LEAD INTERDISCIPLINARY.

About the role

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.

Responsibilities

• 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 and 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 and chemical parameters (e.g., DO, pH, trace elements), write technical reports of findings, and review environmental assessments and 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 and 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

• 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

Only applicants who meet one of the following employment authority categories are eligible to apply:

• 30 Percent or More Disabled Veterans
• Current Department of Army Civilian Employees
• Current Department of Defense (DOD) Civilian Employee (non-Army)
• Domestic Defense Industrial Base/Major Range and Test Facilities Base Civilian Personnel Workforce
• Executive Order (E.O.) 12721
• Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan
• Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act
• Military Spouses, under Executive Order (E.O.) 13473
• Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer
• Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Interchange Agreement Eligible
• People with Disabilities, Schedule A
• Postal Service/Peace Corps and Other Unique Authorities
• Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Reserve (MR) and National Guard (NG) Technician Eligible
• Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Spouse Preference (MSP) Eligible
• Priority Placement Program, DoD MR and NG Preference Eligible Tech Receiving Disability Retirement
• Priority Placement Program, DoD Retained Grade Preference Eligible
• Reinstatement
• Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) of 1998

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). Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application.

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.
• Leading a multidisciplinary team for a water quality study.

Competencies

Your resume should describe your level of experience in the following areas:

• Hydrology: Water Quality – Subject 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 – Interdisciplinary 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.

Time in Grade Requirement

Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-12).

Individual Occupational Requirements

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

Wildlife Biologist (0486)

• A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in biological science that included:
  • At least 9 semester hours in wildlife subjects such as mammalogy, ornithology, animal ecology, wildlife management, or research courses in the field of wildlife biology.
  • At least 12 semester hours in zoology in subjects such 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).
  • At least 9 semester hours in botany or the related plant sciences.
• 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, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Engineer (Civil 0810/Environmental 0819)

• A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. The program must:
  • Lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); or
  • 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:
    • statics, dynamics;
    • strength of materials (stress-strain relationships);
    • fluid mechanics, hydraulics;
    • thermodynamics;
    • electrical fields and circuits;
    • nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and
    • any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.
• B. Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished:
  • A thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and
  • 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:
  • Professional registration or licensure – Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE).
  • Written Test – Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration.
  • Specified academic courses – Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences, including the courses specified in A above.
  • 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), plus at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision.

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.
• B. Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to one of the majors shown in A above, including at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Hydrology (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