Qualifications
This is an Interdisciplinary position that can be filled by the 0801 (General Engineering), 0830 (Mechanical Engineering), 0850 (Electrical Engineering), 1301 (General Physical Science), 1310 (Physics), 1515 (Operations Research, 1520 (Mathematics), or the 1550 (Computer Science) series. The series that the selected applicant will be placed into depends on their qualifications.
In addition to basic education requirements, your resume must also demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the ND-03 pay band (GS-9 - GS-11 equivalency) in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector. Specialized experience must demonstrate the following: as a professional engineer or scientist contributing to the development of technical documents or artifacts to support the design or development efforts of a systems engineering project.
Additional qualification information can be found from the following Office of Personnel Management website:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=List-by-Occupational-Series
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (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.
Education
You must provide a copy of your transcripts with your application. See the Required Documents section for more information.
Applicants must meet the following positive education qualifications requirements of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualifications Standards Manual: Applicants must possess at least one of the following:
0801/0830/0850:
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: 1) Professional registration or licensure; 2) Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering examination; 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; or 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. OPM stipulates there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience.
1301:
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,
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.
1310:
Degree: physics; or related degree that included at least 24 semester hours in physics; OR,
Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in physics totaling at least 24 semester hours, plus appropriate experience or additional education;
AND
With either option above, the courses must have included a fundamental course in general physics and, in addition, courses in any two of the following: electricity and magnetism, heat, light, mechanics, modern physics, and sound.
1515:
Degree: in operations research; OR at least 24 semester hours in a combination of operations research, mathematics, probability, statistics, mathematical logic, science, or subject-matter courses requiring substantial competence in college-level mathematics or statistics. At least 3 of the 24 semester hours must have been in calculus.
1520:
Degree: mathematics; or the equivalent of a major that included at least 24 semester hours in mathematics. OR,
Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in mathematics (including at least 24 semester hours in mathematics), as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
AND
The total course work in either option above must have included differential and integral calculus and, in addition, four advanced mathematics courses requiring calculus or equivalent mathematics courses as a prerequisite.
1550:
Degree: Bachelor's degree in computer science or bachelor's degree with 30 semester hours in a combination of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. At least 15 of the 30 semester hours must have included any combination of statistics and mathematics that included differential and integral calculus. All academic degrees and course work must be from accredited or pre-accredited institutions.