Emergency Management Specialist (Response)
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Posted: January 15, 2026 (1 day ago)
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Federal Emergency Management Agency
Department of Homeland Security
Base salary range: $88,520 - $115,079
Typical requirements: 1 year specialized experience at GS-12. Expert-level knowledge in field.
Note: Actual salary includes locality pay (15-40%+ depending on location).
This job involves helping coordinate emergency responses to disasters like natural events, accidents, or human-caused crises in the Chicago area for FEMA.
The role focuses on gathering real-time information, analyzing threats, and working with local, state, and federal partners to plan and share details effectively.
It's a good fit for someone with strong analytical skills and experience in emergency operations who thrives in fast-paced, team-based environments.
This position is located in the Response Division of Region 5.
The ideal candidate for this position will be experienced in performing research, conducting analysis, and providing advice on complex emergency management issues to support FEMA's all-hazard mission and applying the principles of the National Response Framework (NRF), National Incident Management System (NIMS), and Incident Command System (ICS) in the daily operations and incident coordination.
Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service.
The time-in-grade and qualification requirements must be met within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position.
Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following: Rapidly collecting, analyzing and disseminating real-time information for regional Federal, State, and/or local public safety organizations related to ongoing or emerging incidents to include natural disasters, technological hazards, and human-caused events; AND Serving as an information and action focal point for threat and hazard identification, threat reporting, datal analytics, trend analysis and intelligence analysis; AND Coordinating with state, local, tribal, territorial (SLTT), and private sector partners to ensure integrated information sharing and response planning.
Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application: Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.
Please limit your resume to two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages.
Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity.
Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience. Are you qualifying based on your work experience?
Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility.
To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder.
If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience).
Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.
Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)?
To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.
Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information.
Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified." 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.
You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards. Major Duties:
What will I do in this position if hired? In this position, you will serve as a Watch Analyst.
Typical duties include: Preparing input for the Daily Situational Awareness Report (DSAR) and other Watch reports.
Performing analysis to assess the magnitude of an incident or potential incident to include analyzing initial impact and the resources available for response.
Clarifying problems and identifies appropriate and suitable problem-solving tools, techniques and applications.
Incorporating maps and other analytical products into standard and special projects related to response operations.
Assisting the Senior Watch Officer and Watch Officer in analyzing current trends, state-of-threat, and cutting-edge technology in order to develop or improve Watch programs.
What else do I need to know? At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management.
Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites.
All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description.
Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.
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