Summary
This position is located in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), with one vacancy in Plainsboro, NJ; Silver Spring, MD; Boulder, CO; Seattle, WA; Miami FL; Ann Arbor, MI; or Norman OK. This position is also announced under vacancy number OAR GFDL-27-13082377-ST, which is open to Status Candidates. You must apply to both announcements if you want to be considered for both.
Responsibilities
As a Computer Scientist, you will perform the following duties: Perform basic or applied research to enhance the computing environment for applied mathematicians, physical scientists, and engineers through development in such areas as computer architecture, including vector and parallel machines, systems software and control languages. Review strategic and operational requirements for information systems. Develop data models and logical database designs and populate data dictionaries. Develop and enforce naming conventions for data entities and relationships. Use automated tools, particularly Information Resource Dictionary Systems, for storage and analysis of metadata. Develop functional requirements for other automated tools, develop standards and guidelines. Develop methodologies and techniques for designing very large-scale distributed information systems serving many users and applications. Develop methods for coordinating widely distributed resources for information retrieval, transaction processing, computation, and graphic display. Develop reference models for distribution system architectures. Determine architectures for new applications with data, audio, and video components.
Qualifications
Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy BASIC REQUIREMENTS: This position has a positive Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of Specialized Experience in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with your application package. You MUST meet the following requirements: To qualify for the 1550 series: EDUCATION: Degree: A bachelor's degree in computer science or bachelor's degree with 30 semester hours in a combination of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. At least 15 of the 30 semester hours must have included any combination of statistics and mathematics that included differential and integral calculus. All academic degrees and course work must be from accredited or pre-accredited institutions. AND SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. 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. To qualify at the ZP-4 or GS-13 level: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZP-3 or GS-12 in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following: Coordinating climate research by collaborating with working groups and committees on technology development; and Making recommendations on High-Performance Computing systems and general Information Technology issues and policies.
Requirements
This position will be filled under the DOC Alternative Personnel System (CAPS). Under CAPS, positions are classified by career, pay plan, and pay band. The ZP-4 is equivalent to the GS-13/14. Key Requirements: Applicants must be U.S. Citizens. Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation. More requirements are listed under Qualifications and Additional Information. Must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable (www.sss.gov) Qualification requirements must be met by closing date of the announcement. Additional Considerations: Three year probationary period may be required.* Payment of relocation expenses (PCS) is not authorized. This position requires a High Risk Security Clearance. Background investigation will be required. Continued employment is subject to applicant's successful completion of security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination. *Note: A one year probationary period will be required unless you are a current Department of Commerce (including NOAA) employee and are in the same line of work and with no more than a 30 day break in service. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, for those required to serve a probationary period, we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: Your performance and conduct; 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 then Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.
Education
Substitution of education for specialized experience is not applicable to this vacancy. College Transcript: If you are qualifying based on education, submit a copy of your college transcript that lists college courses detailing each course by the number and department (i.e., Bio 101, Math 210, etc.), name of accredited institution, course title, number of credit hours and grade earned. You must submit evidence that any education completed in a foreign institution is equivalent to U.S. education standards with your resume. You may submit an unofficial copy of the transcript at the initial phase of the application process. If course content cannot be easily identified from the title of the course as listed on your transcript, you must submit an official course description from the college/university that reflects the content at the time the course was taken. Note: Your college transcript is used to verify successful completion of degree, or college course work. An official college transcript will be required before you can report to duty. Education completed in colleges or universities outside the United States may be used to meet the above requirements. You must provide acceptable documentation that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: OPM Foreign Education Evaluation.