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Posted: April 9, 2026 (0 days ago)

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Historic Preservation Specialist

Commission of Fine Arts

Other Agencies and Independent Organizations

Fresh

Location

Salary

$121,785 - $158,322

per year

Type

Closes

April 22, 2026

GS-13 Pay Grade

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).

Job Description

Summary

This job involves reviewing and evaluating design proposals for buildings, landscapes, and projects in historic areas of Washington, DC, to ensure they fit with the city's heritage, while coordinating with government agencies and preparing for public meetings.

A good fit would be someone with experience in historic preservation who enjoys analyzing architecture, researching history, and communicating recommendations clearly.

It's ideal for professionals passionate about protecting cultural landmarks through thoughtful urban planning.

Key Requirements

  • One year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-12 in historic preservation, including applying theories and principles to building design, alteration, restoration, and adaptive use in historic districts
  • Experience analyzing and evaluating architectural, landscape, and urban design proposals for public and private projects in historic areas, including making recommendations, reports, and presentations
  • Demonstrated ability to serve as a liaison with federal and local government agencies to coordinate project reviews and submissions
  • Experience preparing for organizational meetings, developing agendas, and coordinating consent calendars
  • Knowledge of the Old Georgetown Act and Shipstead-Luce Act for reviewing private and government projects in Washington, DC
  • Skills in researching property histories, precedents, and determining the merits of design submissions

Full Job Description

The Commission reviews designs proposed for memorials, new or renovated government buildings, and privately owned properties in certain areas of Washington under the Shipstead-Luce and Old Georgetown Acts as well as coins and medals.

In addition, the Commission supports a variety of arts institutions in Washington, DC, through the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs (NCACA) program.

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position you must meet the Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying.

Specialized Experience: To qualify for the GS-13, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service.

Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to work of the position to be filled.

Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: 1) Applying a wide range of theories, principles, concepts, practices, and methodology of the art and science of historic preservation relevant to the design, alteration, preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive use of existing historic and non-historic buildings in a historic district and to the design of new buildings in a historic district; AND 2) Analyzing and evaluating proposed architectural, landscape architecture, and urban designs for public and private building and landscape projects in a historic district and making recommendations, reports, and presentations on the findings, including in a permitting context; AND 3) Serving as a liaison with Federal and local government agencies to coordinate and facilitate projects reviews and their submissions; AND 4) Preparing for an organization's monthly meetings and developing and coordinating the meeting agenda and consent calendars.

Must meet all.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website:https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Major Duties:

This position is located within the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts located in Washington, DC.

At the full performance level of GS-13, the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following: Reviews, analyzes, and evaluates incoming concept and permit submissions to the CFA pertaining to private construction, alteration, or demolition projects pursuant to the Old Georgetown Act.

Reviews, analyzes, researches, and evaluates incoming concept and final submissions to CFA for Federal and District of Columbia government projects within the Old Georgetown Act area.

Determines merits of proposals and adequacy of submission and presentation materials; researches property histories and precedents; coordinates with applicants and D.C. government agencies.

Performs project reviews at a range of levels, from broad consideration of master plans, to initial concept level review of site designs, building massing, and exterior design and material character, to detailed reviews of construction drawings and other submitted materials, in order to evaluate the quality and appropriateness of design proposals for projects in the Old Georgetown Act area.

Assists in the presentation of submissions to the Commission and Old Georgetown Board at scheduled public meetings; writes and edits correspondence related to project reviews; creates and maintains record files of submissions.

Consults with prospective applicants in meetings and via phone and email; assists applicants in the interpretation of Commission and Old Georgetown Board actions and the development of alternative design solutions that arise as a result of the review process.

Provides historic preservation expertise for the agency and shares knowledge of urban and landscape design and architecture. Coordinates with the D.C.

government on issues of historic preservation review policies and procedures and participates as agency representative on regulatory historic preservation consultation matters. The U.S.

Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and that the employee may be allowed to telework situationally with supervisor approval.

Salary Information: GS-13: $121,785 - $158,322 per annum First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lower salary range of the grade level.

This vacancy may be used to fill additional positions as vacancies become available.

This vacancy is also announced as CFA-83000-26-CR-002(MP) for those applicants who wish to apply and be considered under Merit Promotion procedures.

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Posted on USAJOBS: 4/9/2026 | Added to FreshGovJobs: 4/9/2026

Source: USAJOBS | ID: CFA-83000-26-CR-001(DEU)