Environmental Protection Specialist

**Duties**:
You will:

- Serve as a technical/programmatic authority in providing expert advice and assistance to state, local and/or tribal governments and non-profits to help facilitate assigned environmental protection program development within states/municipalities/tribes;
- Serve as a primary senior staff authority and coordinator to develop and implement stakeholder/EPA partnerships for environmental protection programs; negotiate, facilitate, create, and evaluate state specific agreements;
- Manage grant, cooperative agreements and/or interagency agreement (IAGs) activities related to the initiation, administration, and/or close-out of very complex, difficult, or novel grants, cooperative agreements, and/or interagency agreements, including responsibility for monitoring performance;
- Manage special projects and lead ad hoc teams.

You will spend more than 50% of your work time on contracts, grants/cooperative agreements, and/or interagency agreements.

One or more positions may be filled (in the organization advertised and/or in other organizations), if appropriate to the position.

**Requirements**:
**Conditions of Employment**: You must submit a resume and required documents
- You must be a U.S. citizen.
- This is a term position (see Other Information on assignment limits).
- If you are selected, a remote work agreement must be completed.

This position is designated as High Risk and requires a background investigation. Unless an appropriate background investigation is already on record with the Office of Personnel Management, you must undergo a background investigation. All conditions of the pre-employment security process must be met before an official letter of employment can be issued with a report for duty date.

If you are selected, you may be required to complete a one-year probationary period.

**Qualifications**:
NOTE: You must meet qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

To qualify for the GS-12 level, you must have 1 year of full-time* specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level defined as serving as a technical/programmatic specialist in providing advice and assistance to state, local and/or tribal governments and non-profits; assisting project managers on ad hoc teams and special projects; reviewing grants, cooperative agreements, and/or interagency agreements.

To qualify for the GS-13 level, you must have 1 year of full-time* specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level defined as developing and implementing partnerships for environmental protection programs; reviewing grants, cooperative agreements, and/or interagency agreements, including monitoring performance; leading the negotiation, facilitation, creation and evaluation of specific agreements.

Your answers to the online assessment will be used to evaluate your competencies in the following areas: 1) Skill in interpreting federal grants and cooperative agreement regulations and guidelines sufficient to provide technical guidance to internal and program staff and external stakeholders; 2) Skill in managing special projects/teams/workgroups; 3) Knowledge of applicable federal environmental statutes and regulations; 4) Knowledge grants, cooperative agreements, and interagency agreements regulations, policies and procedures, sufficient to manage a variety of grants and cooperative agreements; 5) Skill in written communication, sufficient to prepare materials for briefings and presentations in a variety of media and formats; 6) Skill in oral communication, sufficient to address and resolve conflicts and highly complex or unusual issues among stakeholders; and deliver briefings and presentations to a variety of audiences.

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.
- If you have part-time work experience, read this: EPA Announcement Policies and Procedures.

**Additional information**:
Except in special circumstances, those new to the federal government will be hired at the starting salary (step 1) of the applicable grade range listed in the Overview section.

EPA participates in E-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that enables participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. For additional information: EPA Announcement Policies and Procedures.

Are you a Displaced Federal Employee? If so, please read the Required Documents sect