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Posted: February 9, 2026 (4 days ago)

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Maintenance Worker (MVO)

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

Fresh

Location

Salary

$26.74 - $31.19

per hour

Closes

February 18, 2026More FEMA jobs →

Job Description

Summary

This job involves maintaining the grounds and facilities at a key emergency operations center in Virginia, including mowing lawns on hilly areas, clearing snow with tools and machines, and helping skilled workers with tasks like carpentry, painting, plumbing, and electrical work.

It's a hands-on outdoor role that requires physical effort and comfort working in all weather conditions.

A good fit would be someone with practical experience in basic maintenance, a strong work ethic, and the ability to follow safety rules while assisting in a team setting.

Key Requirements

  • Experience safely operating commercial lawn mowers on steep slopes
  • Ability to perform snow removal using manual and powered equipment
  • Skills as a trades helper in carpentry, painting, plumbing, and electrical work
  • Physical capability to lift up to 50 pounds and perform moderate effort tasks like bending, stooping, and operating equipment
  • Knowledge of safety practices and use of protective equipment in hazardous conditions
  • Demonstrated quality of experience through paid, unpaid, or volunteer work, with detailed resume information on dates and hours
  • Availability for emergency assignments and deployments in place at the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center

Full Job Description

In this position you will work as a member of the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center (MWEOC), Facilities Management Division, Operations Branch, Roads and Grounds team.

The ideal candidate will have experience to safely operate commercial lawn mowers on steep slopes, perform snow removal manually and using powered equipment and work as a trades helper assisting craftsmen in areas such as carpentry, painting, plumbing, electrical, etc.

The qualification requirements listed below must be met within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement.

Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standard.

Although a specific length of time and experience is not required for most trade and labor occupations, you must meet any screen-out element listed, and show through experience and training that you possess the quality level of knowledge and skill necessary to perform the duties of the position at the level for which you are applying.

Qualification requirements emphasis is on the quality of experience, not necessarily the length of time. Working Conditions: Operators work inside and outside.

Operators are subject to drafts, noise, and varying temperatures inside.

They are exposed to weather and temperature extremes outside, as well as high noise levels, vibrations, and jolts from the tractor and towed equipment.

Operators at this level are exposed to dust, dirt, grease, and fumes. They follow prescribed safety practices and use safety equipment to avoid injury and possible hazards in the work area.

operators at this level primarily work outside and are exposed to all kinds of weather conditions.

Some operators are exposed to chemical dust and sprays and may need to wear protective clothing and respirators.

Physical Effort: Operators exert light to moderate physical effort while performing duties such as operating tractors and uncoupling and making couplings between tractors and towed vehicles.

The work requires frequent stooping, bending, reaching, and arm and leg movement to operate tractor controls.

Operators frequently lift and carry parts and equipment weighing up to 23 kilograms (SO pounds). Occasionally, they move heavier items with assistance of other workers or mechanical lifting devices.

Operators exert additional effort in operating equipment controls, making more frequent arm and leg movements.

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. NOTE: Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience.

In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time.

As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.

Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume. For a brief video on How to Create a Federal Resume, click here.

Current or former FEMA Reservists/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE): To accurately credit your experience for these intermittent positions, make sure to list the dates (from MM/YY to MM/YY) of each deployment, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.

Failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Major Duties:

All MWEOC staff have emergency assignments and are considered deployed in place. Exercises and activations are planned and unplanned, and may require long hours, nights, weekends and holidays. All MWEOC employees are:

required to use a government-issued electronic device (to include cellular phones);

subject to recall during emergency situations; and

required to perform work in locations both above and below ground. What will I do in this position if hired?

In this position, you will serve as a Maintenance Worker (MVO) responsible for various groundskeeping and trade's helper duties.

Typical assignments include: Mowing grass on varying grades using commercial mowing equipment. Removing snow using shovels, snow blowers, and small tractors with salt spreaders and plow blades.

Performing trash removal and grounds maintenance using weed eaters and similar equipment; loading and unloading supplies, materials, tools, equipment, etc.

Operating hand and power tools, maintaining and repairing, and cleaning work areas, tools, and machines (i.e., mowers, weed eaters, chain saws, and vehicles).

Working as a trade's helper assisting others with minor plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work. 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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Posted on USAJOBS: 2/9/2026 | Added to FreshGovJobs: 2/10/2026

Source: USAJOBS | ID: FEMA-JD-12882596-DE