Civil Engineer/Physical Scientist

Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens and U.S. Nationals

Duties

-Provides expert technical guidance, mentoring, oversight, and peer review in the field of applied hydrology, including hydroclimate data analysis, flood hydrology and meteorology, hydrologic modeling, water quality modeling, water resources planning and operations modeling, and/or water resources planning and operations decision support.

-Leads, directs, advises, performs, and coordinates the complex and controversial hydrology and water resources analyses to inform water resources planning and operations, infrastructure design, and risk assessment.

-Leads and directs the research to develop and evaluate new and advanced technical methods, techniques, procedures, and tools for application in hydrology and water resources analyses including to address unique or novel problems, conditions, or issues.

-Reviews complex and/or controversial hydrology and water resources analyses and studies for technical adequacy, computational correctness, and interpretational adequacy and conformance with established practice.

-Serves as Project Manager / Team Leader for large, complex, and/or controversial hydrology and water resources analyses and investigations including planning, organizing, monitoring, and conducting highly technical work within developed and agreed upon budgets and schedules and regularly reporting progress to ensure successful project delivery.-Provides high quality oral communication appropriately tailored to a target audience, including leading and participating in meetings with technical teams, clients, leadership, stakeholders, and other government agencies and delivering oral presentations, briefings, and trainings to technical and non-technical audiences. Clearly and concisely communicates highly technical analyses and findings to clients, and to leadership and policy makers as appropriate.

-Leads or directs the preparation of high-quality written documents and work products that accurately and effectively document the data, methods, results, and interpretation of hydrology and water resources analyses, including organizing and preparing technical memoranda and reports, summaries, briefings, and other written communications.

-Leads or contributes to technical guidelines, journals, or professional papers that promote knowledge transfer and mentoring of new research and applications in hydrology and water resources data collection, modeling, and analyses.

-Functions as a team leader of personnel in the Group performing work on a variety of projects, including providing mentoring, technical direction, and technical review; delegating tasks to team members; and providing direction and oversight of technical final review of reports, deliverables, and work products.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

You must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National.
You must be suitable for federal employment, determined by a background investigation.
You must submit a resume and supporting documentation (see Required Documents).
You must submit eligibility documents for veterans consideration (see Required Documents).
You must meet any minimum education and/or experience requirements (see Qualifications).
You must submit transcript(s) to verify education requirements (see Qualifications/Education).
You must submit a current, valid Professional Engineering (P.E.) License with an expiration date. Failure to provide proof of the license may result in an ineligible rating. (Civil Engineer 0810 Series ONLY)

Qualifications

To be eligible for consideration, you must meet BOTH the Basic Qualification and Additional Qualification requirements for each grade level described below. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience. A copy of your unofficial transcripts must be provided with your application.

Basic Qualification Requirement for the 0810 Series: To be eligible for the position, you must possess one of the following:

A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must:(1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

-or-
B. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:

1. Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.

-or-

2. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

-or-

3. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.

-or-

4. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all inclusive.)

Selective Placement Factor: This position (0810 Series) requires a current, valid Professional Engineering License. Failure to provide proof of such license will cause you to be rated ineligible for this position.

Basic Qualification Requirement for the 1301 Series: To be eligible for the position, you must possess one of the following:

A. Degree: physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics.

-or-

B. Combination of education and experience -- education equivalent to one of the majors shown in A above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience, or additional education.

Additional qualification requirement: In addition to the basic education requirement, in order to be rated as qualified for this position, the HR Office must be able to determine that the applicant meets the following specialized experience requirement - this information must be clearly supported in the resume.

GS-14 Specialized Experience Requirements for 0810 Series and 1301 Series: To qualify, applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in difficulty and complexity to the GS-13 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to, leading and conducting large, complex, and/or controversial hydrology and water resources studies or investigations involving hydrologic and climate data analysis, flood hydrology or meteorology, hydrologic and/or water quality modeling, and/or river and reservoir systems modeling. Additionally, applicants must have demonstrated experience leading or participating in research to advance hydrology and water resources data, methods, tools, or applications; presenting and disseminating technical information through oral presentations and written documents, including presentations and briefings to leadership; and teaching others through formal or informal mentoring or training.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience. One year of specialized experience is equivalent to 12 months at 40 hours per week. Part-time hours are prorated. You will not receive any credit for experience that does not indicate exact hours per week or is listed as "varies".

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.

You must meet all requirements, including any selective placement factors if applicable, by 10/03/2024.

Education

This position does not allow substituting education for experience.

This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of college transcript(s) (unofficial copy is acceptable) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. Non-submission will result in being rated not-qualified for the position.

You will be required to provide official college transcripts to verify educational qualifications, if selected. An official transcript must be sent directly from the University's Registrar's office and must be provided from the institution awarding the degree. Academic transcripts certified by notary publics are NOT official. Official transcripts must be submitted prior to reporting to work as a condition of employment. Failure to submit official transcripts may be grounds for dismissal or rescission of the job offer.

Accreditation: Only education from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education is acceptable to meet education requirements or to substitute for experience, if applicable. For additional info, refer to the and .

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 additional info, refer to the .

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