Biologist

You will serve as a Biologist for Maryland Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office.

This is a term position with an initial appointment expecting to last at least 13 months but may be extended up to a total of ten years, or more based on any changes to regulations governing the number of years term appointments may last, without further competition at management's discretion.

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-09/03/2026-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.

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.

In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following:

• A.
  Degree: Biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. You must submit transcripts.
• B.
  Combination of education and experience: Course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

• Specialized Experience Requirement: you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: assisting higher-level biologists with field assignments; leading a two-person field crew; compiling field information and data into databases; preparing written reports summarizing assignment results;
  
  conducting fact-checking; and ensuring that written reports accurately reflect the data and information collected. Additional experience should include a strong knowledge of fish collection techniques, particularly the operation and use of boat and backpack electrofishing equipment, as well as gillnets, fyke nets, and other fish sampling methods. Knowledge and experience with fish marking and tagging techniques are also highly beneficial, including the use of PIT tags and telemetry tags, as well as the collection of environmental DNA (eDNA).
  
  You must include hours per week worked.

• Education: Successful completion of at least 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree as described in the requirements above. You must include transcripts.

• Combination of education and experience. A combination of successfully completed higher level graduate education and specialized experience to meet the total qualification requirements for the grade level specified above. You must include hours per week and transcripts.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, Ameri Corps) 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.