a considerable scope leading in the overall success of the satellite ground station.
• Identify trends, determine and implement changes in program direction, organizational structure or distribution or resources, and approve operating procedures, project and program schedules, and requests for major expenditures.
• Coordinate with vendors and representatives to manage the completion of ground station projects, upgrades, new installations, and associated documentation.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

• This Position requires a Special Sensitive (High Risk) Clearance. Must be able to obtain and maintain a Special Sensitive security clearance to carry out duties requiring access to Top Secret SCI because of access to compartmented "Specially Sensitive" information.

Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.

Salary : $106,437