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Agriculturalist/Mathematical Statistician

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

This position plays a key role in APHIS' Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) advanced analytics unit to develop analytical products to support data-driven decision making for programs, operations, and business activities throughout PPQ. This position works closely with team members, stakeholders, scientists, and data experts in PPQ to produce technical and scientific analyses using modeling and forecasting approaches, data visualization, reporting dashboards and workflow automation.

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. citizen. Direct Hire Authority will be used to fill this position. Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy.

The duties described are for the full-performance level. At developmental grade levels, assignments will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity.
The duties may include, but are not limited to:
Develop projects to address the needs of PPQ customers and collaborators.
Work independently or on teams to manage and deliver analytics projects in a timely manner.
Disseminate project outcomes through written reports, oral presentations, dashboards, datasets, and code.
Apply advanced data analysis techniques, such as statistical modeling, forecasting, and machine learning, to help address the issues and challenges faced by PPQ.
Develop automated workflows and tools to increase efficiency of tasks related to programs, operations, and business activities throughout PPQ.
Develop data visualization and reporting dashboards to deliver data for program and business monitoring and evaluation.
Apply data wrangling skills to clean, transform, and integrate datasets to provide the critical information needed for decision making.
Participate in the PPQ data and analytics community by sharing ideas, developing best practices, and practicing collaborative data management.
Assist in the technical review of reports, proposals, guidelines, and procedures prepared by PPQ and headquarters staff or others

Conditions of Employment

You must be a US Citizen or US National.
Individuals who were born male after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at https://www.e-verify.gov/
All USDA employees are required to be enrolled in Continuous Vetting, which authorizes government agencies to receive notifications of criminal activity on individuals who hold low risk, public trust, or national security positions.
The work is generally sedentary; however, some on-site trials and evaluations may require physical exertion such as walking through agricultural or forestry settings and climbing ladders on ships or aircraft.
Some domestic and foreign travel may be required.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement, including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.

BASIC REQUIREMENT FOR 0401 SERIES: Degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

OR Combination of education and experience: post high school education with courses equivalent to a major, which is defined as 24 semester/36 quarter hours, in the biological sciences, agriculture, natural resources management, chemistry or related disciplines appropriate to the position, PLUS appropriate experience or additional course work.

BASIC REQUIREMENT FOR 1529 SERIES: Degree that included 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, of which at least 12 semester hours were in mathematics and 6 semester hours were in statistics;

OR Combination of education and experience: at least 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, including at least 12 hours in mathematics and 6 hours in statistics, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, applicants must meet the following qualification requirement.

FOR THE GS-11 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-09 level) that may have been obtained in the private or public (local, county, state, Federal) sectors which demonstrates:

Using coding languages (Python, R, or SQL) to script data wrangling, cleaning, integration, analysis, and visualization workflows. Experience should demonstrate ability to use coding languages to conduct exploratory data analyses, develop statistical and predictive models, and develop data visualizations.
Utilizing and managing large, complex, organizational level datasets in a collaborative environment to create accurate, meaningful insights. Experience should demonstrate ability to ensure data are accurate, standardized, accessible to other users, and properly safeguarded. Evidence of data management experience may include use of database software, writing data documentation and metadata, and integration of datasets from multiple sources that are large, disparate, unstructured, and/or complex.
Experience with collaborative development and management of data analytics projects to meet the needs of diverse customers or stakeholders. Project management skills required include planning, organization, problem solving, time management, oral and written communication, and customer service.

OR 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in mathematics, statistics, biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level.

TRANSCRIPTS are required if:

This position requires specific coursework or a degree in a specific field to be basically qualified.
You are qualifying for the position based on education.
You are qualifying for this position based on a combination of experience and education.
This education must have been successfully completed and obtained from an accredited school, college, or university

COMBINATION OF EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE AT THE GS-11 GRADE LEVEL: Applicants may have combinations of successfully completed education and specialized experience to meet total qualification requirements. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade level.

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

Education

Please see above for education qualification requirement information.

Additional information

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): Visit the OPM website for information on how to apply as a CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP eligible. To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.
First time hires to the federal government normally start at the lowest rate of the salary range for the grade selected.
Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will not be paid. Any travel, transportation, and relocation expense associated with reporting for duty will be the responsibility of the selected employee.
Locality pay will vary based upon the selectee's duty location. A final salary determination will be made upon selection.
Promotion Potential: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied nor guaranteed.
Worksite Information: This is a 100% remote position that must be located within the 50 United States, its territories, or possessions. The duty station for a remote designation is the selectee's home and must be established within the defined geographic options prior to start date. The selectee is not required to regularly work from a government facility however, the option may be available.

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

This is a Direct-Hire Authority position, all applicants who meet the minimum qualifications, to include any specialized experience and/or selective placement factor(s), if applicable, will be referred to the selecting official. Before a certificate is issued to the selecting official, your application is reviewed to ensure that you meet all the qualification requirements. A rating will not be used; veteran's preference does not apply due to the existence of the Direct Hire authority for this position.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service.

To preview the application questionnaire, please visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12534987