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Lost and Found Property Custodian


Job Location:

Washington, DC - USA

Yearly Salary: USD 51957 - 51957
Posted: 10 October 2026 (Yesterday)
Application Deadline: 7 January 2027
Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Summary

The Smithsonian Institution (SI) is the worlds largest museum education and research complex with 21 museums and the National Zooshaping the future by preserving heritage discovering new knowledge and sharing our resources with the world. This position is located in the Office of Protection Services (OPS) responsible for ensuring the safety and security of staff visitors and national collections across the Smithsonian.


Duties

The Lost and Found Property Custodian carries out the day-to-day duties associated with lost and found items and assists in total property control for Sls capitalized and controlled assets.

In this position you will:

  • Assist in providing assistance to designated Property Custodians and all supervisors to ensure that all employees responsible for managing property and processing documents that affect property records are fully aware of the property management procedures.

  • Assist with receiving and maintaining all unclaimed property found throughout all of our SI museums.

  • Assist with providing oversight and accountability of all property administration functions to ensure that OPS meets Federal Smithsonian Smithsonian Facilities and OPS regulations regarding the safeguard of Federal and Trust property in their possession.

  • Conduct training and provides assistance to members of the SI Security program on lost/found procedures and guidelines.

Requirements
Conditions of employment
  • Requires career/career-conditional status or eligibility.
  • Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Conditions of Employment

Qualification requirements including one year time-in-grade at the next lower grade level for promotion candidates must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date. See the Required Documents section for additional information.

For information on qualification requirements seeQualification Standards Handbook forGeneral Schedule Positionsviewable on OPM Website.

Qualifications

Experience:

GS-06: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-05 level in the Federal Service. For this position specialized experience is defined as:

  1. assisting in ordering receiving and distributing equipment and supplies;
  2. maintaining up-to-date records of inventory stock and property account records; and
  3. managing lost/found articles for an organization while safeguarding property in accordance with procedures and guidelines.

GS-07: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-06 level in the Federal Service. For this position specialized experience is defined as:

  1. assisting in ordering receiving and distributing equipment and supplies;
  2. maintaining up-to-date records of inventory stock and property account records;
  3. providing oversight and accountability of property administration functions for an organization while safeguarding property in accordance with procedures and guidelines and
  4. training and aiding members of a security program on lost/found procedures and guidelines.

Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages and should clearly demonstrate how your experience aligns with the responsibilities and specialized experience required for this position. Do not copy language directly from the vacancy announcement as you will be deemed ineligible for consideration. Instead provide detailed descriptive information about your actual 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.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents see the Required Documents section of this announcement.

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures any individual who is currently holding or who has held within the previous 52 weeks a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service must meet time-in-grade requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

Education

There are no basic education requirements for this position.

Additional information

This position is NOT included in the bargaining unit.

Recruitment Incentive: Recruitment incentive(s) may be authorized for this position. However approval for incentives are contingent upon various availability. If authorized certain incentives will require the incumbent to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a certain time period.

Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid.

Selections may be made for vacancies across the Smithsonian Institution (SI). By applying to this position you agree to allow your application and other personal information to be shared with one or more SI hiring officials for employment consideration for same/similar positions within the location(s) identified in this announcement.

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.