Supervisory Physical Scientist (Branch Chief)

About the role

This position is with the Department of Homeland Security, within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Laboratories and Scientific Services, located in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; Detroit, Michigan; Donna, Texas; Laredo, Texas; Queens, New York.

Responsibilities

• Planning and assigning work to be accomplished by subordinates, setting priorities and preparing schedules for completion of the work.
• Supervising a small to medium sized staff and performing a full range of supervisory personnel functions.
• Making technical decisions based on agency objectives, requirements, and precedents considering terms of assignments, time and cost limitations, etc., and directing or making technical determination as to course of action to pursue.
• Providing technical advice to higher-level CBP managers on chemical and physical testing and forensic analysis.
• Collaborating with Technical Advisors on complex, new, unknown samples, or potentially controversial findings with review of background material, performance of preliminary exams, review of pertinent regulations, and determination of customer's request and proper approach.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this position.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered with Selective Service.
• All pre-employment processes will be conducted in English.
• You may be required to pass a background investigation.
• CBP follows the DHS Drug-Free Workplace Plan for drug testing procedures.
• Your conduct will be subject to the ethics rules applicable to all Executive Branch employees, and to CBP employees specifically, as well as the criminal conflict of interest statutes.

Qualifications

• Basic Requirement: 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 Combination of education and experience.
• Experience: Conducting complex physical science research and analysis to support program objectives, including designing experiments, interpreting data, and preparing technical reports for management review; collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to develop and implement scientific methodologies, ensuring compliance with federal regulations and organizational standards; providing expert advice and technical guidance to colleagues and stakeholders on scientific issues, contributing to the resolution of challenging problems and the advancement of project goals; managing multiple concurrent projects, prioritizing tasks and resources to meet deadlines and deliver high-quality scientific outcomes; communicating scientific findings and recommendations clearly through written reports, presentations, and briefings to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Benefits

GS Salary: Visit this link to view the locality pay tables by geographic area. If you do not see your geographic area listed, select the "Rest of United States" pay table. Some positions fall under a special pay rate depending on the series, grade level and location of the position. Please visit this link to view special pay rate charts.

Pay

Starting at a salary of $106,437.00 (GS-13, Step 1) to $138,370.00 (GS-13, Step 10).

Schedule

Not specified.