Wildland Firefighting Manager Branch Chief Equipment Development - Direct Hire Authority

US Office of the Secretary of the Interior; Boise (ID); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

US Office of the Secretary of the Interior seeks a Branch Chief for Equipment Development at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, ID. The role provides national leadership, technical direction, and program management for development and safety of wildland firefighting equipment used in interagency operations.

Qualified applicants will have documented primary wildland firefighting experience, extensive field or crew leadership, and demonstrated ability to coordinate across federal,

Qualifications

• Primary wildland firefighting experience must be documented with months, days, and hours per week.
• At least one full fire season in a primary wildland firefighting role with a federal, state, tribal, local, or private organization.
• Or at least 14 days of on-the-ground fireline experience (cumulative or consecutive).
• IQCS Master Record will not be used to determine eligibility.

Responsibilities

• Provide national leadership and direction for equipment development and safety.
• Lead program direction for development of wildland firefighting equipment used in interagency operations.
• Coordinate with Federal, State, Tribal, and local partners to meet program objectives across agencies.

Skills

Wildland firefighting

Fire line work

Job description

This position will be filled at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), duty location Boise, ID, servicing USWFS.

Incumbent serves as Branch Chief for Equipment Development providing national leadership, technical direction, and program direction for the development and safety of wildland fire equipment used in interagency fire management operations. For additional questions about this position, or duty location, please contact Dennis Strange at [e-mail].

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement.

For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your 2 page resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time or part-time, hours must be included). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. You may only submit one resume. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed.

If an applicant's resume is incomplete or does not support the requirements for minimum qualifications or specialized experience a rating of "ineligible" or "not qualified" will be applied and no consideration for employment will be granted.

Prior primary wildland fire experience must be clearly documented in your resume.

Note: an IQCS Master Record or equivalent document will not be used to determine or calculate prior primary wildland fire experience eligibility for this requirement.

Basic Qualification Requirements:

• Candidates must possess Primary/Rigorous wildland firefighting experience, gained through fire line work in containment, control, suppression or use of wildland fire. You must clearly demonstrate this experience in your resume, including the months, days, and hours per week at which the work was performed to be considered.
  • Applicants must have documented prior primary firefighting experience, with substantial service defined as either:
    • At least one full fire season working in a primary wildland firefighting role (e.g., Engine Crew, Fire Effects Crew, Prescribed Fire/Fuels Crew, Hand Crew, Helitack Crew, Hotshot Crew, Smokejumper, Wildland Fire Modules or Fire Suppression Crews, etc.) with a federal, state, tribal, local, or private-sector organization.
  • -OR-
    • At least 14 days of on-the-ground fireline experience (cumulative or consecutive).
    • Prior primary wildland fire experience must be clearly documented in your resume. Note: an IQCS Master Record or equivalent document will not be used to determine or calculate prior primary wildland fire experience eligibility for this requirement.; AND

In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional experience is required:

For the GW-14 level:

At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS/GW-13 level, or higher in the Federal service, or equivalent. Examples of specialized experience include: Directed state/regional or national wildland fire or fleet programs and subordinate supervisors, allocating significant resources and resolving complex technical, operational, safety, acquisition, and workforce issues across concurrent program segments. Exercised engineering authority for equipment design, testing, standards compliance, risk management, recalls, corrective actions, contracts, budgets, and interagency agreements while advising senior officials and coordinating with Federal, State, Tribal, and local partners. Evaluated supervisors and subordinate personnel, approved workforce expenses and training needs, recommended personnel actions and awards, and ensured equitable performance standards and accountability across program activities. Led national modernization initiatives integrating emerging technologies, fleet requirements, operational feedback, safety analyses, and lifecycle management into standardized equipment programs. Eliminated program barriers, strengthened interagency interoperability, improved equipment safety and reliability, and maintained employee safety and health while executing national program objectives.

This is a secondary-administrative firefighter position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S. C. 8336 (c) (CSRS) and 5 U. S. C. 8412 (d) (FERS). PLEASE NOTE

Applicants may meet qualification requirements but may not be eligible for special retirement coverage. If such an applicant is selected, they will be placed in the regular retirement system.

FERS TRANSITION REQUIREMENT:

To be eligible for Secondary retirement coverage under FERS, an employee must: 1) transfer directly (without a break in service exceeding 3 days) from a primary position to a secondary position, AND 2) complete 3 years of service in a primary rigorous position including any such service during which no FERS deductions were withheld, AND 3) must be continuously employed in a secondary position(s) since moving from a primary rigorous position, except for any break in employment from a secondary position that began with involuntary separation (not for cause).

This is a secondary-administrative firefighter position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S. C. 8336 (c) (CSRS) and 5 U. S. C. 8412 (d) (FERS). PLEASE NOTE

Applicants may meet qualification requirements but may not be eligible for special retirement coverage. If such an applicant is selected, they will be placed in the regular retirement system.

Substantial wildland firefighting experience is required to meet qualifications for secondary (administrative) covered positions. The Department of Interior defines wildland firefighting experience as: On-the-line wildland firefighting experience gained through containment, control, suppression, or use of wildland fire. This experience can be met by serving in a temporary, seasonal, or equivalent private sector fire position. Periods of wildland firefighting experience, gained through militia and rural fire departments, can also be credited. Wildland fire is defined as any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Two distinct types of wildland fire have been defined and include wildfire and prescribed fires as follows: Wildfire: Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires. Prescribed Fires: Planned ignitions. This description includes only fire line experience on a Prescribed Fire; it does not include experience in the planning stages. Prescribed fire experience must be supplemented by fire suppression experience to be creditable as previous wildland firefighting experience. You must clearly demonstrate this experience in your resume, including the months, days and hours per week at which the work was performed in order to be considered.

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.

To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.