Mathematical Statistician – Direct Hire

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Individual Occupational Requirement for the series, (2) provide a copy of transcripts for verification, AND (3) meet the additional grade level requirements. (1) All applicants must meet the basic requirements under A or B to qualify for applying to a position under series 1529: A. Successful completion of a degree that included 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, of which at least 12 semester hours were in mathematics and 6 semester hours were in statistics; OR B. Combination of education and experience — at least 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, including at least 12 hours in mathematics and 6 hours in statistics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Evaluation of Education: Courses acceptable toward meeting the mathematics course requirement of paragraphs A or B above must have included at least four of the following: differential calculus, integral calculus, advanced calculus, theory of equations, vector analysis, advanced algebra, linear algebra, mathematical logic, differential equations, or any other advanced course in mathematics for which one of these was a prerequisite. Courses in mathematical statistics or probability theory with a prerequisite of elementary calculus or more advanced courses will be accepted toward meeting the mathematics requirements, with the provision that the same course cannot be counted toward both the mathematics and the statistics requirement. Evaluation of Experience: The experience offered in combination with educational courses to meet the requirements in paragraph B above should include evidence of statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying known statistical techniques to data such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance. Without other indications of statistical experience, work required in the processing of numerical or quantified information by other than statistical methods is not considered appropriate qualifying experience. Examples of such nonqualifying work include statistical clerical work; statistical drafting; calculation of totals, averages, percentages, or other arithmetic summations; preparation of simple tables or charts; or verification of data by simple comparison or proofreading. For additional information, please refer to the OPM qualifications standard for GS-1529: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1500/mathematical-statistics-series-1529/ (2) Upload the appropriate document(s) to your application for verification purposes. (3) Specialized Experience: To further determine eligibility, 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 these grade levels in your resume. For the GS-11: You qualify for this grade level if you meet one of the following: On Experience, at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-09 grade level, which included: Experience conducting studies and developing mathematical methods and techniques; Experience developing mathematical/statistical techniques, approaches, and methodologies; and Experience reviewing data operations to assure compliance with specifications, agreements and laws in the use of supply and demand data collection programs. On Education, you must have: 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. Or, you can also qualify based on a combination of higher level graduate education and experience. This must be fully supported by your resume and transcripts, provided with your application. For the GS-12: You qualify for this grade level if you have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-11 grade level, which included: Experience applying advanced statistical techniques to experimental or survey design, data analysis, sampling, forecasting, quality control, and operations research; Experience developing and/or presenting professional papers or reports on statistical studies or surveys; Experience conducting complex statistical analyses and serving as a technical advisor on various statistical analyses; Experience planning and executing a variety of projects and developing recommendations requiring technical and administrative judgment; Experience developing listing and mapping applications, and developing collection methodology; and/or experience writing procedures for automated or computer-assisted statistical operations. For the GS-13: You qualify for this grade level if you have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-12 grade level, which included: Experience designing complex statistical analyses; Experience planning and executing a variety of complex projects and developing recommendations requiring technical and administrative judgment; Experience auditing procedures for automated or computer-assisted statistical operations. Although you must meet the mandatory education requirement for the series, you cannot qualify for GS-12 and above grades based solely on education, you must meet the specialized experience for grades 12 and 13, which is cited above. 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: Mathematical Reasoning – Solves practical problems by choosing appropriately from a variety of mathematical and statistical techniques. Statistical Theory and Models – Applies mathematical statistical theory, measures and models for developing and implementing projects. Data Fluency – Analyzes and evaluates the quality, accuracy and validity of data. 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 Students enrolled in a qualifying degree program can apply to the GS-11 if the anticipated graduation date is within six months of closing date of the announcement. Graduation transcript must be received before start date. Other applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is a federal Cabinet department of the U.S. government concerned with transportation. The principal responsibility of this position is participation in the development and application of statistical methodology for DOT studies, analysis, statistics and data programs. The assignments require careful planning, efficient coordination of effort among DOT staff, the application of mature practical and scientific judgment, and a high degree of originality.