SENIOR TECHNICAL ADVISOR FOR HEALTH PHYSICS

Clarification from the agency

Applicants must provide documentation demonstrating eligibility for the selected special hiring authority

The successful candidate will serve as an agency authority on health physics and radiation protection for nuclear reactors, fuel cycle facilities, materials licensees, waste management activities, and emerging nuclear technologies. This includes developing and applying radiation protection principles; dosimetry; radiological assessments; source term evaluation; occupational and public dose assessment; environmental radiation protection; emergency preparedness; and radiation safety throughout the facility life cycle from design and licensing through operation, decommissioning, and waste management.

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Maintains awareness of, contributes to, and helps shape advances in health physics and radiation protection science, ensuring the agency remains at the forefront of emerging developments, technologies, and analytical methodologies.

• Serves as an agency staff technical expert on health physics and radiation protection.

• Advises senior management on highly complex safety, policy, and licensing issues associated with radiation protection, radiological risk, and the application of health physics principles to reactor, fuel cycle, materials, waste management, and emerging nuclear technology programs.

• Provides independent and expert evaluation of NRC and industry approaches to radiation protection, dose assessment, radiological consequence analysis, environmental monitoring, source term evaluation, emergency preparedness, and implementation of radiation protection standards and regulatory guidance.

• Performs independent technical reviews or leading teams to resolve significant and complex health physics issues, including occupational and public radiation exposure; internal and external dosimetry; radioactive material transport and release; environmental pathway analyses; radiation instrumentation and monitoring; criticality-related radiation protection considerations; decommissioning radiological assessments; and the application of risk-informed and performance-based approaches affecting the licensing, operation, oversight, and decommissioning of NRC-regulated facilities.

• Independently resolving complex safety issues requiring coordination and communication across agency offices; applicants; the Department of Energy; other Federal agencies; Agreement States; industry; and the public.

• Represents the agency on national and international working groups, consensus standards committees and technical conference committees associated with radiation protection and health physics.

• Engages with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), and other domestic and international organizations on radiation protection policy, standards, and emerging technical issues.

• Provides authoritative technical consultation to senior leadership, supports Commission, Congressional, and adjudicatory activities through expert technical analyses and briefings, and mentors agency staff in the application of sound health physics principles and analytical methodologies.

Conditions of employment

You must meet the qualifications for this position by no later than 30 calendar days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position. All information in your resume must be true and accurate.

Conditions of Employment:

• U.S. Citizenship Required
• This is a Drug Testing position
• Must be able to meet and maintain security & suitability requirements
• As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:
  • your performance and conduct;
  • the needs and interests of the agency;
  • whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
  • whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, you must meet the basic education requirements and possess at least seven to ten years of specialized experience, or an equivalent combination of education (e.g., a graduate degree) and experience that demonstrates the required qualifications, or equivalent experience in the private or public sector.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE is defined as experience demonstrating expert knowledge of health physics, radiation protection principles, nuclear materials, and health physics policy; providing authoritative technical advice on complex radiation safety issues; and evaluating or developing health physics programs and policies.

The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:

Ideal candidate will have:

1. Demonstrated expert knowledge and applied capability in radiation protection principles and health physics policy, together with comprehensive knowledge of Federal and international radiation protection regulations, standards, guidance, and recommendations (e.g., NRC, EPA, NCRP, ICRP). Experience should include leading or authoritatively contributing to licensing/inspection findings, compliance determinations, policy or guidance development, rulemaking support, incident/operational evaluations, environmental and public dose assessments, and interagency coordination; education and training in health physics, medical physics, nuclear engineering, radiobiology, or closely related fields; demonstrated use of applicable NRC/EPA regulations and guidance, NCRP reports, ICRP recommendations, and recognized consensus/industry standards; and the ability to reconcile differing frameworks and articulate the regulatory basis and technical rationale.
   
   2. Demonstrated expert knowledge and applied capability in internal and external dosimetry and in performing, evaluating, validating, and documenting radiation dose calculations for occupational exposures, medical events, public dose evaluations, technical issues, incident response, and environmental assessments. Experience should show sound technical judgment, accurate application of dosimetric methodologies to complex technical issues, accurate interpretation of results, and the ability to provide technically sound, defensible recommendations that inform regulatory and programmatic decisions.
   
