Interdisciplinary Community Planner/Ecologist

Summary
The ideal candidate for this position will have experience implementing programs following federal regulations such as the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and/or implementing environmental laws such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) or National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
This job is open to

• Individuals with disabilities
• Federal employees - Competitive service
  Current or former competitive service federal employees.
• Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)
  Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee.
• Land & base management
  Certain current or former term or temporary federal employees of a land or base management agency.
• Military spouses
• Family of overseas employees
  Family members of a federal employee or uniformed service member who is or was, working overseas.
• Peace Corps & AmeriCorps Vista
• Special authorities
  Individuals eligible under a special authority not listed above, but defined in the federal hiring regulations.
• Veterans

Clarification from the agency
Individuals who do not meet the requirements shown below may apply under FEMA-24-VIP-659811-DE, which is open to the public.
This job is open to: Status Candidates; DRRA Eligibles; Former Overseas Employees; CTAP; ICTAP; VEOA; 30% or More Disabled veterans; Schedule A; Military Spouses; Peace Corps; Americorps; Vista; Land/Base Management;Boren Awardees; and, Interchange Agreement Eligibles.
Videos
Duties
What will I do in this position if hired?
In this position, you will serve as a senior-level analyst coordinating and implementing consultation documents under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) related to FEMA's implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Duties and responsibilities include:

• Evaluating community floodplain management program efforts and verifying compliance with the NFIP regulations through site visits, surveying the flood hazard areas of the community, and reviewing community records, implementation, variances, and enforcement procedures.
• Reviewing, drafting and/or finalizing consultation agreement documents, standard operating procedures, policy, guidance, templates, reports, resources and tools, especially those related to Endangered Species Act compliance.
• Leading meetings, providing briefings and maintaining close relationships with stakeholders at the Federal, state and local levels.
• Conducting training and outreach to internal and external stakeholders.

What else do I need to know?
At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management.Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.
FEMA is committed to ensuring that its workforce reflects the diversity of the nation.At FEMA, our workforce includes the many identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, ages, cultures, and beliefs of the people we serve. To learn about FEMA's ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts, reasonable accommodation process, and the FEMA Core Values, please visit www.fema.gov.
Promotion Potential: Future promotions will be dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, the continuing need for an employee assigned to the higher level, and administrative approval.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• Selective Service registration required.
• Current federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements.
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
• Please review "Other Information" section for additional key requirements.

To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Public Trust as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit OPM Investigations.
Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below.
Qualifications
Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service. The time-in-grade and qualification requirements must be met within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
Individual Occupational Requirements
Community Planning series (0020):
Basic Requirements
1. Degree: Community planning; or related field such as urban affairs, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, sociology, geography, economics, political science, or public administration that included at least 12 semester hours in the planning process, socioeconomic and physical elements of planning, urban and regional economic analysis, and development finance.
Note: Applicants with degrees in related fields, such as those listed above, who do not have the 12 semester hours of specified course work must have had at least 1 year of work experience in community planning acquired under the supervision and guidance of a community planner.
OR
2. Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major in one of the above disciplines, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours in any combination of the above disciplines of which at least 12 semester hours were in the planning process, and socio economic and physical elements of planning, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
Ecology series (0408):
Basic Requirements
1. 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.
OR
2. Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:
To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level (starting salary $121,873), you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the Federal or Private Sector and must demonstrate all of the following:

• Interpreting legislation, regulations, policies, or other guidance, in order to implement compliance activities at the local, state or federal levels; and
• Working with principles or methods of administering environmental compliance activities such as the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, or Clean Air Act.

Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:

• Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

• Please limit your resume to five pages.If more than five pages are submitted, only the first five pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.

• Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.

Are you qualifying based on your work experience?

• Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility.To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized byexperience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.

• Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/DAE employee?To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.

• Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information.Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."

• 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

• For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards

Education
Positive Education Requirement: This position has a positive education requirement, as outlined in the "requirements" section.You must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) with your online application.Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts.
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. For example, specific courses accepted for college-level credit by an accredited U.S. college or university, or foreign education evaluated by an organization recognized for accreditation by the Department of Education as education equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. college or university. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. Visit the Department of Education's Recognition of Foreign Qualifications for more information.
Additional information

• If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.
• DHS uses E-verify, an internet based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities.
• The Department of Homeland Security encourages persons with disabilities to apply, to include persons with intellectual, severe physical or psychiatric disabilities, as defined by 5 CFR § 213.3102(u), and/or Disabled Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more as defined by 5 CFR § 315.707. Veterans, Peace Corps/VISTA volunteers, and persons with disabilities possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs. To determine your eligibility for non-competitive appointment and to understand the required documentation, click on the links above or contact the Servicing Human Resources Office listed at the bottom of this announcement.
• This announcement may be used to fill one or more vacancies.
• All candidates must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.
• A one year pro...