Summary
About the Position: This position is with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Geospatial Research Laboratory (GRL).
This position is being filled as a Research Interdisciplinary DB-04 (GS-12/14 equivalent).
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
See "Who May Apply" in the "Qualifications" section for more information on who is eligible to apply for this position.
Duties
- Uses optical design software for modeling such as Zemax (OpticStudio).
- Evaluates stress, kinematic, vibration, and thermal considerations in opto-mechanical components.
- Designs and build mechanical, optomechanical, and electro-optical systems for defense applications.
- Uses CAD in the design of opto-mechanical instruments.
- Is familiar with optical systems, components, and applicable codes, standards, and regulations.
- Prepares or delivers reports or presentations of geospatial project information.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
- This position requires pre-employment financial disclosure and annually thereafter in accordance with DoD Directive 5500-7-R.
- Detection of the presence of drugs is warranted. This position is subject to a pre-employment screening, and random testing thereafter, to include testing based on reasonable suspicion and testing due to direct involvement with an on-duty accident.
- This position requires the incumbent be able to obtain and maintain a determination of eligibility for a Top Secret security clearance or access for the duration of employment.
- Appointment to this position is subject to a two year probationary period unless the appointee has previously met the requirements as described in 5 CFR Part 315.
Qualifications
Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities.
- Current Department of Army Civilian Employees
- Domestic Defense Industrial Base/Major Range and Test Facilities Base Civilian Personnel Workforce
- Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan
- Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act
- Military Spouses, under Executive Order (E.O.) 13473
- Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) of 1998
In order to qualify, you must meet the 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; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.
For 0801Series: General Engineering Series 0801 (opm.gov)
For 0830 Series: Mechanical Engineering Series 0830 (opm.gov)
For 0850 Series: Electrical Engineering Series 0850 (opm.gov)
For 0855 Series: Electronics Engineering Series 0855 (opm.gov)
For the 1301 Series: General Physical Science Series, 1301 (opm.gov)
For the 1520 Series: Mathematics Series 1520 (opm.gov)
For the 1550 Series: Computer Science Series 1550 (opm.gov)
For the 1310 Series: Physics Series 1310 (opm.gov)
In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:
To qualify at the DB-04 (GS-12-14) grade level in addition to the Basic Education requirement you must also have one year of Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes experience in 1) Research and Development of advanced technology and scientific investigation; 2) Writing proposals and obtaining funding to conduct research and development aimed at developing technology-enabled solutions for customers; 3) Managing customer-focused Research and Development (R&D) programs in order to develop solutions aligned with mission requirements; and 4) Provide expertise in remote sensing and lidar research. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service DB-02 (GS-11).
OR
Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Data Scientist, Geographer, General Engineer, Physical Scientist, Mathematician, and/or Computer Scientist.
OR
Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.
You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:
- Communications
- Planning and Evaluating
- Research
- Technical Competence
Time in Grade Requirement: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-11).
All qualification requirements, including time after competitive appointment, must be met by the closing date of this announcement.
This announcement MAY be used to fill like vacancies for six months after the closing date.
In accordance with the Federal Register Vol. 63, No. 57, dated March 25,1998, an employee of the Laboratory Demonstration project must have a current average performance score of 2.5 or above in order to be selected for promotion. All applicants currently employed under a Laboratory Demonstration Project must include their most recent performance appraisal score as part of their electronic resume. If you are a Lab Demo employee submitting your resume for the first time, or if you have previously submitted your resume without your most recent score, you must submit your resume now with the following statement to be included in the section on your training: Current Performance Rating
Education
FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show 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. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.
Benefits
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement. If you are minimally qualified, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your level of experience. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.
You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.
You may claim Military Spouse preference.
Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). If you are a Federal employee in the competitive service and your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority for this position. To receive selection priority, you must: (1) meet ICTAP eligibility criteria (2) be rated well-qualified for the position and; (3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your ICTAP eligibility. To be considered well-qualified and receive selection priority applicants must satisfy all qualification requirements for the position and receive a score of 90 or above. Additional information about the program is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website.
Required Documents
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). Please review the following links to see which documents you need to provide to prove your eligibility to apply: Applicant Checklist for Internal/Merit Promotion Announcements.
As described above, your complete application includes your 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.
1. Your resume:
- Your resume may be submitted in any format and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement.
- If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you may not be considered for this vacancy.
- For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). If your resume does not contain this information, your application will be marked as incomplete and you will not receive consideration for this position.
- For additional information see: What to include in your resume.
2. Other supporting documents:
- Cover Letter, optional
- Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable
- Proof of Eligibility to Apply: Your application must include the documents which prove you are eligible to apply for the vacancy. The Proof of Eligibility document describes authorities commonly used in merit promotion recruitment and what document(s) are required to prove you meet the requirements of the authority. You must meet the requirements of at least one of the authorities listed in the Who May Apply section above to receive further consideration.
- Time-in-grade documentation: If you are applying for a higher grade and your SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you meet the one year time-in-grade requirement so you will need to provide an SF-50 which clearly demonstrates you meet the time-in-grade requirements (examples of appropriate SF-50s include Promotions, Within-grade Grade/Range Increases, and SF-50s with an effective date more than one year old).
- This position has an individual occupational requirement and/or allows for substitution of education for experience. If you meet this requirement based on education you MUST submit a copy of your transcript with your application package or you will be rated ineligible. See: Transcripts and Licenses
NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
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. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from
schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
How to Apply
To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 07/15/2024 to receive consideration.
- To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12451033).
- Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
- After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process.
- You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
- It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan.
- Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center.
To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/application/status/.
Next steps
If you provided an email address, you will receive an email message acknowledging receipt of your application. Your application package will be used to determine your eligibility, qualifications, and quality ranking for this position. If you are determined to be ineligible or not qualified, your application will receive no further consideration.
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