Archeologist

This Archeologist position is with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Department of the Interior) in Phoenix, AZ. You will serve as a Archeologist with US Fish and Wildlife Service. Location is negotiable within Department of the Interior (DOI) facilities located in the following states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Iowa, and Missouri. Pay will vary based on grade level and/or duty location for which you're selected. First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the step 1 rate. Key duties: • Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Implement a cultural resource program that ensures all Fish and Wildlife Service programs and undertakings comply with applicable legislation, regulations, and policies. Provide technical advice and guidance to the Regional Director, National Wildlife Refuges, Fisheries, Federal Aid, and Ecological Services Field Offices on cultural resource issues throughout the state. Serve as the state's highest level of professional expertise and the Regional Director's principal advisor on cultural resources, museum properties and collections, Native American repatriation issues, paleontological resources, and Indian Religious Freedom Act issues. Oversee the maintenance of background data and inventories of known cultural resources on Fish and Wildlife Service lands and projects, including properties eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Serve as the liaison to the State Historic Preservation Office, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and Tribes. Conduct archaeological surveys, site identifications, and evaluations to ensure compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA for all field stations. Prepare site, project, and evaluation reports using formats acceptable to the State Historic Preservation Office. Serve as Regional Museum Property Coordinator with lead responsibility for coordinating with Fish and Wildlife Service National Curator in Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters. Negotiate agreements that fulfill the requirements of applicable laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Prepare and implement archaeological scopes of work, both by contract and in-house, that balance the requirements of cultural resource law, the needs of the FWS, and current archaeological research and cultural resource management practices. Negotiate, manage, monitor, and review contracts, contract products, and in-house products for timeliness, quality, and scientific rigor. Develop procedures, including Memoranda of Agreement and Programmatic Agreements, to simplify and streamline the inventory, identification, evaluation, and reporting of cultural resources while maintaining compliance with the law. Negotiate implementation of these procedures with the State Historic Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Initiate, design, manage, and execute major university- or government-sponsored studies of historic resources. This includes helping establish project goals and objectives, making recommendations to improve research designs, managing the permit program, and consulting on and participating in specific aspects of field and/or laboratory research. Review and prepare Archaeological Resource Protection Act permits for cultural resource studies conducted on Service-managed lands in the region, and provide regional guidance and technical advice on all paleontological issues. Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level. Qualifications: All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 12/04/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications: Basic Educational Requirement AND/OR Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying. Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following: A. Degree: possess a degree that included 3 semester hours each in the following course areas: History of archeology. Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa. Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development. Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques. Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work. AND Six semester hours of related course work in: geography, geology, or cultural geography; history, historiography, or historical archeology; environmental studies; scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or surveying; AND Archeological field school.. You must submit transcripts. -OR- B. Degree: possess a related curriculum: degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in A.1 (including archeological field school). -OR- C. Combination of education and experience: course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. -OR- D. Experience: possess four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher-grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project. -AND- Specialized Experience: To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: 1) conducting archaeological surveys, cultural resource inventories, site evaluations, and Section 106 compliance activities; 2) applying cultural resource laws and regulations, including the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA); 3) preparing archaeological and cultural resource reports and documentation; 4) coordinating with Tribes, State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs), and other stakeholders regarding cultural resource matters; 5) administering archaeological permits, agreements, contracts, or projects; and 6) maintaining cultural resource records, inventories, museum property, and associated documentation. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- Specialized Experience: To qualify for this position at the GS-13 grade level: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: 1) administering a cultural resource management program; 2) conducting or overseeing archaeological surveys, cultural resource inventories, site evaluations, National Register evaluations, and Section 106 reviews; 3) applying the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (PRPA), and 5 CFR 79: Curation of Federally Owned and Administered Archeological Collections; 4) preparing and reviewing cultural resource reports and documentation; 5) coordinating with Tribes, Tribal and State Historic Preservation Officers, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and Federal agencies regarding cultural resource matters; 6) developing and implementing cultural resource compliance agreements and procedures; and 7) administering archaeological permits, contracts, studies, museum property, collections, and cultural resource projects. Volunteer Experience: 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, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. View the full announcement and apply on USAJOBS.gov.