Qualifications
FOR ND-04 (GS-12/13 equivalent): Your resume must also demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the next lower pay band, ND-03 (GS-9/11 equivalent) in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector. Specialized experience must demonstrate the following: experience as a professional Engineer or Scientist leading project execution and analysis of electromagnetic capabilities and systems.
Additional qualification information can be found from the following Office of Personnel Management website:
FOR 0801 SERIES: All
Professional Engineering Positions(PDF file)
FOR 1301 SERIES:
General Physical Science Series
FOR 1550 SERIES:
Computer Science 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
Basic education requirements may be met with one or more of the following:
For the 0801, Professional Engineering Series.
- successfully completed a bachelor's degree (or higher) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher) 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. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position.
OR
- combination of 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: (I) 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; or (II) 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, and Puerto Rico; or (III) Specified academic courses: Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and in engineering that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A (above). The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A (above); or (IV) 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 one 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.
For the 1301, Professional Physical Science Series:
- successfully completed a bachelor's degree or higher in 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 with education equivalent to one of the majors shown above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
For the 1550, Professional Computer Science Series.
- bachelor's degree in computer science.
OR
- bachelor's or higher degree with 30 semester hours in a combination of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. At least 15 of my 30 semester hours were in a combination of statistics and mathematics that included differential and integral calculus.