Archeologist

Full Job Description

This position is located in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and serves as the Archeologist for three parks where archeological resources comprise a major part of the park story, particularly for themes related to prehistoric settlement and subsistence; historic coal mining, railroad, and lumber industries; and early agriculture.

REQUIREMENTS CONTINUED: PROBATIONARY PERIOD: As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

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.

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-03/25/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience.

For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 for each federal position listed as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of qualifying 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 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.

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 AT THE GS-11 GRADE LEVEL, YOU MUST POSSES ALL OF THE FOLLOWING MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS BY CLOSE OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT: MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Qualifying experience for GS-11 includes one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 which is directly related to the work of this position, and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.

Examples of specialized experience in or related to this position include evaluating proposals, undertakings, and other projects to determine cultural resources impacts in at least two areas including historic structures, cultural landscapes, archaeological sites or ethnographic resources.

Makes and recommends the cultural resource compliance pathway and mitigations as required under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

Prepares written documents such as Section 106 NHPA and tribal consultation letters.

Uses a database, such as the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) to document cultural resource concerns.

Prepares and manages contracts for cultural resource compliance-related surveys, inventories, or analysis, assuring that final products meet regulatory standards.

Develops contract specifications, including scope of work and government cost estimates for cultural resources projects.

Researches and prepares agreements documents such as Cooperative Agreements, Interagency Agreements, and Memoranda of Understanding. Your resume must include dates and hours/week worked.

AND EDUCATION: Possess bachelor's degree or higher that includes 3 semester hours each in the following course areas: History of archeology; archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa; regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area; theory and methods of archeology; archeological field school; AND 6 semester hours of related course work in: geography, geology, or cultural geography; history, historiography, or historical archeology; environmental studies; scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or surveying; AND archeological field school.YOU MUST INCLUDE TRANSCRIPTS.

OR Possess a bachelor's degree in a related curriculum such as anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or other related discipline provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in the previous statement (including archeological field school).

YOU MUST INCLUDE TRANSCRIPTS.

OR Possess college-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in either of the previous statements, plus appropriate technical archeological experience or additional education.

YOU MUST INCLUDE TRANSCRIPTS. OR Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology.

This experience includes archeology field experience gained in an archeological field school or other field experience that includes a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials.

Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher-grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project.

YOU MUST INCLUDE TRANSCRIPTS.

OR Successful completion of at least three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D.; or Ph.D.; or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited college or university in a field directly related this position.

YOU MUST INCLUDE TRANSCRIPTS. OR A combination of the experience and graduate education described above.

(To compute, first, determine your experience as a percentage of the experience required in A; then determine your graduate education as a percentage of the education required in B.

(Note: Only graduate education in excess of the first two years may be used). Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100%).YOU MUST INCLUDE TRANSCRIPTS.

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE: 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. Major Duties:

MAJOR DUTIES MAY INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITTED TO THE FOLLOWING: Works closely with the park's NEPA Planner to coordinate National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 compliance and consultation.

Reviews archeological research project proposals, scopes of work, and task directives prepared for planning and other management purposes, including resources management plans.

Determines research needs and coordinates efforts toward obtaining research through various programs, grants, and contracts.

Coordinates park cultural resources strategies and programs with those on adjacent lands for the purposes of achieving broad protection strategies and minimizing human impacts.

Represents the superintendent and/or supervisor when working with others on archeological matters.

Plans and conducts archeological research for planning documents, including general management plans, resources management plans, environmental impact statements, environmental assessments, archeological overviews and assessments, and archeological field investigations of all types, as required to meet the needs of the park.

Provides peer review for NPS and non-NPS archeological studies, as requested. Seeks peer review for own work.