Interdisciplinary Biologist; Computational​/Mathematical Statistician

Find Your Future With Us at USDA – Animal Plant Health Inspection Service

In this position, you will be protecting agriculture, property, natural resources (including rare or special species), and reducing conflicts that jeopardize human health and safety. The overall goal of the position is to develop statistical decision-support tools for the feral swine and wildlife disease management of Wildlife Services.

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement, including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.

BASIC REQUIREMENT for 0401 Series: Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. OR Combination of education and experience:
Courses equivalent to a major, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

BASIC REQUIREMENT for 1529 Series: Degree: that included 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, of which at least 12 semester hours were in mathematics and 6 semester hours were in statistics. OR Combination of education and experience: at least 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, including at least 12 hours in mathematics and 6 hours in statistics, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

FOR THE GS-12 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-11 grade level) that demonstrates:

• Communicates technical information both orally and in writing to stakeholders for collaborative development of research or software development projects.
• Develops data pipelines for extracting environmental data (e.g., GIS rasters, satellite imagery/remote sensing, landcover, weather/meteorological data) with automated post-processing for inputs into downstream modeling or visualizations.
• Builds custom statistical (preferably hierarchical statistical models using Bayesian techniques) models or computational biology models, or bioinformatic and phylogenetic workflows using computer programming.
• Develops machine learning or artificial intelligence models for image processing or predicting ecological or epidemiological processes.
• Uses programming languages in at least two data science areas such as statistics (e.g., C++, python, or R), software or web application development (e.g., JavaScript or HTML), database management (e.g., SQL), managing HPC workflows (e.g., SLURM) or cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, or GCP).

Note:

There is no education substitution for this grade level. Transcripts are required if this position requires specific coursework or a degree in a specific field to be basically qualified. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work. Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The duties described are for the full-performance level. At developmental grade levels, assignments will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity. The duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Develop practical advanced statistical modeling and data science tools for evaluation of management actions, planning management, reporting outcomes, and improving our understanding of ecological factors affecting management effectiveness.
• Manage independently or in consultation with supervisor multiple data science projects related to wildlife disease and damage research and management.
• Develop and contribute ideas that will establish new research directions within the scope of the agency.
• Collaborate with Wildlife Services operations to:
  1) understand management challenges,
  2) provide evaluation of management outcomes,
  3) develop data science tools for reporting and planning.
• Work closely with the supervisor and stakeholders to communicate progress and results internally and in peer-reviewed journals.

06/30/2026

07/07/2026

99800 - 129742 USD Per Year