Qualifications
For the ND-03: Your resume must also demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the ND-02 pay band (GS-05 through GS-08 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 applying basic systems engineering principles in support of engineering assignments to solve complex technical problems utilizing engineering techniques, procedures and methods.
For the ND-04: Your resume must also demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the ND-03 pay band (GS-09 through 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 applying systems engineering principles to research, analyze, interpret, evaluate and carry out difficult but conventional assignments. Examples of qualifying experience may include (1) experience with systems engineering analysis and design; (2) experience with agile development, data analytics and Model Base System Engineering (MBSE) tools, (3) knowledge of conventional systems engineering tools, and other available tools to execute assigned tasking.
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/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1500/operations-research-series-1515/
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1500/mathematics-series-1520/
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1500/computer-science-series-1550/https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1500/computer-science-series-1550/
This is an interdisciplinary position and may be filled by a General Engineer (0801-series), an Operations Research Analyst (1515-series), a Mathematician (1520-series), or a Computer Scientist (1550-series) depending upon the qualifications of the candidate. Applicants in positions with occupational series other than those listed (0801, 1515, 1520 and 1550) may apply; however, you must apply directly to the series listed in this vacancy that is most applicable to your qualifications.
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
Applicants must meet at least one of the following positive education qualifications requirements of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualifications Standards Manual:
For the 0801 Professional Engineering Series:
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 -- 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.)
For the 1515 Professional Operations Research Series:
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.
For the 1520 Professional Mathematics Series:
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 above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
For the 1550 Professional Computer Science Series:
Degree: 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.