Electronics Technician

Clarification from the agency

This Merit Promotion position is open to Current Federal Employees and Former Federal Employees with permanent status or reinstatement eligibility. Individuals who are eligible for a special appointing authority may also apply such as Individuals with Disabilities (Schedule A), former Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Vista volunteers; certain Military Spouses, or individuals eligible under various programs for Veterans (VRA, VEOA, 30% disabled).

• Repairs and maintains antenna servo systems, chopping secondary mirror systems, deice systems, power distribution systems, and other analog and digital electronic and electrical systems as required.
• Fabricates complex mechanical assemblies and electronics consisting of chassis, cables, connectors (MS, D, JDC, and coax styles), power supplies, junction boxes, terminal strips, and multi-layer circuit boards from schematics and developed design specifications.
• Performs test procedures for electronic circuits and systems and performs electronic circuit systems integration, testing, troubleshooting, and documenting using SMA approved methods.
• Performs "hands on" debugging and maintenance of a wide range of electrical, mechanical and electromechanical subsystems, including transporter electronics and control systems, generators, batteries, antennas, 480 VAC electrical wiring, and antenna motors and brakes.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.
   
   
   
  

Conditions of employment

• May be required to pass a Pre-employment Background Investigation
• May be required to serve a one year probationary period
• Must maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
• Must possess a vaild state driver's license
• Must pass a high altitude physical examination prior to employment
• U.S. Citizenship is required

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience

Specialized Experience: Must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-10 level in the Federal service or comparable pay band system related to the work of this position. Specialized experience includes activities such as technical support for state of the art digital systems, operating high-speed digital oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers, and good hands-on electronic skills to isolate and repair faults in multi-layered boards with a wide range of ICs such as FPGAs, ASICs, and DSPs. 

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

Additional qualification information can be found from the following Office of Personnel Management web site:  http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/electronics-technical-series-0856/

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

• Knowledge to apply a wide range of specialized methods, techniques, procedures, or practices to provide technical support in the testing, repair, and maintenance of electronic servo systems, circuitry, and scientific instrumentation.

• Ability to work from schematics, sketches, prints, and verbal instructions to fabricate prototype and final electronic systems.

• Knowledge of structural and mechanical techniques, in particular precision mechanical assemblies.

• Knowledge of CAD software as applied to drawing circuit and assembly diagrams.

• Skill in analog and digital electronics troubleshooting and testing practices, including the use of sophisticated test equipment such as oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.

BASIS OF RATING:  Once the announcement closes, your application will be automatically evaluated and rated by the system and a Human Resources Specialist. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your application and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. The numeric rating you receive is based on your responses to the questionnaire. The score is a measure of the degree to which your background matches the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of this position. If, after the Human Resources Specialist reviews your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that the score you have received is not a true reflection of your qualifications and/or experience, your score can and will be adjusted to more accurately reflect the information you provided that support your abilities. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

Important Note:
Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience.

Your resume should provide detailed information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

Your application package should include the following documents:

• Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), and hours worked per week, for each employment period. It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position. Your resume must be no more than two (2) pages and should clearly demonstrate how your experience aligns with the responsibilities and specialized experience required for this position. For assistance with creating a resume, please click USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job?
• Current and former employees MUST submit a copy of their Standard Form (SF)-50, “Notice of Personnel Action,” that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. The SF-50 must include your position title, series, grade, step, salary, type of service (competitive or excepted in block 34), and tenure (1 or 2 in block 24). Please provide a SF-50 that shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade level.  Examples of appropriate SF50s include: Appointments, Reassignments, Within-grade/range increases or Promotion actions.  NOTE: Pay adjustments and award SF-50s do not include the length of time in your current position, therefore, they are NOT acceptable SF-50’s on their own. You may need to provide more than one SF-50. Failure to provide the appropriate SF-50(s) may prevent you from receiving consideration for this position.
• Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify.  If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.
• Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.
• Most recent performance appraisal, if currently a federal employee (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable.
• Proof of Veteran's Preference - DD214 (Member 4 Copy) if you are requesting a special appointment authority, such as VRA or VEOA
• Proof of severe disability if you are requesting special placement consideration
• Proof of eligibility for a military spouse appointment, such as a permanent change station military order
• Proof of eligibility for any other special appointing authority not specifically mentioned here.

Next steps