Supervisory Hydrologist

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); Madison (WI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Geological Survey in Madison, Wisconsin, seeks a Supervisory Hydrologist to serve as Division Director for the ESPD, balancing core hydrologic knowledge with process-oriented scientific capacity to support operations and long-term goals.

The role involves directing strategic planning, budgeting, program evaluation, and collaboration across Federal, State, Tribal, local, and academic partners to advance national water priorities.

Qualifications

• Minimum qualifications include a degree in physical or natural science or engineering with at least 30 semester hours in hydrology, physics, calculus (6 hours) and physics (6 hours).
• Time-in-Grade requirements apply for current Federal employees; for others, resume must show full-time/40 hours per week.
• Meeting the basic educational requirements is essential for eligibility.

Responsibilities

• Directs strategic resource planning and financial management for scientific programs, including budgeting and funding priorities.
• Plans and evaluates complex programs involving hydrologic modeling, water resource assessments, and QA to ensure integrity and mission success.
• Provides strategic leadership for scientific research and policy development to advance national water priorities.
• Establishes partnerships with Federal, State, Tribal, local, academic and other organizations to coordinate research and modeling activities.
• Supervises personnel management, performance evaluation, recruitment, and employee relations in compliance with regulations.

Education

Physical or natural science or engineering degree with calculus and physics coursework

Job description

Summary

You will serve as a Supervisory Hydrologist with Geological Survey. This position serves as the Division Director for the ESPD who is responsible for ensuring that WMA's core knowledge of hydrologic processes, and process-oriented scientific expertise/capacity are well balanced and maintained.

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.

This job is open to:

• Internal to an agency
• Current federal employees of the hiring agency that posted the job announcement.
• Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)
• Federal employees whose job, agency or department was eliminated and are eligible for priority over other applicants.

Clarification from the agency: This is a Merit Promotion announcement for current and former career and career conditional Federal employees, Career Transition eligibles (CTAP & ICTAP) and those who are eligible under the hiring paths listed above. Refer to Required Documents section for more information.

Duties

• Directs strategic resource planning and financial management for scientific programs, including developing budget requirements, establishing funding priorities, and overseeing the allocation of personnel, equipment, facilities, and resources to support operations and long-term organizational goals.
• Plans, directs, and evaluates complex scientific and technical programs involving integrated process-based research, hydrologic modeling, water resource assessments, and quality assurance to ensure scientific integrity, operational effectiveness, and achievement of mission objectives.
• Provides strategic leadership and direction for scientific research, technical programs, and policy development to advance organizational goals and national water resource priorities.
• Establishes and maintains partnership with senior scientific and technical officials across Federal, State, Tribal, local, academic and other organizations to coordinate research activities and counsel on a wide range of modeling-related activities.
• Exercises supervisory authority over personnel management, workforce planning, performance evaluation, recruitment, and employee relations while ensuring compliance with Federal regulations and merit system principles.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
• You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 1-5 nights per month.
• Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
• You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.
• A financial disclosure report will be required within 30 days of appointment.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest.

This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

This is a supervisory position that may require completion of a supervisory probationary period.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 11/05/2026-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 Requirements

• A. Degree: physical or natural science, or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in any combination of courses in hydrology, the physical sciences, geophysics, chemistry, engineering science, soils, mathematics, aquatic biology, atmospheric science, meteorology, geology, oceanography, or the management or conservation of water resources. The coursework must have included at least 6 semester hours in calculus (including both differential and integral calculus), and at least 6 semester hours in physics. Calculus and physics, as described above, are requirements for all grade levels. You must submit transcripts.

-OR-

B. Combination of education and experience: coursework as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

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