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Federal Emergency Management Jobs (NOW HIRING)

We coordinate with other federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to make sure ... The incumbent serves as an Emergency Management Specialist. Typical assignments include:

Serve as the primary liaison with municipal, state, and federal emergency management agencies and partner organizations. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - 30%: Lead the university ...

Planner Mid-Level

$85K - $115K/yr

We are seeking a motivated and knowledgeable Mid-Level Planner to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Planning and Exercise Division (PED). This position will contribute to ...

Company Description MSA is seeking a mid-level consultant with experience supporting Federal Government continuity and emergency management programs. The candidate must have knowledge of Continuity ...

MSA is seeking a mid-level consultant with experience supporting Federal Government continuity and emergency management programs. The candidate must have knowledge of Continuity of Operations (COOP ...

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Federal Emergency Management information

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$38.5K

$89.2K

$145.5K

How much do federal emergency management jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 14, 2026, the average yearly pay for federal emergency management in the United States is $89,223.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $62,500.00 and $109,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What degree do I need to work for FEMA?

To work for FEMA, a bachelor's degree is typically required, often in fields such as emergency management, public administration, or related areas. Some positions may require additional certifications or experience in emergency response or disaster management.

What are some common challenges faced by professionals working in Federal Emergency Management, and how can applicants prepare for them?

Professionals in Federal Emergency Management often face the challenge of responding to unpredictable and high-pressure situations, such as natural disasters or national emergencies, which require quick decision-making and adaptability. Team members frequently collaborate with various agencies, local governments, and community organizations to coordinate effective responses. Applicants can prepare by gaining experience in crisis management, improving their communication skills, and familiarizing themselves with federal emergency protocols. Staying current with disaster response technologies and participating in simulation exercises can also help candidates succeed in this dynamic field.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in Federal Emergency Management, and why are they important?

To thrive in Federal Emergency Management, you need a background in emergency management, public administration, or a related field, often supported by a relevant degree and experience with incident response. Familiarity with systems like the National Incident Management System (NIMS), FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), and certifications such as FEMA’s Professional Development Series are typical requirements. Strong decision-making, leadership, and communication skills are essential for coordinating responses and collaborating with diverse agencies. These capabilities are critical for ensuring efficient disaster response, public safety, and effective resource management during emergencies.

Is it hard to get hired at FEMA?

Getting hired at FEMA can be competitive due to the specialized nature of emergency management roles and the federal hiring process. Candidates often need relevant experience, security clearances, and sometimes certifications such as ICS or NIMS, which can add to the selection criteria. The application process typically involves multiple steps, including assessments and interviews.

What does federal emergency management do?

Federal Emergency Management involves coordinating disaster response and recovery efforts, developing emergency plans, and providing resources to mitigate the impact of natural and man-made disasters. Professionals in this field often work with government agencies, use incident management tools, and may require certifications such as ICS or NIMS to effectively manage emergencies.

What is Federal Emergency Management?

Federal Emergency Management refers to the coordinated efforts led by the federal government, primarily through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the impacts of disasters and emergencies in the United States. This includes natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, as well as man-made events such as terrorism or hazardous material incidents. The goal of federal emergency management is to protect lives, property, and the environment by supporting communities before, during, and after emergencies. FEMA works alongside state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, as well as other federal agencies and private sector partners, to ensure effective disaster response and recovery.

What is the highest paying emergency management job?

The highest paying emergency management roles are typically senior positions such as Emergency Management Directors or Chiefs, with salaries often exceeding $100,000 annually. These roles require extensive experience, leadership skills, and often advanced certifications in emergency management or related fields.

What is the difference between Federal Emergency Management vs Emergency Management Coordinator?

AspectFederal Emergency ManagementEmergency Management Coordinator
CertificationsFEMA certifications, ICS, NIMSFEMA certifications, ICS, NIMS
Work EnvironmentFederal agencies, disaster sites, national levelLocal government, community, organizational level
Employer & IndustryFederal government, FEMA, DHSMunicipalities, private organizations, state agencies

Federal Emergency Management professionals focus on national disaster response and policy, often working within federal agencies like FEMA. Emergency Management Coordinators typically operate at the local or organizational level, coordinating disaster preparedness and response within communities or organizations. Both roles require similar certifications and skills but differ mainly in scope and work environment.

