Duties

Summary

About the Position: Serves as a Microbiologist conducting research studies, formulating and conducting systematic research investigations. Investigations are carried out through a series of complete and conceptually related research studies. As a team member on classified and unclassified field missions, CONUS and OCONUS, performs detailed analysis of unknown environmental samples for chemical, biological, or explosives contamination, under field conditions.
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Responsibilities

• Perform quality control measurements of reagents and bio-analytical systems.
• Conduct analysis of organisms and toxins using laboratory techniques.
• Properly certifies the shipment of all HAZMATS (i.e. chemical reagents, chemical air monitoring standards, chemical and biological warfare agents, compressed cylinders).
• Conduct literature reviews to evaluate existing precedent work.
• Calibrate analytical and supporting equipment.
• Conduct experimentation or testing for approved projects both in the laboratory and in the field.
• Monitor the tracking of samples from initial accession into the laboratory throughout testing and ending at final destruction or other disposition.
• Recommend new methods, techniques, or emerging instrumentation evaluation procedures for purposes of gathering basic data.
• Perform laboratory tests using immunological and genomic assays.
• Conduct statistical analysis of all data gained while testing samples or conducting research.
• Conduct experiments in support of senior scientist to determine suitability of assays.
• Conduct literature reviews to evaluate existing precedent work.
• Provide written laboratory findings for input into technical reports.
• Provide analytical data to higher graded personnel for analysis of data trends.
• Maintain detailed equipment status and test results in an approved lab notebook.
• Provide oral project status updates to include successes and shortcomings.

Travel Required

50% or less - Overnight Business Travel is up to 50% to remote locations away from the typical duty station.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
12

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• Emergency Essential position with the potential to be deployed overseas.
• Position requires you to pass pre-employment and random drug testing.
• Position requires the incumbent to pass pre-employment physical and receive required immunizations.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a valid State driver?s license.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a valid Government driver?s license.
• Must obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.
• Subject to the Lautenberg Amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968.
• Overnight Business Travel is up to 50% and has mobility for temporary duty (TDY) assignments or temporary change of station (TCS) both CONUS and OCONUS .
• Must sign a DoD Form 2365 (DoD Civilian Employee Overseas Emergency-Essential Position Agreement) and potentially to be deployed overseas.
• This position has the capability for emergency worldwide response to chemical/biological accident/incident situations 24 hours per day 365 days a year.
• This position may require the employee to perform mission requirements in hostile environments.
• The selectee may be required to obtain and maintain a Commercial Drivers License with Hazardous Material qualification.
• May be required to participate in emergency response and remediation activities with long periods of standing, walking long distances, carrying moderately heavy objects (50 pounds or more), climbing multiple flights of stairs and crouching,
• May be required to wear OSHA Level A Personnel Protective Ensemble (PPE) for extended periods of time (e.g., 1 hour or more duration).
• Required to work with or in close proximity to hazardous chemical warfare materiel, biological warfare materiel, recovered chemical warfare materiel, toxic industrial materiel, toxic industrial chemicals, and explosives.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens

In order to qualify, you must meet the 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 .

Basic Requirement for Microbiologist:

A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in microbiology; or biology, chemistry, or basic medical science that included at least 20 semester hours in microbiology and other subjects related to the study of microorganisms, and 20 semester hours in the physical and mathematical sciences combining course work in organic chemistry or biochemistry, physics, and college algebra, or their equivalent.
OR
B. Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to a major in microbiology, biology, chemistry, or basic medical science that included courses 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:

Specialized experience is described as: One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service which includes (1) reviewing a variety of narrative or statistical data to prepare scientific reports for review (2) testing various samples following the appropriate guidelines or instructions and (3) conducting biological testing of samples with a variety of unknown variables.

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:

• Biology
• Communications
• Knowledge Management
• Research

Education

Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Microbiology, or specific area of study such as bacteriology, virology, mycology, algology, protozoology, parasitology, immunology, serology, microbial genetics, or soil microbiology; or specific applied fields of microbiology such as clinical and public health microbiology, food technology, production processes, industrial fermentation, pollution, etc. Graduate study in related fields such as experimental pathology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, biochemistry, animal or plant physiology, genetics, plant pathology, and insect disease control, may also be pertinent, provided it has direct application to microbiological work. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.)
OR
Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the first year (total graduate semester hours minus 18) by 18. Add the two percentages.

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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

• 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.
• Two year trial/probationary period may be required.
• 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 Career Program (CP) 16 position.
• You may claim military spouse preference.
• If a MSP applicant is determined best qualified and selected, placement must be at the full performance level for priority consideration.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). If you are a Federal employee in the competitive service and your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority for this position. To receive selection priority, you must: (1) meet ICTAP eligibility criteria (2) be rated well-qualified for the position and; (3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your ICTAP eligibility. To be considered well-qualified and receive selection priority applicants must satisfy all qualification requirements for the position and receive a score of 90 or above. Additional information about the program is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website.
• If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application ..
• 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.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your résumé and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your résumé and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.

Basis for Rating: Qualified candidates will be assigned to one of three quality categories: Best Qualified, Highly Qualified and Qualified. Veteran preference eligibles are listed ahead of non-preference eligibles within each quality category.

• Best Qualified. Candidates in this category possess exceptional skills and experience to exceed well above the minimum requirements for the announced position.
• Highly Qualified. Candidates in this category possess good skills and experience above the minimum requirements for the announced position.
• Qualified. Candidates in this category meet the minimum experience requirements for the announced position.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Secret

Drug test required
Yes

Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk

Trust determination process
National security

Required Documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist (External) .

As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

1. Your resume:

• Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
• If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
• For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you may not receive consideration for this position.
• For additional information see: What to include in your resume .

2. Other supporting documents:

• Cover Letter, optional
• Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
• This position has an individual occupational requirement and/or allows for substitution of education for experience. If you meet this requirement based on education you MUST submit a copy of your transcript with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses

NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.