The National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE)’s Internship Program is a partnership with the National Park Service and other Federal agencies with cultural resource protection and public land management responsibilities. Its purpose is to accomplish needed and important work on federally protected lands while providing program participants with professional experience in their chosen fields. Interns work under the guidance of agency staff to complete projects or undertake programs in furtherance of the park’s mission.

To be eligible, applicants must be between 18 and 30 years old (or 35 if a veteran) when starting the internship, a college student or recent graduate (within the past 12 months at the time of application), enrolled in a degree-seeking program, and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.  

The successful candidate will work with Cultural Resources Data Manager and other regional cultural resources staff (cultural landscapes, architectural conservation, and archaeology) to develop a GIS-based application to present cultural resources condition information for archeology, historic structures, and cultural landscapes in a variety of National Park sites in the National Capital Region (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia). Assignments may include the creation of web-based apps, the development of file geodatabases, the potential use of GNSS field equipment, and other duties as assigned.

Creativity along with collaborative skills will be critical as this internship will focus on new ways to apply GIS and other related geospatial programs to cultural resources management. This full-time, in-person training opportunity will be located in Washington, D.C. and includes a combination of remote office work, in-person office work, and the potential for field documentation. This opportunity will allow the intern to learn about and participate in a preservation program by working directly with Federal cultural resource professionals in the National Capital Region Preservation Services team.

A background security investigation may be required prior to the start date. All NCPE internships accrue 4 hours of PTO for every 80 hours worked.

Qualified NCPE interns who complete their internships may count their position towards earning a Public Land Corps (PLC) Non-Competitive Hiring Authority certificate.  Once earned, the PLC certificate may be used to apply for eligible Federal permanent, temporary, or term positions. Visit https://preservenet.org/ncpe-internships/ for details about this benefit. Successful completion of the internship does not guarantee Federal employment.