Microbiologist (GS-9)

Summary

This position is located in the Research Service at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital (Madison VA), a component of the VA Great Lakes Health Care System. The Madison VA Research Service represents a significant research enterprise within the Department of Veterans Affairs, hosting collaborative research activities dedicated to improving the health and outcomes of Veterans through rigorous scientific investigation, quality data collection, and sound laboratory methodology.

Duties

***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** NOTE: This is a TERM appointment (not-to-exceed 3 Years). Term appointments are non-status, nonpermanent appointments of limited duration (more than 1 year but not more than 4). Term employees are eligible to earn leave and generally have the same benefits as permanent employees including health and life insurance, within grade increases and Federal Employees Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan coverage. Term appointments may be extended without further competition (up to the 4-year maximum). The appointment to a Term position does not confer eligibility for promotion or reassignment to other positions or the ability to be noncompetitively converted to permanent employment. Major Duties: The position serves as a Microbiologist supporting clinical trials and basic science research projects. Conducts and Design Microbiological Research Experiments - 25% Prepares microbial and clinical samples for downstream sequencing applications, ensuring sample integrity and adherence to protocol-specific handling requirements for microbiological specimens. Designs and performs in vitro microbiological experiments in support of assigned research questions, exercising judgment in selecting appropriate techniques from among established microbiological methods. Collects, records, and monitors microbiological experimental data and test results, identifying anomalies or deviations from expected outcomes and escalating precedent-setting issues to the lab manager or Principal Investigator (PI). Operates and Maintain Microbiology Laboratory Equipment and Inventory- 25% Performs ongoing quality control checks on microbiology laboratory equipment to ensure proper function and data integrity in support of microorganism isolation, identification, and characterization work. Tracks inventory levels of microbiological media, reagents, and supplies and coordinates with the lab manager to place replenishment orders in a timely manner, ensuring continuity of ongoing microbiology studies. Reviews, Analyzes, and Reports Microbiological Data - 25% Summarizes microbiological data in the form of tables and graphs suitable for scientific presentation. Presents progress and results of microbiological studies at project specific meetings to update PIs and the lab team. Participates in Microbiological Methodology Development - 25% Participates in the development, interpretation, and implementation of microbiological research methodology and materials. Adapts published microbiological methodologies for use in the laboratory setting and utilize instrument manuals and microbiological scientific literature to develop and troubleshoot experimental methods for microorganism isolation, identification, and characterization. Performs all duties as assigned. DESIGNATED DRUG-TESTING POSITION: Applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test result is received. Work Schedule: M-F (8am - 4:30pm) Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENT EDUCATION: Possess a successfully completed a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree with major study in microbiology, bacteriology, biology or chemistry with at least 30 semester hours in biological science and 20 semester hours in the physical and mathematical sciences. This course-work must have included: (a.) At least 10 semester hours in microbiology in such subjects as bacteriology, microbiology, immunology, serology, algology, mycology, parasitology, protozoology, rickettsiology, tissue culture, or virology. (b.) At least 10 semester hours in microbiology in such subjects as food, dairy, soil, industrial, public health, agricultural, applied bacteriology, or microbiology, genetics, physiology, metabolism, taxonomy, epidemiology, animal, or plant physiology or pathology, and similar courses, provided these courses were oriented toward the study of microorganism. (The remaining 10 semester hours may have been in other biological science courses.) (c.) Course-work in qualitative and organic chemistry or biochemistry, physics and college algebra, or their equivalent. NOTE: The quality of this course-work must have been such that it would serve as a prerequisite for more advanced courses in the field of science to which it pertains. Copies of applicable documents must be submitted at time of application such as an unofficial transcript and/or an academic evaluation report etc. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED). In addition to meeting the educational requirements stated above, applicants must have had appropriate experience in (1) the general field of microbiology, (2) one of the specialized areas or applied fields of microbiology, or (3) a field of science directly related and applicable to microbiological work or microbiological research as follows: For Microbiologist, GS-9 grade level: EXPERIENCE: Possess at least 2 years of professional experience in a microbiological science which shows that the applicant has (a) a general working knowledge of microbiology or of one or more areas of specialization, (b) a working knowledge of and ability to apply the methodology required, and (c) the ability to perform work independently. The quality of the experience, graduate study or combination of graduate study and experience must be such that it shows the applicant possesses (1) a knowledge and understanding of the laboratory techniques applied in the type of work for which the applicant is being considered, and (2) the ability to exercise independent judgement in evaluating and interpreting the results of his/her work and/or an aptitude for research work. For positions at GS-9 which involve a substantial amount of work in a specific specialized area or applied field of microbiology, at least 6 months of the experience at the second lower grade must have been in the appropriate area for which the applicant is being considered. Specialized experience is conducting and designing Microbiological research experiments; operating and maintaining Microbiology laboratory equipment and inventory; reviewing, analyzing, and reporting Microbiological data; and participating in Microbiological methodology development. Resume must clearly document this experience to be creditable. We will not make assumptions regarding experience. OR EDUCATION: Possess a successful completion of 2 academic years consisting of a full program of graduate study creditable toward meeting the requirements of an advanced degree with major study in microbiology may be substituted for the 2 years of experience. Copies of applicable documents must be submitted at time of application such as an unofficial transcript and/or an academic evaluation report etc. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) OR COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCES: Possess an equivalent combination of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience to meet the total experience requirements for GS-9. Only graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be combined with experience. Copies of applicable documents must be submitted at time of application such as an unofficial transcript and/or an academic evaluation report etc. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) OR CREATIVE OR OUTSTANDING RESEARCH: Possess positive evidence to performed highly creative or outstanding research, which has led or can lead to major advances in a specific area of research, or to a major advance in the field of microbiology, that may be rated on this basis for highly demanding research positions which require similar abilities in order to perform the work. Applicants who meet this criterion may be rated eligible for the next higher grade above that for which they would normally be rated, provided they have not been rated at this grade on the basis of meeting one of the superior college study requirements. Applicants whose records show that they either met, or would have met, the superior college or graduate student requirements for GS-9, within 2 years of the time they are rated, but who did not enter the Federal service, provided their subsequent experience has been progressive and responsible and has kept them up to date in their field, and provided at least 1 year of the experience has been of a level and difficulty equivalent of the college work, may be rated eligible for the next higher professional grade, i.e., GS-9. To receive this credit, the work must have been creative in the sense that it developed a basic principle, concept, method, approach, or technique (or provided a body of basic information) which opened the way for major advances in the field of microbiology by providing a method of solving other problems, opening areas of research, or providing the means of exploiting the application of the science in a major area. NOTE: Applicants wishing to provide evidence of creative/outstanding research must provide the "Creative/outstanding research document" with supporting documentation. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Transcripts must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Physical Requirements: Work is performed in a microbiology laboratory setting and requires periods of standing while performing routine laboratory operations, including microbial sample handling and equipment operation. Some lifting and manual dexterity are required for laboratory tasks. The work does not require any special physical effort. Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Required Documents" below for details. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which 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; the 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 the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. NOTE: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

