Supervisory Railroad Safety Specialist (Hazmat)

Clarification from the agency

Open to current and former Federal employees with competitive status and VEOA Applicants.

As a Supervisory Railroad Safety Specialist (Hazardous Materials) you will:

• Serve as the Deputy Staff Director overseeing field operations for the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Hazardous Materials (HM) Division.
• Plan, develop, coordinate, and direct programs for HM field employees in support of FRA objectives, policies, and missions.
• Provide managerial direction and technical guidance over subordinate field elements and employees.
• Serve as an advisor to the HM Staff Director on field level issues pertaining to safety related or administrative programs.

An ideal candidate for the position has strong leadership skills, sound analytical skills, and proficiency with identifying trends that can improve the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail. The candidate would have experience in leading programs involving the transportation of hazardous materials by rail, and compliance with Department of Transportation and international dangerous goods regulations. Excellent written and oral communication skills are imperative. The ability to develop and present compelling technical presentations is required.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.
• You must meet specialized experience to qualify.
• Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
• Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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 the 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 probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

• SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
• GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel.  A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
• PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
• SUPERVISORY PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year supervisory probationary period (unless already completed).
• TIME-IN-GRADE: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade in the competitive or excepted service in the executive branch to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.
• BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: You may be required to complete a background/security investigation and meet preliminary requirements prior to onboarding.
• DRIVERS LICENSE: A state issued drivers license is required for this position. 

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the specialized experience qualifications. 

To be qualified for a Railroad Safety Inspector, the Qualifications Standards states you MUST have demonstrated knowledge in the following areas:

• Railroad industry, including economic and operating considerations and equipment.
• General safety and health principles and practices applicabe to the railroad industry.
• Railroad accident investigation tehcniques.
• Skill in written and oral communication.
• Practical knowledge of the typical reactions of different hazardous commodities to various environmental conditions and of safe procedures for containing or controlling fires, leaks, or explosions of these materials.
• Knowledge of the construction, testing, and retesting of containers used to ship hazardous materials by rail; AND
• Knowledge of Federal regulations and standards governing the shipment of hazardous materials by rail, including containerization, loading, handling, documentation, and placarding.

To qualify for the Grade 14, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-13, it must include:

• Experience applying principles, procedures, regulations/policies to manage a program related to the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail.
• Experience persuading others, building consensus, and gaining cooperation from others to obtain information and accomplish goals to improve the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail.
• Experience leading, motivating, supervising and/or managing a workforce to promote a uniform understanding and accomplish organizational goals.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

1. Hazardous Materials- Knowledge of hazardous materials and waste and their uses, interactions, dangers, production, handling, storge, and disposal.
2. Leadership- Influences, motivates, and challenges others; adapts leadershp styles to a variety of situations.
3. Planning and Evaluating- Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short- or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them; coordinates with other organizations or parts of the organization to accomplish goals; monitor progress and evaluates outcomes.
4. Oral Communication- Expresses information (for example, ideas, or facts) to individuals or groups efffectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive). 

For all types of consideration, 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).  Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.  You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link:  https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4

All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level. 

Your application will be reviewed in two phases determine how you move forward in the hiring process.  Phase I: Your resume will be reviewed to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience. ONLY two (2) pages of your resume will be reviewed. Additional information beyond your resume (e.g., cover letter, links embedded in your resume) will not be reviewed.  Applicants passing “Phase I” will move on to the “Phase II” of the assessment process where your application will be reviewed and rated based on the KSAs/Competencies listed in the vacancy announcement by a Subject Matter Expert (SME).

RESUME: In accordance with the OPM memorandum titled Merit Hiring Plan, dated May 29, 2025, resumes with a maximum of two (2) pages in length will be accepted as part of your application.  These should be legible and in a readable font size. A determination of your eligibility and/or qualifications will be based only on those two (2) pages. 

Your resume MUST contain specific information that can be used to make a qualification determination, including employment beginning and ending dates for each position, whether employment is Full-time or Part-time, or average number of hours worked per week,  and position titles.  If the position is/was in the Federal government, you will need to provide the position series and grade level.  The resume should show relevant experience and education, as well as support the required specialized experience.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS/INCENTIVE AWARDS: If applicable, performance appraisals and/or Incentive award documentation may be submitted and forwarded to the selecting official in consideration of your application. To receive credit, submit a recent performance appraisal (dated within 18 months) showing the official rating of record, signed by a supervisor, or statement why the performance appraisal is unavailable (do not submit a performance plan) and/or incentive award documentation dated within the last 18 months (i.e. performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increases, etc.).

VETERANS: Your last DD214 (member 4 copy), Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty, that shows the type of discharge and all dates of active duty is required to verify your eligibility.  

• If applying to a vacancy opened to all US Citizens under category rating and wish to be considered as a preference eligible, you need to submit a copy of your DD214 (member-4 copy).
• If claiming preference eligibility as a disabled veteran, you must submit proof of entitlement of this preference which is normally a valid letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs certifying to the present existence of the service-connected disability and indicating the percentage of your disability.  An SF-15 is desired, but not required.
• If applying to a vacancy opened Status and you are requesting consideration under Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) (https://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/shav/#veoa), you need to provide a copy of your last DD214 (member-4 copy), which verifies your military service dates, reason for separation, OR certification of separation that shows a discharge date within 120 days of the closing of this announcement, and eligibility for consideration under the Veterans Employment Opportunity Act.

FEDERAL APPLICANTS: You must submit SF-50(s) that verify your highest competitive grade, full performance level, and eligibility as a federal applicant.  DO NOT submit an award SF-50 as these often do not verify grade or eligibility. For consideration for a promotion, Box 4 of the SF-50 must show a date that is at least 52 weeks prior to the job announcement closing. We recommend submitting your last promotion SF-50 or within-grade increase SF-50.  Pay adjustment raise SF-50s for the current year will not support the 52 weeks’ time-in-grade requirements.  https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/service/sf-50

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents. Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system.  You must verify that the documents are in the system with your application prior to final submission.

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