Interdisciplinary General Engineer/Physical Scientist (Power Up Program Internship)

Clarification from the agency

This job is open to the public. This includes U.S. citizens, nationals, and those who owe allegiance to the United States.

Join DOE's Power Up program and kickstart your federal career! This program is designed to offer exciting early-career opportunities for upcoming professionals ready to make an impact in the Federal government.

As a participant, you will be paired with an on-the-job mentor whose guidance is tailored specifically to your career path-whether you are entering a technical specialty or an administrative/professional role. In this program, mentoring goes far beyond basic job training. Your mentor will serve as a trusted guide, helping you build confidence, develop professional skills, and learn how to navigate and thrive within a structured, mission-driven environment.

As a Power Up Intern in the Office of Science, you will support our daily mission goals.
Your responsibilities may include:

• Plan work procedures and select standard practices and data to be applied to engineering or scientific assignment and identified problems.
• Assist in coordinating and carrying out limited, well-defined engineering and/or scientific projects.
• Research and evaluate basic engineering and/or scientific designs, specifications and related documentation to perform and interpret calculations and computations and determines if factual information is relevant, accurate and useful.
• Prepare routine, recurring engineering and/or scientific reports for use by higher graded engineers or to convey factual engineering and/or scientific data and information.

There are various offices that will be hiring from this vacancy announcement and they include:

• Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site Office - The primary mission is to deliver scientific discoveries and technical breakthroughs needed to realize solutions in energy and national security and provide economic benefit to the nation.
• Thomas Jefferson Site Office - The primary mission centers on advancing breakthrough research in nuclear physics while executing a strategic transition from a single-purpose laboratory into a cutting-edge, multi-purpose national research institution.

Conditions of employment

• You must serve a trial period for the entire length of your appointment.
• Before starting, you must sign a written agreement acknowledging that this job is temporary and cannot be converted to a permanent position.
• You must pass a background investigation. Some positions may require you to get and keep a security clearance.
• If you are a male born after December 31, 1959, you must be registered with the Selective Service System (or have a legal exemption).
• You must be a U.S. citizen, national, or meet the legal exception criteria to be paid from federal funds.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• This job is filled under the Schedule A-r excepted service hiring authority (5 CFR § 213.3102(r)).
• This is a time-limited appointment in the Excepted Service. Your internship will be for an initial 2 years with the possibility to extend for an additional 2 years. Appointment cannot exceed 4 years.
• This position is designed for temporary development. It does not lead to a permanent job, and it does not grant you competitive civil service status. When your appointment ends, your employment with the agency ends.
• Security level requirements may vary depending on the specific office and position.

Qualifications

**Please note these series do have Basic Education Requirements that MUST be met and are listed in the Education section of the vacancy announcement. There is one for the 0801 series and one for the 1301 series.**

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date (08/28/2026) of this announcement.

For the GS-07: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience for this position at the GS-7 includes:

• Participating in laboratory experiments, field tests, or site visits to record physical data, monitor equipment, or collect scientific samples.

OR YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE GS-7 BASED ON EDUCATION: 1 year of graduate-level education. Graduate education must provide the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform in the position. Please see the information under Education.

OR YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE GS-7 BASED ON SUPERIOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: A bachelor's degree AND meet one of the following:(1) Class standing -- You must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision based on completed courses; OR(2) Grade-point average (G.P.A.) -- You must have 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum OR 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; OR(3) Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society (other than freshman honor societies) -- You are a member of one of the national scholastic honor societies recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies (https://www.achshonor.org/). The bachelor's degree must still show the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform in this position.

OR YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE GS-7 BASED ON A COMBINATION OF EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE: If you have some qualifying education and some qualifying experience, but don't fully meet either requirement on its own, you may be able to combine them. Only graduate education can be used in this calculation. Experience must be reflected in your resume, and transcripts are required.

1. Divide your qualifying graduate semester hours by 18. That gives you your education percentage.
2. Divide your months of qualifying experience by 12. That gives you your experience percentage.
3. Add the two together. If the total is 100% or more, you qualify.

Experience may include paid or unpaid work, including internships, volunteer service, student leadership, military service, apprenticeships, or other relevant activities. Resumes must clearly describe duties, dates, and hours worked per week.

Note about Graduate Education: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications; applicants' resumes and supporting documentation should only reflect education received from schools accredited by such institutions. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home.If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g., special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabus and/or detailed course description from the university/college for that particular course to ensure you are properly evaluated. Provide all relevant transcripts, not just your most recent one.

