Community Planner

About the company

You will serve as a Community Planner with National Park Service. It is located in the Strategic Planning and Project Management Division of Yosemite National Park, El Portal Office. The purpose of this position is to provide technical analysis, guidance, and coordination for park planning projects and to monitor previously implemented projects.

Your tasks

Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Incumbent assists with coordinating strategic planning on projects taking place within Yosemite. The incumbent will work on complex initiatives involving coordination of a variety of planning activities and policies. Position requires interactive coordination assistance with all divisions within Yosemite National Park along with visitors, external gateway communities, contractors, Support Offices, Region, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Washington Support Office (WASO).

• The incumbent assists with facilitating multi-disciplinary teams in the development of strategic plans for Yosemite; uses resourcefulness and independence in managing highly visible and potentially controversial projects with external participation and few precedents to guide action.
• Assists as a lead planner for management studies, including the development of study/data collection methodologies, evaluation of resources, formulation of recommendations, and development of long-range implementation strategies. Projects often involve complex and controversial policy and management issues.
• Assists with the establishment, monitoring, and updating of comprehensive work plans and sets priorities for the allocation and structuring of project work and assists in developing programs for Yosemite.
• Gathers in-depth information and assists with complex analyses of alternative options, land use patterns, transportation corridors, and data for specific projects.
• Prepares and submits in-depth correspondence and reports related to assigned program activities. Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

Requirements

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications:

Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following:

A. Degree: In 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. You must submit transcripts.

-OR- B. Combination of education and experience: course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level:

Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Assisting staff in planning, advising and coordinating outdoor recreation and conservation planning documents and projects; Assisting staff and partners in assessment of community needs, and in analysis of economic, social and environmental data to make informed decisions; Evaluating planning documents for consistency with local, state and federal agency regulations, policies, programs and operating procedures; Assisting in providing technical assistance to staff and organizations regarding local, state and federal environmental regulations related to land use, natural resources, transportation and outdoor recreation; and Supporting collection of data about the physical, social, or economic factors of a community to develop objectives for major planning projects. You must include hours per week worked.

-OR- Education: Successful completion of at least have 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or equivalent. You must include transcripts.

-OR- Combination of education and experience as listed above. To combine education and experience, first take the excess of 27 semester hours and divide by 18. Then take the number of months of full-time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include hours per week and transcripts.

To qualify for the Community Planner position at the GS-12 grade level (along with additional basic requirements listed above), you must possess the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: Planning, advising and coordinating outdoor recreation and conservation planning documents and projects; Assessing community needs and analyzing economic, social, and environmental data to inform and support sound decision-making. Evaluating planning documents for consistency with local, state and federal agency regulations, policies, programs and operating procedures; Providing technical assistance to staff and organizations regarding local, state and federal environmental regulations related to land use, natural resources, transportation and outdoor recreation; and Supporting collection of data about the physical, social, or economic factors of a community to develop objectives for major planning projects. You must include hours per week worked.

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.

Education This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: https://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications

Must be a U.S. Citizen or National. Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service. Direct Deposit participation required. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/. You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.

Other

Qualifications All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 11/13/2026 - unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest. This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will 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. Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.