Hydrologic Technician

Job Details

Qualifications & Requirements

Qualifications: All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-08/19/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. 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 Requirements for Hydrologic Technician, GS-1316: Specialized experience: Technician or aid in engineering, earth, physical, or natural science, forestry, soil conservation, or surveying; Trades or crafts work in maintenance or construction of facilities or equipment related to hydrology; Drafting; and/or Construction estimating. -AND- To qualify for this position at the GS-08 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: Collected hydrologic field data (such as streamflow, groundwater, water-quality, or sediment data) using established procedures, scientific methods, and hydrologic monitoring equipment; Operated, calibrated, maintained, or performed routine troubleshooting and repairs on hydrologic monitoring equipment or automated data collection systems following established procedures; Reviewed, computed, verified, or processed hydrologic data using established methods or software, identified data discrepancies, and documented or corrected errors in accordance with quality assurance procedures; Prepared, maintained, or reviewed field notes, calibration records, station records, or other technical documentation to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and traceability of hydrologic data; Entered, maintained, validated, retrieved, or updated hydrologic or other scientific data in electronic databases or information management systems while following established quality assurance and records management procedures. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- Education: Successful completion of at least one and one half years of graduate education (27 semester hours) that is directly related to the work of the position, with major study in any combination of scientific or technical courses. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Transcripts must be included. You must include transcripts. -OR- A Combination of education and experience. 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.

Position Overview

You will serve as a Hydrologic Technician for the Pennsylvania Water Science Center. First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the step 1 rate.

Duties

• Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Surface Water: Performs a wide variety of stage and discharge measurements using appropriate techniques, equipment and protocols. Ground Water: Performs wide variety of water-level and discharge measurements from wells and springs selecting appropriate techniques, equipment and protocols. Water Quality: Performs field measurements such as water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen and alkalinity. Instrumentation: Installs, maintains, services, and assists in the configuration of a variety of sensing, recording, and communications equipment and instrumentation. Data Management: Enters, retrieves, edits, and analyzes hydrologic data using one or more of several databases, spreadsheets, and graphics software programs. Monitors water-quality sampling frequencies for timely data collection and reports discrepancies. Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.