   3. Demonstrated mastery in clearly, accurately, and effectively conveying highly complex scientific and technical information, both orally and in writing, to a wide range of audiences, including technical and nontechnical stakeholders, senior management, interagency partners, licensees, contractors, industry representatives, and the public. Experience should reflect exceptional skill in preparing authoritative technical reports, presenting sophisticated analyses, explaining regulatory and scientific concepts with precision, responding to challenging inquiries, and facilitating collaboration across internal and external organizations.

A description of how you possess the specialized experience as well as how you meet the qualifications desired in an ideal candidate must be addressed in your resume. Applicants may also use the supplemental vacancy question to provide additional information pertaining to the specialized experience and ideal candidate criteria.

PLEASE BE CLEAR AND CONCISE. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

How you will be evaluated

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

When the application process is complete, your application will be reviewed to determine if you meet the job requirements.

Your application will be evaluated based on the information provided in your resume and responses to any vacancy questions to determine your level of knowledge, skills, and abilities related to the job requirements.

You must respond to all required application questions.If you are among the top candidates for this position, your application will be referred to the hiring manager for possible interview and selection based upon the number of available vacancies to be filled in each office.

Your resume is the key means we have for evaluating your skills, knowledge, and abilities as they relate to this position.

Therefore, we encourage you to submit a resume that directly relates to this position.

The following documents are required for your application package to be complete. If you fail to provide any required documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further.

• Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment, title, series, grade (if applicable); and 4) other qualifications. Please limit your resume to 2 pages. See below for Additional Resume Information.
• Transcripts: You must submit an official or unofficial copy of your college and/or university transcripts with your application, if the position has a positive education requirement. Failure to submit transcripts will result in loss of consideration. Diplomas do not provide the information needed for determining qualifications and will not be accepted in lieu of transcripts.

In addition to the above, you must submit the documents below if you claim the following eligibilities:

• Current Federal Employees/Reinstatement Eligibles: You must submit a copy of your most recent non-award SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) to verify competitive/excepted status or reinstatement eligibility. Applicants who only submit an award SF-50 will not receive further consideration.
• Veteran Preference Eligibles: You must submit DD-214 showing type of discharge/character of service (e.g. DD-214 Member 4 Copy); SF-15 Form; and related documentation such as a VA letter showing disability percentage. If currently on active duty, you must submit a certification of expected discharge or release from active-duty service under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. Veteran's preference must be verified prior to appointment. You can find additional information about Veterans' Preference at http://www.fedshirevets.gov/.
• Individuals with Disabilities: If you are applying under the Schedule A Hiring Authority, you must submit supporting documentation (i.e., Schedule A Letter). You may refer to the following link for additional information. USAJOBS Help Center - Individuals with disabilities.
• Military Spouse: All military spouses must submit documentation verifying marriage to the service member (e.g., marriage certificate); AND
  • Current military orders (e.g., statement of service) to support active-duty service for more than 180 consecutive days; OR
  • If you are a spouse of a 100% disabled service member, documentation must include service member's DD-214 and 100% service disability (e.g., VA Letter); OR
  • If you are an un-remarried widow or widower of a service member killed while on active duty, documentation must include verification of service member's death while on active duty (e.g., DD-1300).
• Peace Corps: You must submit a copy of your description of service or other proof of non-competitive eligibility.

All application materials, including transcripts, must be in English.

Additional Resume Information: Your resume is crucial in our evaluation of your qualifications. Resumes should clearly demonstrate your skills, knowledge, and abilities. Please limit your résumé to 2 pages. To ensure your resume contains all required information, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, please ensure it contains all the required information, and you organize it so we can associate the following information with each experience/position:

• Job title
• Name of employer
• Beginning and ending dates of employment (month/year) format
• Hours worked per week. We will assume full-time unless otherwise stated. We will pro-rate part-time employment in crediting experience.
• Concise, results-focused language for job duties, accomplishments, related skills, and responsibilities to include any supervisory/managerial responsibilities and number of staff supervised (if applicable).
• Series and grade or equivalent (if a federal position).

Do not include a photograph or video of yourself, or any sensitive information (age, date of birth, marital status, protected health information, religious affiliation, social security number, etc.) or other inappropriate material on your resume or cover letter. If your resume contains prohibited information as listed above, your application may be determined ineligible, and you will not receive consideration for this position. We will not access web pages linked on your resume or cover letter, links to social media such as LinkedIn, to determine your qualifications. Cover letters are optional.

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