FUL - Biologist

Summary

This position serves as a Biologist (Migratory Birds) with the Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fish and Wildlife Service Region 7, Division of Migratory Birds in Anchorage, Alaska.

This vacancy uses the Field Unit Local Hiring (FUL) Authority.

Applicants MUST reside within a 50-mile commute of the duty location.

Learn more about this agency

Duties

Help

Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following:

• Design, coordinate, and implement statewide and regional non-game bird monitoring programs, including surveys to assess species distribution, abundance, habitat use, productivity, and population trends.
• Coordinate statewide implementation of the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and provide technical oversight for long-term bird monitoring programs.
• Coordinate Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) eBird program, including statewide data quality assurance, reviewer coordination, volunteer engagement, and integration of citizen science into conservation and management.
• Design and conduct Sikes Act avian monitoring projects on military lands, including Bird/Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) surveys to support military readiness, environmental compliance, and natural resource management.
• Conduct and oversee standardized non-game bird surveys using methods such as point counts and line transects using distance-sampling, area searches, nest monitoring, across forest, tundra, alpine, wetland, coastal, and other habitats.
• Develop survey protocols, sampling designs, field methods, and quality assurance procedures to ensure scientifically rigorous and defensible monitoring data.
• Plan and conduct field studies involving the capture, handling, processing, marking, and release of wild birds, including the deployment of satellite, radio, and geolocator tracking devices, and the collection of biological samples (e.g., blood, feathers, fecal samples, morphometrics) to support research and conservation objectives.
• Manage, standardize, archive, and disseminate large biological datasets to support long-term monitoring, conservation planning, and public data accessibility

Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

Salary Range Information (Per Annum):

$69,789 - $90,731 per annum *First time hires to the federal government typically start at the beginning salary in the range for their respective grade level.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

• Must provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit [click to reveal website link]www.dhs.gov/EVerify/.
• Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
• Pre-employment and random drug testing are required. You will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test is received.
• You cannot hold an active real estate license, nor can you have an interest or hold stocks in firms with interest in Federal Lands.
• You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
• Firearm qualification and certification are required for the role, and ongoing proficiency must be maintained. You must be free of any domestic violence convictions. You must be 21 or older.

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 that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-08/21/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. All candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements.

To receive credit for experience, 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.

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications:

Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following:

• A. Degree: in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. You must submit transcripts.

-OR-

• B. Combination of education and experience: course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

To qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level:

• Specialized Experience Requirement:

You must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience:

• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and evaluating non-game bird monitoring (landbirds and shorebirds), including survey methodology, sampling design, demographic analysis, and biological statistics.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating both 1) large-scale, long-term avian monitoring programs such as North American Breeding Bird Survey and eBird and 2) DoD Sikes Act avian monitoring on military installations, including Bird/Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard surveys.
• Ability to accurately identify North American birds by sight and sound, with expertise in Alaska's landbirds, under a wide range of field conditions.
• Demonstrated experience capturing, handling, measuring, and banding wild birds (particularly landbirds and shorebirds); deploying tracking devices (satellite, radio, geolocator); and collecting biological samples following established protocols for animal welfare.
• Experience with biological data management, quality assurance, GIS, R, spatial analyses, and scientific database management.

You must include hours per week worked.

Combination of education and experience. To combine education and experience, first divide your total months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one (1) year (18 semester hours) by 18. Add the two percentages together. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. (Note: only graduate education in excess of one year is creditable toward meeting the experience requirement when combining experience and education). 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.

Education

This position has a mandatory education requirement.

You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | U.S. Department of Education. [click to reveal website link]https://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-o...

Additional information

This position will be filled under the Field Unit Local Hiring Authority. Eligibility is limited to applicants who reside within the defined local commuting area at the time of application. For this announcement, the local commuting area is the area from which individuals can reasonably commute to the duty station under normal conditions. The defined vicinity for this position is: 50-mile local commuting distance of the Division of Migratory Birds, located at 1011 E. Tudor Rd. Ste 200 Anchorage, AK 99503.

You must provide proof of residency within the defined vicinity (e.g. mortgage or property deed, lease/rental agreement, utility bill, insurance policy, etc.). See the Required Documents section for information on how to verify current residence.

Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement.

Career Ladder Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor.

Physical Demands

The work involves a substantial amount of field work. When engaged in field activities, the work is at times strenuous, requiring exertion such as walking over wet, rough, uneven, or rocky surfaces; bending, crouching, stooping, stretching, reaching, or similar activities. The work requires average agility and dexterity. Travel to remote study sites may be required via boats, small aircraft, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, and/or on foot. Extended periods of camping in tents or cabins in remote field camps may occur.

Work Environment

The work requires both office and outdoor work. The office is adequately lighted, heated and ventilated. Frequent travel by various means of surface and air transportation is required to attend meetings and to conduct field work. A variety of temperature and weather extremes may be encountered while in the field. The incumbent may be subject to large numbers of biting insects and may be required to work in close proximity to large animals such as deer, elk, bear and moose.

All Department of Interior (DOI) employees, their spouses, and minor children may not acquire or retain any claim, permit, lease, small tract entry, or other rights granted by the Department in Federal lands, with limited exceptions. Additional ethics prohibitions can be found here, [click to reveal website link]https://www.doi.gov/ethics/ethics-prohibitions.

Expand Hide additional information

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

Help

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.