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Civil Engineer (Hydraulics) GS-0810-09 (Pathways/Recent Graduates-GEB)

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Reclamation
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Reclamation is seeking a career professional looking for an opportunity to capitalize on his/her expertise as a Civil Engineer (Hydraulics). You can make a difference in the West by assisting in meeting increasing water demands while protecting the environment.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
01/28/2020 to 02/18/2020
Salary
$76,047 to - $89,736 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 09
Location
Few vacancies in the following location:
Lakewood, CO
FEW vacancies
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - Travel for field data collection and meetings.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-Time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
11 - You can progress from $76K to $92K in 2 years! Year 1 - $76,047 (GS-9), and Year 2 - $92,004 (GS-11). Promotions to the next grade/salary level are neither guaranteed nor automatic, but based on supervisor initiation.
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Announcement number
BR-DO-2020-025
Control number
558025300

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

All United States Citizens and U.S. Nationals who meet the eligibility requirements for the Pathways Recent Graduate Program as explained below under "Requirements".

Duties

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-Performs investigations of rivers and reservoirs for habitat restoration, protection of infrastructure, and reservoir sedimentation and sustainability.

-Serves on interdisciplinary technical teams, assisting with proposal preparation, work scope, schedules, and budgets.

-Creates complex numerical modeling of river hydraulics and sediment transport used to simulate historic and future river and reservoir conditions.

-Conducts field data collection activities, including topographic and bathymetric surveys, measurements of flow depth and velocity, and bed-material and sediment bulk density analysis.

-Produces written reports documenting scientific investigations, describing purpose, background, methods of data collection, modeling results, and conclusions.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship or U.S. National
  • Suitable for Federal Employment, determined by background investigation
  • You must submit resume and supporting documentation; (See How to Apply)
  • You must meet specialized experience requirements; (See Qualifications)
  • For veterans consideration, submit document(s) under Required documents
  • You must submit transcript(s) to verify education requirements

You must meet all qualification requirements by the reporting date.  If a degree is not yet completed but will be by the reporting date June 2020, you MUST provide current transcripts with your application AND indicate on your resume and/or transcripts your anticipated graduation date.  Official transcripts that provide proof of qualifying education must be provided no later than June 15 2020.

ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must be Recent Graduates who have completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying associate, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution. Veterans (as defined in 5 USC 2108) who, due to military service obligation, were precluded from applying to the Recent Graduates Program during any portion of the 2-year eligibility period described above have a full 2-year period of eligibility upon their release or discharge from active duty; however, this eligibility period cannot extend beyond 6 years from the date of completion of the requirements of an academic course of study.

PROMOTION: If the position is filled at the GS-07 or GS-09 level, subsequent promotion to the next higher-grade level is permissible without further competition. Promotion is not guaranteed or promised but dependent upon administrative approval and the agency’s continuing need for an actual assignment and performance at the higher-level duties.

CONVERSION: After successful completion of all program requirements, the Recent Graduate MAY be converted to a permanent or term position in the competitive service, but conversion is neither guaranteed or promised.

To be eligible for conversion, Recent Graduates must successfully complete at least 1-year of continuous service in addition to all requirements of the Program; demonstrate successful job performance; meet the Office of Personnel Management’s qualifications for the position to which the Recent Graduate may be converted; and be recommended for conversion by their supervisor. For more information on the Pathways Programs, please visit: http://www.opm.gov/HiringReform/Pathways/

Qualifications

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: Applications must first meet the Basic Education Qualification Requirements listed below:

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

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)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.

2. 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.

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.

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.)

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT: In addition to meeting the Basic Education Qualification Requirements, applicants must have additional specialized experience as defined below:

DEFINITION OF SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: To meet specialized experience, your resume must describe experience that demonstrates the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities as follows:

GS-09: One year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes: Hydraulic analysis of river channels or reservoirs; numerical or physical modeling of hydraulics or rivers and reservoirs; field or laboratory data collection involving river channel surveys, bed material sampling, or sediment load measurements.

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.

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE: Applicants may also qualify on the basis of education as follows:

GS-09: 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree.

Education

This position has a mandatory education requirement; you must furnish a copy of your transcript of college work completed (unofficial copy is acceptable). Transcripts must include the name of the college or university and date the degree was conferred. Non-submission will result in you being rated not qualified for the position.

Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, applicants 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.

Additional information

Would you enjoy serving as a Civil Engineer for the Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Group, supporting the mission of Reclamation? Responsibilities include performing investigations of rivers and reservoirs for habitat restoration, the protection of infrastructure, and reservoir sedimentation and sustainability? 

LOCATION: Technical Service Center; Water, Environmental, and Ecosystems Division; Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Group; Lakewood, Colorado.

Recruitment and/or relocation incentives may be authorized. The selectee(s) for the vacancy, if otherwise eligible and qualified, may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive to the selectee(s) of this vacancy will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed.

DOI uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify.

This position is designated as a NON-SENSITIVE position. It requires a fully completed and favorable adjudicated Low Risk Background Investigation (T1 (NACI)) that is current. This is a condition of employment.

The Bureau of Reclamation has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval. 

Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. For more information visit: http://www.sss.gov.

Equal Employment Opportunity: The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability and genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factor.

How you will be evaluated

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

Category rating and selection procedures will be used for evaluating this position. If you meet the basic qualification requirements, your on-line responses to the vacancy assessment questionnaire will be used to determine the quality and extent of your experience, education, training, etc., for placement in one of the following categories:  1) Best Qualified, 2) Well Qualified and 3) Qualified.  Qualified candidates will be assigned a numerical score on a scale of 70-100. The assessment questionnaire will take you approximately 25 minutes to complete.

Veterans Preference:

GS-09 grade level: Veterans with preference will be placed at the top of their respective category. 
 
Applicants will be further evaluated on the following "Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)" through your resume and responses to the online questions.

1. Knowledge and skill in applying engineering principals and computer system applications in the area of river hydraulics, sediment transport, and fluvial geomorphology.

2. Knowledge and skill of procedures, practices, and guidelines pertaining to sediment transport, river hydraulics, channel stability, and reservoir sedimentation.

3. Knowledge and skill of numerical model applications for the simulations of river and reservoir hydraulics and sediment transport.

4. Knowledge and skill of field data collection techniques in a river and reservoir environment, including sediment sampling and proper use of electronic instrumentation like RTK GPS and depth sounders.

5. Ability to prepare written engineering reports, documenting study objectives, background information, data collection, methodologies, numerical simulations, discussion, and conclusions.

Applicants must make a fair and accurate assessment of their qualifications.  If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is apparent in your description of experience, competencies, skills, and/or education/training OR that your resume/application is incomplete, you may be rated ineligible or your score may be lowered.


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