Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to All U.S. Citizens, and is being filled under the Direct Hire Authority (DHA) for Certain Personnel of the Department of Defense. Appointment of Military Spouses (5 CFR 315.612)(NonComp Mil Sp), Appointment of Department of Defense Spouses (NonComp Civ Sp), Priority Placement Program (PPP) Retained Grade Preference (RGP), and PPP Military Reserve and National Guard Technician eligibles may also apply.

This position is being filled under the memorandum from the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)) "Expansion of Direct Hire Authority for Certain Personnel of the Department of Defense," dated December 19, 2025.


As a GENERAL ENGINEER at the GS-0801-14 some of your typical work assignments may include:

• SRM Project Management: Serves as the engineering authority with the ability to advise, plan, direct, and approve Sustainment, Repair, and Modernization (SRM) projects, managing the entire life-cycle from inception to final completion.
• Program and Budget Oversight: Provides senior engineering oversight for the worldwide DTRA SRM program, managing the development and execution of the annual budget that sustains over 730,000 square feet of facilities across nine major locations.
• Strategic Planning and Funding: Develops program policy, advocates for resources during budget reviews, and presents prioritized construction requirements to the Executive Facilities Utilization Board to negotiate and secure project funding across the agency.
• Inter-Agency and Stakeholder Coordination: Coordinates with external partners like the Army Corps of Engineers and Department of the Interior for architectural and environmental requirements, and negotiates with senior agency leadership for funding and project approvals.
• Policy and Working Group Representation: Represents DTRA on DoD facilities working groups, analyzing and making recommendations on federal and DoD policy, and provides expert consultation on complex engineering problems, building codes, and construction practices.
• Real Property Systems Management: Leads the team supporting the Real Property Accountability system and other project management platforms, overseeing system analysis, design, testing, and rollout to ensure they meet agency requirements.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Travel in the performance of temporary assignments, both CONUS and OCONUS, may be required up to 25% of duty time.
• Work Schedule: Full-time
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period
• Overtime/compensatory time may be required to accommodate operational needs of the organization.
• Tour of Duty: Flexible
• Recruitment Incentives: May Be Authorized
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Exempt
• Financial Disclosure: Not Required
• Telework Eligibility: This position is telework eligible
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a TOP SECRET/SCI security clearance.
• Must consent to and pass pre-employment drug testing and be subject to periodic random drug testing thereafter.
• Valid passport required
• The employee must be willing to comply with each Combatant Command (COCOM) travel medical requirement to include vaccinations.
• ABET or NCARB accredited degree highly preferred.
• Highly preferred a valid engineering or architectural license from one of the 50 states.

Qualifications

The experience described in your resume will be evaluated and screened from the Office of Personnel Management's (OPMs) basic qualifications requirements. See: i.e. for positions with no Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR): https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf for OPM qualification standards, competencies and specialized experience needed to perform the duties of the position as described in the MAJOR DUTIES and QUALIFICATIONS sections of this announcement by 04/07/2026.

Your application package must reflect the applicable experience to meet the Individual Occupational Requirements for the 0801, series as listed below:

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. (Must provide transcripts)

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.) (Must provide transcripts/documents and experience clearly demonstrated in resume)

You may qualify at the GS-14, if you fulfill the following qualifications:

A. One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service as listed below:

• Specializing in SCIF construction and be well-versed in the latest standards, such as ICD 705, which dictates the physical and technical security requirements for SCIFs.
• Providing the correct level of care to meet all regulations, safety, standards, codes and compliance for projects.
• Managing a high-volume portfolio of 12-20 concurrent, large-scale engineering and construction projects within a global operational environment.

How you will be evaluated

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

We will review your resume and supporting documents, to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. We will evaluate each applicant who meets the basic qualifications on the information provided and evaluate your relevant work experiences as it relates to fundamental competencies, identified below, required for this position.

Traditional rating and ranking of applications does not apply to this vacancy. Your application (resume and supporting documentation) will be evaluated to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications required as listed on the announcement under qualification requirements.

Veterans Preference: If you are entitled to veterans preference, you should indicate the type of veterans' preference you are claiming on your resume. Your veterans' preference entitlement will be verified by the employing agency.

For information on entitlement see http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/vetpref/index.aspx

Appointment of Military Spouses (5 CFR 315.612) (NonComp Mil Sp): To receive this preference, you must choose to apply using the " Appointment of Military Spouses (5 CFR 315.612) (NonComp Mil Sp)" eligibility. If you are claiming Military Spouse eligibility and are determined to be Well Qualified (score of 85 or above) for the position, you will be referred to the hiring manager. Information and required documentation for claiming Military Spouse eligibility may be found at the General Applicant Information and Definitions link below.

The documents you are required to submit vary based on the authority you are using to apply (i.e., applying as a veteran, applying as a current permanent Federal employee, applying as a reinstatement, etc.). Your complete application includes your COMPLETE resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

The following documents are REQUIRED

1. Your resume:

• IMPORTANT UPDATE: Your resume must not exceed two (2) pages. If your resume exceeds the two-page limit, you will be removed from consideration for this announcement. The resume and required supporting documentation should provide the minimum qualifications and relevant experience for the announced position. Must include the work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment, and duties performed. If multiple resumes are submitted by an applicant, only the last resume submitted will be reviewed for qualifications and referred for selection consideration, if eligible. The resume must not be more than 5MB and should be saved and uploaded as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. Page margins should be 0.5 inches, and font styles must be legible. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text. We recommend using a font like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans.
• Additional guidance on writing a federal resume can be found at: USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job? The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.

• This position has a degree or education requirement so you are required to submit a copy of your transcript. We accept unofficial transcripts, as long as they contain your name, the name of the school, the date and degree that was awarded, and the list of classes and credits earned.

• All current and former civilian Federal employees must submit a copy of your MOST RECENT SF50 (Notification of Personnel Action) showing your tenure, grade and step, salary, and type of position occupied (i.e., Excepted or Competitive); or similar Notification of Personnel Action documentation, i.e., Transcript of Service, Form 1150, etc.

• If applying using veteran's preference or under a Veteran's hiring authority you must submit the following documents: DD214 showing character of service, SF-15 Form and VA letter showing final percentage, or certification of expected discharge or release from active duty.

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