Supervisory Hydrologic Technician

US Geological Survey; Grayling (MI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 116,000; Full time

Job summary

US Geological Survey operates the Upper Midwest Water Science Center to deliver data products, analyses, and expert advice across hydrologic sciences. This position may require overnight travel up to 2 nights per month and a government charge card for travel.

Salary ranges from $89,508 (Step 1) to $116,362 (Step 10) per year, with first-time hires starting at Step 1. A valid state driver’s license is a required selective factor for this role.

Responsibilities

• Planning and conducting data collection from gaging stations; computing discharge rates and rating tables.
• Leading field office discussions and training to improve data collection and finalization.
• Managing field data collection within budgeting constraints to support program decisions.

Job description

You will serve as a Supervisory Hydrologic Technician for the Upper Midwest Water Science Center which provides a broad range of data products, analyses, and expert advice in the hydrologic sciences.

You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 2 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.

Salary Range (Per Annum): $89,508 (Step 1) to $116,362 (Step 10)
First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the step 1 rate.

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-09/29/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

To receive credit for experience, 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. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

This position requires a special qualification that has been determined to be essential to perform the duties and will be used as a screen out element. If you do not certify that you possess the following selective factor(s), you will be rated not qualified.

• Valid State-issued Driver's License

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications:

To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level:

• Specialized Experience Requirement: 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). Your resume must include hours per week worked. Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience:
  • Planning and conducting the computation and collection of data from approximately thirty or more gaging stations between field work and/or data review, determining stage-discharge relations, computing rating tables and mean daily, monthly and annual discharge rates from these stations.
  • Acting as a party chief for site installations and making measurements of flood flows under extremely difficult conditions, including knowledge of indirect measurement options post flood events.
  • Collecting data including that required to compute flood flows by the slope-area method, by measurement of flow over dams, by flow through culverts and by flow over embankments. As well as working knowledge or expertise in area velocity discharge records completion.
  • Leading training or discussions for a field office or assisting with programs to move forward field data collection efforts or records finalization.
  • Awareness of budgeting constraints and methods within the office to help make program decisions and adjust approaches to field efforts.

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.