Duties

Summary

About the Position: This is a Temporary Promotion not to exceed one year position. Temporary promotions or reassignments may be extended up to a maximum of five years and may be made permanent without further competition.

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Responsibilities

• In this position you will serve as an Engineer or Scientist for the US Army Combat Capabilities Dev CMD, Chemical and Biological Center Engineering Directorate at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.
• Responsible for managing complex technical programs or projects important to optimizing operational performance, reliability and sustainment of Center products and systems.
• Work involves systems and program analysis of new equipment, material, projects, or processes that significantly applies to the Chemical Biological (CB) product acquisition life-cycle.
• Formulates and conducts a systematic Research and Development approach to a problem area of considerable scope and complexity typically requiring a series of comprehensive and conceptually related phases and studies.
• Formulates and develops new methods and techniques to carry out investigations in areas where precedents are scanty, inappropriate or nonexistent.
• Develops complex methodologies or results that are of such scope and impact as to require attentions of others in the field.
• Serves as Research and Development lead and authority across the CB Defense Program Enterprise through invited requests to serve as a subject matter expert by government, academic, and industrial organizations.
• Plans work to be accomplished by subordinates. Sets and adjusts short-term priorities. Prepares schedules for completion of work.
• Assigns work to subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration of the difficulty and requirements of assignments, and the capabilities of employees.
• Develops performance standards and evaluates work performance of subordinates.
• Gives advice or instruction to employees on work and administrative matters. Interviews candidates for positions. Hears and resolves complaints.

Travel Required

25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
3

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• This position requires the incumbent be able to obtain and maintain a determination of eligibility for a Secret security clearance or access for the duration of employment. A background investigation and credit check are required.
• This position has a Temporary Duty (TDY) or business travel requirement of 25% of the time.
• This position requires Level III Certification in the Acquisition Career Field SPRDE-Systems Engineering or Program Management dependent on the focus and needs of the position within 24 months of entrance on duty.
• Extended probationary period for the Engineer and Scientists Occupational Family is three years.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities.

• Current Department of Army Civilian Employees
• Domestic Defense Industrial Base/Major Range and Test Facilities Base Civilian Personnel Workforce
• Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Spouse Preference (MSP) Eligible

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience 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 .

Qualified candidates must meet the Basic Requirement for the General Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Computer Engineer, Chemical Engineer, Physical Scientist, Chemist or Biological Scientist position.

In addition to meeting the Basic Requirement, applicants must have one year of specialized experience at the DB-02 (GS-11 grade level) or higher equivalency in (1) managing complex technical programs or projects, conducting a systematic research and development approach to a problem area of considerable complexity, and developing new methods and techniques to carry out investigations in areas where precedents are scanty, inappropriate or nonexistent; (2)Leads or consults on the analysis, design, programming, debugging and modification, of software enhancements and/or new products used in local, networked, or Internet-related computer programs; (3)Interacts with users to define system requirements and/or necessary modifications; Experience in a customer-facing environment; and provide technical leadership and coordinate the activities of lower level engineering staff; and (4)Using current programming language and technologies, writes code, completes programming, and performs testing and debugging of applications; providing clear, objective guidance based on knowledge of cloud technologies; Experience with cloud modernization strategies, techniques and architectures; and migration and integration of applications and data in the cloud.

800 Series Basic Education Requirement for an Engineer:

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.

OR

1301 Series Basic Education Requirement for a General Physical Scientist:

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.

OR

1320 Series Basic Education Requirement for a Chemist:

A. Degree in physical sciences, life sciences, or engineering that included 30 semester hours in chemistry, supplemented by course work in mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and at least 6 semester hours of physics.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience -- course work equivalent to a major as shown in A above, including at least 30 semester hours in chemistry, supplemented by mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and at least 6 semester hours of physics, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

OR

0401 Series Basic Education Requirement for a Biological Scientist:

A. Degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

OR

B. Combination of education and experience in courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:

• Administration and Management
• Design
• Leadership
• Problem Solving

Education

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.

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

• 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.
• Extended probationary period for the Engineer and Scientists Occupational Family is three years.
• Direct deposit of pay is required.
• Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees.
• This is a Career Program (CP 16) - Engineers and Scientists (Non-Construction) position.
• You may claim military spouse preference (MSP).
• If a MSP applicant is determined best qualified and selected, placement must be at the full performance level for priority consideration.
• Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
• Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
• If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .
• Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is not authorized, based on a determination that a PCS move is not in the Government interest.
• This position is covered under an alternative personnel system known as the Science andTechnology Reinvention Laboratory Management Demonstration Project. The Demonstration Project replaces GS grade levels with occupational families and pay bands. The salary range of the position being filled will not be decreased with the change to pay bands. This position is DB-03, which incorporates GS-12 step 1 through GS-14 step 10 grade and salary levels.
• This position has an education requirement, therefore, Official college or university transcript (or copies) must be submitted to be considered eligible.
• Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in the vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your résumé and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your résumé and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Secret

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk

Trust determination process
National security

Required Documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc). Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Merit Checklist and Proof of Eligibility .

As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

1. Your resume:

• Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
• If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
• For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete and you may not receive consideration for this position.
• For additional information see: What to include in your resume .

2. Other supporting documents:

• Cover Letter, optional
• Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
• Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy. The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority. You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration.
• This position has an individual occupational requirement and/or allows for substitution of education for experience. If you meet this requirement based on education you MUST submit a copy of your transcript with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses

NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.