Duties

• The incumbent serves as a discipline Technical Leader or Team Leader, providing technical and procedural guidance for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of complex civil works projects
• Responsible for ensuring the most effective, efficient and economical achievement of civil engineering risk-based design tasks to produce work products and services and meet program and production goals.
• Provides oversight for A/E services contracts; to ensure that the contracts are appropriately administered and that work products are prepared in accordance with appropriate analysis and design policies and specifications.
• Prepare geotechnical design reports, dam safety modification reports, geotechnical portions of risk analysis reports, and/or construction drawings and specifications.
• Provides leadership to the engineering team by assisting in group facilitation, coordination, coaching, problem solving, interpersonal communication, integration of work processes and products and obtaining resources.
• Develop, or assist in developing, geotechnical models and tools to be used for risk and reliability analyses to support risk-informed decisions for periodic assessments, issue evaluations, alternative formulation, and dam safety modifications.
• As a subject matter expert and technical lead Works closely with Project Managers and team members on the largest and/or complex water resources projects to ensure performance, quality, and execution is consistent with established policies/standards

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• This position requires possession of a Professional Engineering (PE) registration. (NOTE: Proof of PE registration MUST be submitted with application.)
• This position requires you to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE450) upon entry, and annually thereafter.
• Incumbent must obtain and maintain a valid, state issued driver?s license.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens

In order to qualify, you must meet the experience and/or education requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document .

Specialized Experience:
One year of specialized experience which includes at least two of the three following duties: 1) Reviewing geotechnical designs for dam or levee safety modifications; OR 2) Designing dam or levee safety modifications; OR 3) Performing risk assessment studies related to geotechnical aspects of dams or levees. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-12).

In addition to meeting the specialized experience requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the basic education requirement listed below:

Education

Basic Requirement for Civil Engineer (Geotechnical):
A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (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.
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, or Puerto Rico.
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 A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program.
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 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.

***NOTE: You MUST provide a copy of your transcripts with your application package or you will be rated ineligible.***

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

This announcement uses the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD direct hire authority to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to certain positions in the competitive service. About the Position: This is a GS-13 geotechnical engineer position with the Southwestern Dam Safety Production Center located in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Little Rock, Arkansas. This position is responsible for delivering engineering solutions to complex, non-routine dam and levee safety projects while leading in Quality, Technical Competence, Communication, Problem-Solving and Teamwork skills. The incumbent will serve and promote Communities of Practice (CoP), Regional Technical Centers and the Public. Selectee may negotiate duty location which may impact the included Special Salary Rate.
• Duty location will be negotiated upon selection.
• Actual Salary will be based on the negotiated duty location. Certain locations may be authorized a Special Salary Rate with the following pay range: $109,908 to 135,270.
• Federal Employee Compensation Package: It's More than Just Salary: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/federal-employee-compensation-package/
• Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
• You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
• One year trial/probationary period may be required.
• Direct Deposit of Pay is required.
• This position requires you to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE450) upon entry, and annually thereafter.
• Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees.
• If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.
• This is a Career Program (CP) 18 - Engineer & Scientist position.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• When you perform a Civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) with the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers the majority of your entitlements to be taxable. Visit https://www.dfas.mil/civilianemployees/civrelo/Civilian-Moving-Expenses-Tax-Deduction/ for more information.
• Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is authorized*, subject to the provisions of the Joint Travel Regulations.
  • PCS authorized if selectee relocates to one of the following locations: Little Rock, AR; or Tulsa, OK.
• Student Loan repayment may be authorized.
• Due to COVID-19, the agency is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement within a designated time frame identified by the organization. At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework one or more days a pay period depending upon the terms of the agency's telework policy.
• Information may be requested regarding the vaccination status of selectees for the purposes of implementing workplace safety protocols. For more information, visit https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/faq/vaccinations/ .