Wildland Firefighting Manager Branch Chief National Fire Fleet - Direct Hire Authority

US Office of the Secretary of the Interior; Boise (ID); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

US Office of the Secretary of the Interior seeks a Branch Chief to lead the National Fire Fleet from the Boise, ID duty location. The role directs strategic direction, policy leadership, and oversight to ensure a safe, interoperable, mission-ready wildland fire fleet across geographic areas and partner agencies.

The incumbent will work with federal, state, and tribal partners to set goals, standards, and performance metrics for acquisition, maintenance, and retirement of fleet assets, while

Qualifications

• Primary wildland firefighting experience gained through fire line work in containment, control, suppression or use of wildland fire.
• Documented experience with months, days and hours per week on the resume to establish qualifications.
• At least one full fire season in a primary wildland firefighting role or at least 14 days of fireline experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction and oversight for the National Fire Fleet at the national level.
• Lead policy development, investment planning, and performance metrics for fleet readiness.
• Coordinate interagency activities and liaison with partner agencies to ensure mission readiness.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Policy leadership

Interagency coordination

Firefighting experience

Public sector experience

Tools

IQCS system

Job description

One position will be filled at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) duty location Boise, ID. Incumbent serves as Branch Chief for the National Fire Fleet, providing strategic direction, policy leadership, and oversight to ensure a safe, effective, interoperable, mission-ready wildland fire fleet supporting national preparedness, response, and extended operations across all Geographic Areas and partner agencies.

For additional questions 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: Served as the senior leader responsible for strategic direction, oversight, and state/regional or national execution of a wildland fire or fleet program, directing subordinate staff and supervisors and coordinating state/regional activities across Unit Boundaries and partner agencies. Established state/regional program goals, policies, standards, guidance, long-range plans, investment strategies, and performance metrics governing acquisition, maintenance, utilization, replacement, and retirement. Oversaw state/regional acquisition, authorized purchases, replacements, and upgrades, and aligned acquisition strategies with appropriations, Wildland Fire Funding Mechanism, Cooperative Funding Agreements, and other available resources. Directed state/regional utilization, maintenance, repair, asset tracking, lifecycle planning, replacement strategies, cost projections, and standardized maintenance protocols to sustain mission readiness, cost efficiency, and safety. Provided authoritative recommendations to senior leadership on budget submissions, risk assessments, strategic initiatives, modernization, emergency support agreements, and shared resource planning. Represented the State/Regional/National Fire Program in interagency working groups, committees, councils, and national stakeholder organizations and served as the principal liaison for modernization and resource planning. Directed integrated data systems, performance dashboards, risk analysis tools, and reporting mechanisms and analyzed performance data to identify improvements, cost savings, strategic investments, and operational risks. Led continuous improvement through after-action reviews, lessons learned, emerging technologies, industry practices, and data-informed and risk-informed decision-making.

Substantial wildland firefighting experience is required to meet qualifications for secondary (administrative) covered positions.

The Department of Interior defines wildland firefighting experience as: 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.

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.