Description

Summary

About the Position: Serves as authority on water quality issues, senior Water Control / Water Quality liaison, and Water Quality Team Lead, resolving critical water management conflicts and issues impacting the District's multipurpose lake projects.

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Duties

• Serve as the District's water quality Subject Matter Expert (SME), applying specialized reservoir storage knowledge to resolve critical, controversial water management conflicts, policy interpretations, and operational trade-offs.
• Develop, evaluate, and apply new operating principles, guidelines, and water management priority strategies in the day-to-day regulation of District multipurpose reservoir and flood-control projects.
• Coordinate internally/externally to meet requirements of the Clean Water Act (CWA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and other mandates, representing the District on interagency workgroups and regional meetings.
• Support the Water Management Program Manager by planning, budgeting, and executing the Water Quality program, including preparing out-year budget submittals and executing the Program Management Plan (PgMP).
• Apply biological, chemical, physical, and hydrodynamic concepts to evaluate environmental conditions, aquatic organism behavior, and the interactive effects of sudden high-velocity releases, stratification, and chemical build-up on ecosystems.
• Conduct water quality and environmental investigations, analyze physical/chemical parameters (e.g., DO, pH, trace elements), write technical reports of findings, and review environmental assessments/impact statements prepared by other agencies.
• Apply and complete rigorous Quality Assurance/Quality Control and District Quality Control (DQC) processes on project designs, peer-created products, and national Agency Technical Reviews (ATR) to minimize claims and ensure accuracy.
• Serve as senior liaison between Water Control and Water Quality missions, translating technical issues to Corporate Boards, facility groups, and Project Review Boards to align project timing, funding, and goals.
• Lead the full product development process from planning to completion, managing multiple resources concurrently, tracking schedules, mitigating risks, and advising executive management on courses of action.
• Provide expert environmental guidance to flood-control reservoirs during flood and non-flood periods, issuing/reviewing Special Directives and evaluating deviations from established Water Control Plans.
• Lead and coordinate a multidisciplinary workforce of 5-9 professional engineers, scientists, and technicians; setting priorities, distributing workload, monitoring progress, and resolving informal complaints.
• Coach, mentor, and identify training needs for team members, promoting team building and consensus while representing the team to leadership to secure resources.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• Travel may be required up to 10% of the time.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens

In order to qualify, you must meet the Individual occupational requirements and the minimum experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.

Minimum Experience: Qualified applicants must describe in their resume at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in federal service with applying limnological principles in evaluating physical, chemical, and biological parameters of water bodies and their relationship to the natural and built environment; and leading a multidisciplinary team for a water quality study.

The hiring manager will review your resume under Direct Hire procedures, considering your level of competence with:

Hydrology: Water QualitySubject Matter Expertise in aquatic ecosystems, environmental regulations (Clean Water Act, ESA, NEPA), data interpretation (biological, chemical, physical, hydrodynamic), program budgeting, and technical reporting.

Technical Competence withInterdisciplinary project management, bridging Water Control and Water Quality missions, translating technical issues for executive management, risk mitigation, and utilization of systems like CWMS (Corps Water Management System).

Leadership: Leading, mentoring, and organizing a workforce of 5-9 technical professionals. Workload distribution, performance tracking, conflict resolution, training, and consensus building.

Individual Occupational Requirements:

Basic Requirement for Biologist (0401): A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

OR

B. Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Basic Requirement for Wildlife Biologist (0486): A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in biological science that included at least 9 semester hours in such wildlife subjects as mammalogy, ornithology, animal ecology, wildlife management, or research courses in the field of wildlife biology; AND at least 12 semester hours in zoology in such subjects as general zoology, invertebrate zoology, vertebrate zoology, comparative anatomy, physiology, genetics, ecology, cellular biology, parasitology, entomology, or research courses in such subjects (excess courses in wildlife biology may be used to meet the zoology requirements where appropriate.); AND at least 9 semester hours in botany or the related plant sciences.

OR

B. Combination of Education and Experience: Equivalent to a major in biological science (i.e., at least 30 semester hours), with at least 9 semester hours in wildlife subjects, 12 semester hours in zoology, and 9 semester hours in botany or related plant science, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Education

Individual Occupational Requirements Continued:

Basic Requirement for an Engineer (Civil 0810/Environmental 0819): A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); OR (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

OR

B. Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:

1. Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.

2. Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, or any other written test required for professional registration, by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.

3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program.

4. Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions.

Basic Requirement for Physical Scientist (1301): A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher 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.

OR

B. 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.

Basic Requirement for the Hydrology Series (GS-1315): A. Degree: physical or natural science, or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in any combination of courses in hydrology, the physical sciences, geophysics, chemistry, engineering science, soils, mathematics, aquatic biology, atmospheric science, meteorology, geology, oceanography, or the management or conservation of water resources. The course work must have included at least 6 semester hours in calculus (including both differential and integral calculus), and at least 6 semester hours in physics. Calculus and physics, as described above, are requirements for all grade levels.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience: Course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/

Additional information

• A Relocation Incentive may be considered.
• A Recruitment Incentive may be considered.
• Enhanced Leave Accrual may be considered.
• Advanced Rate of pay may be considered.
• Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
• You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
• This position requires a 1 year probationary period during which the agency evaluates your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In making this determination, the agency may consider your performance and conduct; agency needs and interests; whether your continued employment supports organizational or Government goals; and whether it promotes the efficiency of the Federal service. Continued employment requires written certification that it advances the public interest.
• Direct Deposit of Pay is required.
• Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees.
• If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.
• This is a(n) Engineering and Construction Career Field position.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is not authorized, based on a determination that a PCS move is not in the Government interest.

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Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.