Job Summary

This position is located in the Conservation Engineering Division the National Headquarters of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The division provides policy and staff guidance for nationwide engineering activities. The selectee will serve as the Service Engineering Specialist in providing national leadership for water and related land resources projects and activities for national and international programs by NRCS.

Major Duties

Qualifications

TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENTS: Merit promotion applicants must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year at the GS-13 level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-14 level. One year at the GS-14 level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-15 level. (Please submit your SF-50 that shows Time-in-Grade eligibility and reflects your title, series, and grade. No Award or General Adjustment SF-50's will be accepted). Time-in-grade requirements also apply to VEOA applicants having held a GS position in the past year. See additional information. Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date, 12/02/2019, of the announcement. SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR: All applicants must possess a Professional Engineering License. You must submit a copy of your License with your application package, or you will be considered ineligible. BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

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 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: Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1, 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. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 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. 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. 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.) (You must submit transcripts and/or certification to verify you meet this requirement.) In addition to meeting one of the Basic Requirements listed above, applicants must meet the following Minimum Qualifications Requirement in order to be considered: MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required specialized experience and/or education for the respective grade level(s) in which you are applying: GS-14

Specialized Experience: One or more full-time years (12-months) of specialized work experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service performing the following duties: Investigating new theories and concepts related to civil engineering for application to resource conservation; Identifying controversial engineering, scientific and socio-economic issues involving programs for conservation engineering; Collaborating with external institutes and centers, regional and state conservationists and their staffs to ensure that national policies, procedures and technical guidelines for water resources needs are met; Analyzing and interpreting the methods and procedures used in hydrology, geology, irrigation, drainage, waste management, water quality control, geotechnical, and structural design fields. GS-15

Specialized Experience: One or more full-time years (12-months) of specialized work experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 grade level in the Federal service, performing the following duties: Serving as a subject matter expert of civil engineering for resource conservation work involving dams, waterways, flood control measures, irrigation, erosion control measures, and related works; Investigating and formulating new theories and concepts related to civil engineering for application to resource conservation; Providing guidance and evaluating design and analytical problems of organization-wide programs; Responding to existing and future civil engineering needs for resource conservation impacting the nation, major resource areas, and international interests; and Justifying and resolving controversial engineering, scientific and socio-economic issues involving programs for conservation engineering (Your resume must CLEARLY demonstrate this experience) IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Pay Range

$117,191.00 - $166,500.00

More information...