LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Summary This position will be on the staff of the State Conservation Engineer office of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and is located in the NRCS State Office. The incumbent of this position serves as Landscape Architect and is a technical expert in landscape architecture, with statewide responsibilities in specialized agency programs. The incumbent is supervised by the State Engineer. Responsibilities Provides technical expertise and consultation in the development, revision, and implementation of NRCS ecologically based landscape conservation, restoration and management as applied to watersheds and stream corridors Serves as an authority within the NRCS and professional community regarding landscape management theory, principles, research and practice on unusual, complex and unique projects. Provides professional technical consultation, guidance, and technical expertise on unusual, complex, or unique projects. Practices and assists in the development of standards, criteria, methods, procedures and landscape architectural technical references. Represents Ohio NRCS at meetings, conferences and forums dealing with pertinent specialized areas of landscape architecture. Provides training at the field and state level on new, emerging and revised technology, methods and procedures in landscape architectural analysis and design. Assists in the development of national or regional level curriculum and specialized instructional materials Designs and conducts landscape architectural investigations for engineering problems, environmental studies and rehabilitation projects. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. Time in grade: (e.g. one year at the GS-11 grade level for consideration for the GS-12 grade level). Basic Education Requirement: Degree: landscape architecture or landscape design. OR Combination of education and experience — for each year short of graduation, the applicant must have had 1 year of experience under professional leadership and guidance of such character and diversity as to be a satisfactory substitute for the required education. This experience must have included original landscape design. Experience Equivalent to a Degree in Landscape Architecture: A degree in landscape architecture indicates that an applicant has the basic background to perform professional landscape architectural work at the beginning levels and has the potential to develop the skills and abilities required at the higher levels. Experience may be substituted for education to the extent that it provided the equivalent background. However, because an education provides some knowledge that cannot be measured in terms of course content, but rather is part of general knowledge and cultural background gained as a result of interrelationships among courses, careful judgment must be used in evaluating experience substituted for education as provided for in paragraph B of the basic requirements. ANDSPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:GS-12: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: Reviewing, planning and developing designs for construction, repair or maintenance projects; Preparing contract design and construction packages; development, execution and project management of multiple projects; Knowledge of project management principles and concepts; Applying the technical principles, practices, procedures of project development; managing contractors or similar. Note: There is no education substitution for the GS-12 level. For more information on the qualifications for this position, click here: Landscape Architecture Series 0807 (opm.gov) 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 You must submit a copy of your college transcripts or a list of college courses with credit hours, dates completed, and grades received to verify all education requirements (i.e. substitution of education and/or basic education requirement). If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g. special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college for that particular course to ensure you are properly evaluated. Please note that qualifications determinations are based solely on the information submitted for each particular vacancy announcement. You must document all requirements on every vacancy; we cannot use previous determinations as a basis for rating. All required information must be received by the closing date of this announcement, and non-submission of all required documents/documentation will result in non-consideration. Unofficial transcripts will be accepted. This information must be received by the closing date of this announcement. Non-submission of these documents will result in non-consideration. 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. Applicants must, therefore, only report attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation via this link. All education claimed by applicants will be verified accordingly. Important: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Click on this link for more information. Additional Information Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Reemployment Priority List (RPL): Visit the OPM website for information on how to apply as a CTAP or RPL eligible. To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP 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 applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100. Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Employees: Permanent County employees without prior Federal tenure who are selected for a Civil Service position under Public Law 105-277 will be given a career-conditional appointment and must serve a 1-year probationary period. Recruitment and/or relocation incentives may be authorized. Physical Demands: Office work is mostly sedentary. There are frequent field trips requiring considerable walking, bending, lifting, climbing and exposure to adverse weather conditions. Construction site visits may pose hazards associated with heavy equipment and potential exposure to agricultural wastes and chemicals. Work Environment: ???????Work is normally in an office environment, however, some work is performed in wilderness, rural and urban areas and at construction sites, where a full range of climatic and physical conditions are to be expected. PLEASE NOTE: In the interest of filling these positions as efficiently as possible, we are requiring the following: If called for an interview, applicants must be available to interview within 3 business days of being contacted. If a tentative job offer is extended, selectee will have 2 business days in which to accept or decline. This position is eligible for telework within the local commuting area of the position and other flexible work arrangements. Current USDA policy includes telework for an 8 hour work day, 4 days per week; other flexibilities are possible dependent upon availability and/or the position and its associated duties. Employee participation is at the discretion of the supervisor.