Archeologist

This position is located in the Montana Area Office, responsible for complying with cultural resources and historic property laws and preparing environmental documents that evaluate the effects of construction, operation and maintenance of Bureau of Reclamation projects; large rural water program construction with the new water system built by tribal governments and rural water authorities in partnership with Reclamation; and construction projects involving Reclamation's Safety of Dams Program.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-11/09/2026-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. Basic Qualification Requirement: Archeologist: Applicants must possess the basic requirement for an Archeologist. If qualifying based on education, transcripts MUST be submitted and include your name, school name, credit hours, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. We cannot determine eligibility without this information. (A copy of your official transcripts will be required before entrance on duty, if selected). The Basic Requirement may be met in one of the following ways: Education: 1. Degree that included 3 semester hours each in the following course areas: History of archeology. Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa. Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development. Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques. Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work. -AND- Six semester hours of related course work in: geography, geology, or cultural geography; history, historiography, or historical archeology; environmental studies; scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or surveying; -AND- Archeological field school. 2. Related Curriculum: degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in 1 above (including archeological field school). -OR- Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education. -OR- Experience: Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project. In addition to meeting the basic requirements listed above for this position, applicants must also meet the minimum qualifications outlined below: Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-11 level, you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the difficulty and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equipped you with the particular competencies needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Examples of specialized experience may include: planning and conducting archeological investigations; conducting or overseeing work in support of historic preservation; conducting cultural resource fieldwork such as surveys and excavations; and performing field inspections, research, or assessments. You must include hours worked per week in your resume. -OR- Education: Successful completion of 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. To be qualifying, graduate study must have been in archeology, anthropology, or other closely related field. The total education offered to meet this provision must have provided you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform the work of this position. To receive credit, you should describe how your specific course work, research projects, dissertation, theses, etc. demonstrate the ability to perform the duties of this position (18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study is considered to be equal to one full year of graduate education). If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. -OR- Combination of Education and Experience: Successful completion of an equivalent combination of education and graduate experience as described above. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate experience equivalent to GS-9 (50 percent of the experience requirement for GS-11) and 27 semester hours of appropriate graduate education (50 percent of the education requirement for GS-11, in excess of that required for GS-9) would be qualified for a GS-11 position (assuming that there is no evidence that the attended college or university requires more than 18 semester hours as equivalent to a year of graduate study). If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. To calculate experience, take the number of months of full-time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total combination of education and experience must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. 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.