NSF provides compensation and benefits programs that provide support for employees in various ways including, competitive pay, medical and dental insurance, onsite health and wellness support, dependent care programs and more.
NSF employee salaries are determined by OPM’s General Schedule, Salaries for General Schedule, Special Rate, and Senior Executive Service pay tables. General Schedule positions receive the locality pay rate for Washington, D.C.
NSF’s Excepted Service salary rates are listed below.
2023 Excepted Service Pay Scale
| Grade | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| AD-1 | $42,870 | $102,166 |
| AD-2 | $78,592 | $145,617 |
| AD-3 | $112,015 | $176,458 |
| AD-4 | $160,889 | $195,000 |
| AD-5 | $186,294 | $195,000 |
* Effective September 28, 2023
As an NSF employee, you may be eligible to take advantage of the many civil service benefits offered to federal employees. Many of the benefits are cost shared by the government, keeping your cost down. Our benefits are comparable to and often better than those of many employers in private industry. Our fringe benefits program offers:
- Wide variety of health insurance plans at government rates;
- Low-cost life insurance coverage;
- Comprehensive retirement benefits;
- Tax-deferred Thrift Savings Plan;
- Metrochek or SmartBenefits transit subsidy
- Pre-tax parking benefit;
- 13 to 26 days annual (vacation) leave per year, based on length of service;
- 13 paid sick leave days per year;
- 10 paid holidays per year;
- Flexible work schedule;
- Family-friendly workplace policy;
- Overtime and compensatory time off; and
- Injury compensation if injured on the job.
Visit the NSF Human Resources Management site for more information.
NSF's Work/Life Programs (WLP) strive to make the Foundation a premier workplace. We do this by providing a robust portfolio of programs to help employees with their work and home life needs. In doing so, the WLP programs help NSF hire and retain highly trained and talented employees, foster employee engagement, and increase employee satisfaction.
Work/Life Programs at NSF include:
- Child Care Subsidy Program
- Employee Assistance Program
- Emergency Backup Dependent Care Program
- Nursing Mothers Program
- Onsite Health Unit
- Telework
- WorkLife4You
Each of these programs provides support for employees to continue the work of the Foundation while still taking care of their personal lives.
NSF has a strong commitment to ensuring that its staff remains at the cutting edge of the nation’s workforce by fostering a culture of continuous learning. NSF supports continuous professional growth by investing in learning, development, and training resources for its employees. The Foundation provides in-house, interagency, and external training opportunities to enhance job-related skills and abilities and enable NSF employees to achieve excellence in all aspects of their careers. The NSF Academy, which is the primary learning and development organization at the National Science Foundation, provides opportunities for learning through onsite classroom offerings, custom learning programs, including Program Management and Leadership and Executive Development, over 2,000 web-based e-learning courses, a structured mentoring program, and much more.