Duties

Summary

This position is located in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), Division of Engineering and External Hazards (DEX), Instrumentation & Controls Branch (EICB). The supervisor is Mike Waters. This position is Bargaining Unit. This position is not subject to Confidential Financial Disclosure reporting requirements. This position is subject to security ownership restriction reporting requirements. If additional vacancies occur, additional selections may be made.

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Responsibilities

As an Electronics Engineer in the Division of Engineering and External Hazards, you will review and evaluate complex analog and digital instrumentation and control aspects of systems needed for the safe operation and safe shutdown of nuclear facilities subject to the NRC regulatory program. Reviews include hardware and software functional capability, integrity, reliability, surveillance, and systems operation under normal plant operation and safe plant shutdown during normal, transient and accident conditions. Manage and perform studies and analyses of complex technical issues within the Branch's area of review, including analog and digital control and instrumentation for operating reactors, new reactors, and advanced reactor designs. Provide specialized technical assistance and advice to other Divisions, Regions, and Offices. Participate in audits and inspections as a technical specialist team member, or team leader to support the oversight of operating reactors, design and construction of new and advanced reactors, and quality assurance program of vendors. Specific duties include but are not limited to:

Review complex instrumentation and control engineering safety and regulatory issues in the licensing review of operating reactor amendments, combined operating license applications, research and test reactor amendments, and certification reviews of advanced reactor designs, under 10 CFR Part 50 and 52. Complex issues may include (1) the review of complex instrumentation and control system designs with multiple components; (2) the review of plant technical specifications to assess the suitability of the safety limits, limiting safety system settings, setpoints, and the limiting conditions for operations, and the adequacy of periodic surveillance requirements; (3) the development of significant regulatory guidance; (4) the support for oversight issues related to the development and construction of large I&C systems; and (5) the resolution of important I&C safety issues at operating plants. Apply risk-informed approaches as appropriate, develop safety evaluation reports, lead project-specific teams, and/or make recommendations within area of technical competence to resolve these regulatory or safety issues.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Occasional travel required at 10% or less of duty time.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
14

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Must be able to meet/maintain security & suitability requirements.
• This is a Drug Testing position and will be subject to random testing.
• U.S. Citizenship Required

You must meet the qualifications for this position by no later than 30 calendar days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for this position, you must have at least one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level (GG-13) in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE is defined as: Experience performing complex electronics engineering reviews, evaluations, or inspections, of instrumentation and control aspects of systems needed for the safe operations or shutdown of nuclear facilities. A description of how you possess the specialized experience should be addressed in your resume and may also be addressed in the vacancy question provided for your supplemental response.

Education

Basic Educational 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.)

More detailed information about these alternatives are described in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Qualification Standards Operating Manual which may be accessed at the following website: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/electrical-engineering-series-0855.

Additional information

The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Individuals with disabilities may contact the Selective Placement Coordinator for assistance with the application or hiring process via Disability.Resource@nrc.gov. Deaf applicants may contact the Disability Program Manager by calling the NRC videophone at 240-428-3217.

The NRC is a zero tolerance agency with respect to illegal drug use. Individuals selected for this position will be subject to random drug testing.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

When the application process is complete, your application will be reviewed to determine if you meet the job requirements. You will be rated based on the information provided in your resume and responses to any vacancy questions to determine your level of knowledge, skill and ability related to the job requirements. If you are among the top candidates for this position, your application will be referred to the hiring manager.

Your resume is the key means we have for evaluating your skills, knowledge, and abilities as they relate to this position. Therefore, we encourage you to submit a thorough resume that directly relates to this position.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
L Access Authorization

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

As a NRC employee you are required to submit your most recent Rating of Record (Performance Appraisal) or a statement explaining why one is not available. You may do so either electronically, following the instructions below (strongly preferred), or by E-mailing one copy to:

Lindsey Redden
E-mail: lindsey.redden@nrc.gov

All supplemental documents can now be collected electronically and should be submitted before the closing date of this vacancy announcement. File uploads are limited to 5MB in size per document. If your file size exceeds 5MB it will not upload. You can reduce the file size by using the reduce file size feature in Adobe Acrobat before upload. You have three choices for submitting your supplemental documents:

1. Use the "USAJoBs" feature to download documents from your USAJoBs portfolio; or
2. use the "Upload" feature to upload documents directly from your computer. The following types of documents can be uploaded:
.gif, .jpeg, .png, .rtf, .pfg, and .doc; or
3. use the "Fax" feature to print the Fax Cover Sheet and fax it, along with your supplemental documents to 1-571-258-4052.

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.