More about Federal Emergency Management jobs
What cities are hiring for Federal Emergency Management jobs? Cities with the most Federal Emergency Management job openings:
What states have the most Federal Emergency Management jobs? States with the most job openings for Federal Emergency Management jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Federal Emergency Management jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Federal Emergency Management jobs are:
Infographic showing various Federal Emergency Management job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 67% In-person, and 33% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $89,223 per year, or $42.9 per hour.
Supervisory Emergency Management Specialist (Recovery)

Supervisory Emergency Management Specialist (Recovery)

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Denton, TX • On-site, Remote

$136K - $177K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 7 days ago


Federal Emergency Management Agency rating

8.4

Company rating: 8.4 out of 10

Based on 16 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

159th of 649 rated public administrative organizations


Job description

Summary
This position serves as the Region Six Deputy Public Assistance Branch Chief. The ideal candidate for this position is an accomplished leader with extensive experience in program analysis, evaluation, and resource management related to recovery grant programs. They possess a proven track record of managing teams and timelines in support of outcome driven results.
Learn more about this agency
Duties
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What will I do in this position if hired?
In this Supervisory Emergency Management Specialist (Recovery) position,
Typical assignments include:
  • Utilizing strong project management skills to efficiently manage timelines, resources and deliverables.
  • Supervising staff in program delivery and outcome-driven accountability that improves disaster closeout progress.
  • Performing analytical duties and provide advice to management on productivity and efficiency of public assistance.
  • Maintaining oversight of the program by regularly monitoring progress against established objectives, identifying risks and opportunities to ensure that key milestones and deliverables are achieved, allocating resources, and ensuring alignment with agency priorities.
  • Ensuring compliance with PA policy and guidance while providing technical assistance and support to recipients and applicants for successful implementation of the program.
  • Fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and professional development, encouraging staff to identify and address emerging challenges, share best practices, and enhance technical assistance delivery.

What else do I need to know?
At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.
This announcement is for a position as a CORE (Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee). CORE employees are full-time employees hired to directly support the response and recovery efforts related to disasters. Employees are hired under the Robert T. Stafford Act and are excluded from the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing jobs in the competitive service. They can be hired under a streamlined process instead of a competitive process. After three years of continuous service, Stafford Act employees may be granted competitive eligibility to apply for permanent full-time positions at FEMA.
Requirements
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Conditions of employment
To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for High Risk/Public Trust as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs, please visit OPM Investigations.
Conditions of Employment:
  • You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
  • You must successfully pass a background investigation.
  • Selective Service registration required.
  • You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
  • You must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.
  • Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.

Qualifications
All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.
To qualify for this Supervisory Emergency Management Specialist (Recovery) position at the IC-14 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the IC-13 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:
  1. Establishing priorities and supervising teams to ensure key milestones and deliverables are achieved.
  2. Providing technical assistance and support to recipients and applicants for successful implementation of programs; and,
  3. Communicating and mentoring staff, state, local and tribal partners on program complexities.

Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:
  • Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.
  • Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.

Are you qualifying based on your work experience?
  • Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.
  • Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.
  • Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."
  • 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
  • For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards

Education
No Educational Substitution: There is no educational substitution for this position, and you must meet the qualifications listed in the "requirements" section of this announcement.
Additional information
  • STAFFORD ACT EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENTS: Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee (CORE) is an appointment type granted under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Section 306 (b), which authorizes FEMA to appoint such temporary employees as necessary to accomplish work authorized under the Act. Appointments under this authority within FEMA are made to the excepted service and are nonpermanent in nature.
  • If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.
  • The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Homeland Security and its Components from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance to Compete Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint to FEMA-Misconduct@fema.dhs.gov.
  • DHS uses E-verify, an internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities.
  • Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.
  • During the application process you will have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.
  • The salary range indicated in this announcement reflects the minimum locality pay up to maximum locality pay for all duty locations listed. The range will be adjusted for selected duty location. General Schedule locality pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages. Please note: first time hires to the Federal Government are typically hired at the Step 01.
  • This is a Non-Bargaining Unit position.
  • Deployment travel may be required, based upon agency needs. Deployment expectations can vary and will be discussed with candidates during the selection process.

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Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
Benefits
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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
DHS offers competitive salaries and an attractive benefits package, including health, dental, vision, life, and long-term care insurance; retirement plan; Thrift Savings Plan [similar to a 401(k)]; Flexible Spending Account; Employee Assistance Program; personal leave days; and paid federal holidays.
Other benefits may include flexible work schedules; tuition reimbursement; transportation subsidies; uniform allowance; health and wellness programs; and fitness centers. DHS is committed to employee development and offers a variety of employee training and developmental opportunities. For more information, go to the DHS Careers website and select "Benefits." Disabled veteran leave will be available to any federal employee hired on or after November 5, 2016, who is a veteran with a service- connected disability rating of 30 percent or more.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

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