Note about Superior Academic Achievement (SAA): Applicants usually cannot claim credit based on their overall GPA if more than 10 percent of their total credit was based on pass/fail or similar systems, rather than on traditional grading systems. However, if they can document that only their freshman-year courses (25 percent or less of their total credit) were credited on a pass/fail or similar system, they can use their overall GPA to claim SAA. If 10 percent or fewer credits or only freshman-year courses were based on pass/fail or similar systems, such credits can be ignored, and the GPA can be computed from the graded courses. Applicants can, however, still claim credit based on their last 2 years if 10 percent or fewer credits were based on pass/fail or similar systems. Applicants who cannot claim credit under the GPA requirements may claim credit for SAA only on the basis of class standing or honor society membership.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet Minimum Qualifications, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program, or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. Failure to provide such documentation with your application will result in lost consideration. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

How you will be evaluated

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

We will evaluate your application using the Unrated Method. This means there is no numerical test or score.

1. We will review your resume and transcripts to see if you meet the minimum qualifications for this grade and series.
2. If you qualify for Veterans' Preference, you will be placed at the top of the referral list in your preference category (such as 10-point or 5-point preference) ahead of non-veterans.

OPM Merit Hiring Plan Essay Questions (Optional to Complete): To support fair and open merit hiring, you will have the opportunity to answer four short essay questions during the application process. These questions cover:

1. Constitution
2. Efficiency
3. Executive Orders
4. Work Ethic

If you choose to answer them, your responses must be written entirely in your own words. Using artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools or external consultants is strictly prohibited. Your responses cannot exceed 200 words per question. These essays will not be scored, will not affect your qualifications, and will not disqualify you if you choose to skip them (you can select "decline to respond" in the system).

Resume review: HR Specialists will review your resume to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the specialized experience. Resumes submitted for Federal positions may not exceed two pages. Be sure you address the specialized experience within the two-page resume limit. HR will not review additional information beyond your resume (e.g., cover letter, links embedded in your resume). Applicants passing the resume review will move on to the next phase of the assessment process. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses you provided in your online questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation before the vacancy closes, you may be rated 'ineligible' or 'not qualified'.

Please note that the Department of Energy may share lists of applicants among its internal Departmental Elements and organizations. You may be referred for consideration to other DOE Hiring Managers throughout the Department for more than one position based on this application. By applying to this announcement, you understand your application materials may be shared with multiple Hiring Mangers throughout DOE. If additional positions are filled from this announcement conditions of employment may differ. You will be notified if you are referred for additional positions.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

• Attention to Detail
• Decision Making
• Oral Communication
• Problem Solving
• Technical Competence
• Written Communication

To preview the Assessment Questionnaire, clickhttps://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13034111

To apply for this position, you MUST provide a complete application package which includes:

• A resume of no more than two pages which includes a list of all significant jobs held and duties performed, with dates specified in month and year, and indicates hours worked per week. If military or a civilian Federal employee, you must include your rank and/or grade.
  • Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications, and other position requirements listed in the job announcement.
  • Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume 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.
  • We recommend using a sans-serif font style such as Lato, Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, or Open San Source Sans Pro.
  • The USAJOBS resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.
• Education Documentation (if using education to qualify OR if there is an education requirement):
  • Transcripts are required at the time of application submission for Internship positions. Unofficial transcripts or a report listing institution, course title, credits earned (semester or quarter hour), final grade, and overall GPA is acceptable. A degree audit is unacceptable, and Word format will not be accepted.
  • Official transcripts WILL BE required if you are selected. Official transcripts will need to be emailed to Human Resources directly from the Registrar's office. If you upload an Official Transcript with your original application package, please note another one will need to be requested and sent directly from the registrar's office prior to your onboarding.
• Are you claiming veterans' preference?
  • If you are a disabled veteran, Purple Heart recipient, or parent or spouse of a disabled or deceased veteran, you must submit all additional proof required by the SF-15, and if applicable, a completed SF-15. You may request a copy of your Department of Veterans Affairs letter from www.ebenefits.va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000 to establish proof of disability.
  • If you are a veteran within 120 days of discharge (from when you apply to this announcement), you must submit signed documentation from the Armed Forces certifying: 1) your expected release/retirement date from active duty, 2) your discharge will be under honorable conditions, 3) your pay grade/rank/rate at time of discharge, 4) dates of active duty service, 5) any campaign or expeditionary medals received, and 6) your separation date from active duty service.
  • If you are a discharged, non-disabled veteran, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 showing character of service (Member 4 copy), or other documentation of service and separation under honorable conditions, as listed on the SF-15. If you don't have your DD-214, you may request it after discharge from the National Archives.
  • For more information visit the USAJOBS Help Center & OPM CHCO website for VOW information.
• Are you a current or former political Schedule A, Schedule C, non-career SES, or Presidential appointee employee?
  • Submit a copy of your applicable SF-50, along with a statement that provides the following information regarding your most recent political appointment:
    • Position title;
    • Type of appointment (Schedule A, Schedule C, non-career SES, or Presidential appointee);
    • Agency; and
    • Beginning and end dates of appointment.

Failure to submit any of the required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

Do not submit photographs with your application package. Documents with photographs may not be seen by hiring officials. You must remove your image from any badges, licenses, etc. or you may be removed from consideration.

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