Community Planner - Direct Hire

The Federal Aid Highway Program supports state highway systems by providing financial assistance for the construction, maintenance, and operations of the nation's 3.9-million-mile highway network. This includes the Interstate Highway System as well as primary highways and secondary, local roads. FHWA is charged with implementing the Federal Aid Highway Program in cooperation with state and local governments.

The mission of the Federal Lands Program is to improve transportation to and within Federal and Tribal Lands by providing technical services to the highway/transportation community as well as building accessible and scenic roads that ensure the many national treasures within our nation's Federal Lands can be enjoyed by all.

As a Community Planner, you will:

• Review transportation plans, environmental and project development technical reports, impact analyses, and other documents.
• Participate with other Federal agencies and State Departments of Transportation and recommend changes to project plans and designs to eliminate conflicting factors relative to highway issues (with the goal of advancing Federal Aid and Federal Lands programs and projects).
• Coordinate programs and projects with other Federal, State, and local agencies, public officials, historic preservation offices, local developmental authorities, and other affected non-Federal organizations.
• Participate on interdisciplinary team reviews or activities, work groups, and task forces to address project or program issues or to ensure implementation for the transportation planning and project development processes.
• Demonstrate and promote new planning processes, procedures, techniques, and technology to the State, local agencies, and other groups.
• Participate in public involvement programs. Attend public hearings, agency meetings, and technical discussions to obtain information and data that have an impact on highway programs and projects. Prepare and present technical findings and project information.

The ideal candidate for this position is a beginning level community planner who has a desire to learn the technical, administrative, and program management aspects of administering Federal Aid Highway and Federal Lands Highway programs. The ideal candidate should have between 0 to 5 years of experience, be mobile and willing to travel to remote locations for extended periods of time and be able to work independently and in a team environment.

To meet the basic qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Mandatory Education Requirement for the series, AND (2) provide a copy of your transcripts or other applicable documentation for verification and (3) meet the specialized experience requirements for each grade you are applying to. Please review the following information: 

(1) All applicants must meet the education requirements under A or B to qualify for applying to the 0020 Community Planning Series:

A. Degree: Community Planning; or related field such as urban affairs, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, sociology, geography, economics, political science, or public administration that included at least 12 semester hours in the planning process, socioeconomic and physical elements of planning, urban and regional economic analysis, and development finance.

Note: Applicants with degrees in related fields, such as those listed above, who do not have the 12 semester hours of specified course work must have had at least 1 year of work experience in community planning acquired under the supervision and guidance of a community planner. 

OR

B. Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major in one of the above disciplines, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours in any combination of the above disciplines of which at least 12 semester hours were in the planning process, and socioeconomic and physical elements of planning, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

For more specifics, please refer to the OPM qualifications standard for GS-0020-Community Planning series at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0000/community-planning-series-0020/

College or university education -- Educational course work may be at either the undergraduate or graduate level. Successful completion of graduate level courses will be accepted as evidence that an applicant also possesses the knowledge taught in courses at lower levels in the same field.

Note: Current students enrolled in a qualifying degree program can apply if the anticipated graduation date is within six months of the closing date of this announcement. Graduation transcript must be received before start date. Other applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

(2) Upload the appropriate document(s) to your application for verification purposes.

(3) Specialized Experience:

To determine which grade(s) you may be eligible for, review the following grade specific details.  You will be asked a few questions as part of your application but make sure to verify how you meet this experience in your resume or you may be deemed ineligible.  

For the GS-09:

On Experience, you must have at least one year of experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-07 grade level, which included:

• Experience using planning principles, methods, and practices to correlate data and follow an operation through a series of related detailed steps or processes in fact gathering or analysis; AND
• Experience conducting studies of the physical, social, and/or economic factors which are characteristic of a small community or a project area in a community; AND
• Experience preparing summaries, narrative statements, and analyses of the pertinent, technical facts reported in project studies.

Or on Education, you must have at least 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or have been awarded a master's or equivalent graduate degree. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

You can also have a combination of graduate education and experience.  This must be fully supported by your resume and transcripts, provided with your application.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

1. Public Planning - Knowledge of functions, principles, methods, and techniques of public planning, including those related to community planning, outdoor recreation planning, and natural resource management, such as demand forecasting, environmental impact analysis, financial forecasting, and land use planning and zoning.
2. Written Communication - Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.
3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal clues, and responds appropriately.

For all types of consideration, 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.