How you will be evaluated

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics): Attention to Detail Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Reasoning Teamwork Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. Candidates who apply under "All U.S. Citizens" announcements will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. Qualified candidates will be assigned to a quality category. The categories are defined as follows: Best qualified - Applicants possessing the type and quality of experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications Very Highly Qualified - Applicants possessing the type and quality of experience that exceeds, to a very considerable extent, the minimum qualifications Highly Qualified - Applicants possessing the type and quality of experience that exceeds, to a considerable extent, the minimum qualifications Well qualified - Applicants possessing the type and quality of experience that marginally exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and who demonstrate average proficiency in most of the critical competencies Qualified - Applicants possessing the type and quality of experience that meets the minimum qualifications Application of Veterans' Preference: Category rating and selection procedures place those with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Preference eligible applicants that meet the eligibility and qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category (except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher). 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; religions; 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.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online assessment and submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13094309. The application process is as follows: To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 10/27/2026. After submitting the online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you via email notification. The email may be routed to your "Spam" or "Junk" folder. IMPORTANT: If you are asked to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be presented with a unique URL to access the USA Hire system. Access to USA Hire is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Be sure to review all instructions prior to beginning your USA Hire Assessments. Click here for Computer System Requirements. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue at a later time, you can re-use the URL sent to you via email and also found in your USAJOBS account under the "Track my application" link for the corresponding application. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit.

Other information

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments. Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 80 or more before any Veterans preference points) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.