Summary

As an Aerospace Engineer your work will directly impact the safety of expendable and reusable launch/reentry vehicles, launch/reentry sites, and their integration into the National Airspace System. You will apply engineering principles, theories, and concepts to support safety evaluations and analyses for proposed commercial space transportation activities.

Duties

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Core Duties and Responsibilities

• Safety Analysis & Evaluations: Conduct technical reviews and safety evaluations for commercial space transportation activities, focusing on public safety, system/component reliability, and organizational safety procedures.

• Regulatory & Licensing Support: Review contractor work, technical documents, and applications for licenses, permits, or safety approvals. Assist in developing regulatory requirements for new and existing commercial space technologies.

• Field Inspections & Compliance: Support safety inspections of commercial launch, reentry, and site operations to ensure compliance with safety, environmental, and regulatory requirements.

• Data & Technical Reporting: Collect and analyze operational data, perform trend analyses, conduct engineering testing, and author comprehensive technical and management reports.

• Stakeholder Coordination: Assist with the initial interface for government and industry stakeholders, as well as new commercial space transportation applicants requiring licensing.

Key Areas of Expertise Sought

Candidates should possess background experience or transferable skills in one or more of the following areas:

• Project Management & Systems Integration: Experience managing or participating in complex, multi-phase space engineering projects through certification, approval, or compliance. Background in systems engineering and integration, ensuring different technical disciplines (software, hardware, safety) align within a single project.

• Physics-Based Flight Safety & Hazard Analysis: Experience performing advanced calculations, trajectory modeling, orbital mechanics, aerodynamics, or ballistics. Background or familiarity with Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), system safety engineering (e.g., MIL-STD-882), software reliability, explosives/blast effects, structural dynamics, or toxic hazard modeling.

• Operational Monitoring & Field Inspections: Hands-on operational experience in flight testing, mission control, military flight operations, or aerospace manufacturing floors. Experience with quality assurance, field inspections, compliance monitoring, or conducting/participating in mishap, accident, and anomaly investigations.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• US Citizenship is required.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Designated or Random Drug Testing required.
• This position has a positive education requirement. Transcript(s) required.
• Travel Required: 25% (Domestic)

Qualifications

IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS BELOW:

To qualify for this position at the FV-I level: Candidates must have one year (52 weeks) of SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (FV-H or FG/GS-12) that is typically related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been at least equivalent to the next lower level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE at the next lower level- FV-H/GS-12:

• Experience related to the design, development and evaluation of launch vehicles; conducting safety analysis related to commercial space flight systems and operations; applying investigative techniques and procedures related to space transportation operations.

To qualify for this position at the FV-J level: Candidates must have one year (52 weeks) of SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (FV-I or FG/GS-13) that is typically related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been at least equivalent to the next lower level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE at the next lower level- FV-I/GS-13:

• Experience related to the design, development and evaluation of launch vehicles; conducting various safety analyses related to commercial spaceflight systems and operations; applying investigative techniques and procedures related to launch/reentry operations.

You should include relevant examples of the specialized experience in your work history. Errors or

omissions may impact your rating or may result in you not being considered.

Answer all questions to the best of your ability. DO NOT ASSUME THAT BECAUSE YOU HOLD OR HAVE HELD THIS POSITION, YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE FOUND ELIGIBLE. You may be asked to provide evidence or documentation that you have this type of experience later in the selection process. Your responses are subject to verification through job interviews, or any other information obtained during the application process. Any exaggeration of your experience or any attempt to conceal information can

result in disqualification.

Eligible applicants meeting the minimum qualification requirements and/or selective placement factor(s) (SPF) may be further evaluated on the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) and/or Quality Ranking Factor (QRF) listed in the announcement. Based on this evaluation, applicants will be placed in one of the following categories: (1) score order; (2) category grouping; (3) alphabetical; or (4) priority grouping, and referred to the selecting official for selection consideration.

*Applicants who fail to demonstrate possession of any of the above criteria AND who do not provide the required documentation will receive no further consideration for this position.*

Applicants may be asked to verify information on your application for employment with the FAA.

**All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this vacancy announcement.**

Education

This position has a positive education requirement: Applicants must submit a copy of their college or university transcripts(s) and certificates by the closing date of announcement to verify qualifications. If selected, an official transcript will be required prior to appointment. You may upload these documents with your application in USAJOBS or fax it to fax number provided in the announcement (please include announcement number on each page).

Failure to do so will result in loss of consideration.

Schools must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Accreditation may be verified at the following website: www.ed.gov/accreditation.

Foreign education must be evaluated by a private professional organization specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials or an accredited U.S. educational institution in terms of equivalence to a degree acquired at an American college or university. A copy of the evaluation results must be included, otherwise your foreign education will not be considered.

Basic Requirements:

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.

OR

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 (El),

Engineer in Training (EIT) 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)

2examination 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.)

Note: An applicant who meets the basic requirements as specified in A or B above, except as noted

under B.1., may qualify for positions in any branch of engineering unless selective factors

indicate otherwise.

Preview job questionnaire

Make sure your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications and answers to the job questionnaire.

Additional information

We may use this vacancy to fill other similar vacant positions.

Position may be subject to a background investigation.

A one-year probationary period may be required.

The person selected for this position may be required to file a financial disclosure statement within 30 days of entry on duty. FAA policy limits certain outside employment and financial investments in aviation-related companies. www.faa.gov/jobs/workinghere/financial-disclosure-requirements

This position is covered by the Department of Transportation's Drug and Alcohol Testing Program. Any applicant tentatively selected for this position will be subject to pre-employment or pre-appointment drug screening. Persons occupying a "testing designated position (TDP)" will be subject to random drug and/or alcohol testing.

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. citizen. On-the-Spot will be used to fill this position. The 'Rule of Three', Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy.

This position is covered by the FAA Core Compensation plan. Additional information about Core Compensation is available at: https://www.faa.gov/jobs/working_here/benefits

As a part of the Federal-Wide Hiring Reform Initiative (streamlining the hiring process), the FAA is committed to eliminating the use of Knowledge, Skills and Ability (KSA) narratives from the initial application in the hiring process for all announcements. Therefore, as an applicant, you are NOT required to provide a narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA.

In lieu of providing a KSA narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA section, in your work history, please include information that provides specific examples of how you meet the response level or answer you chose for each KSA. Your work history examples should be specific and clearly reflect the highest level of ability. Your KSA answers will be evaluated further to validate whether the level that you selected is appropriate based on the work history and experience you provided. Your answers may be adjusted by a human resource specialist as appropriate.

This is a Level 2 (Non-Critical; Secret) position requires favorable adjudication of a Access

National Agency Check and Inquiries (ANACI) background investigation prior to appointment, unless a

waiver is obtained.

Selectees who meet criteria via the FAA Travel Policy, may be eligible for permanent change of station (relocation payment) with a signed service commitment.

This position may be eligible for a recruitment incentive with a signed service commitment.

Some, all, or none of the applicants may be interviewed.

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