Summary

This position is located in a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service state, area, or field office within the State of Oregon. The incumbent assists the area/zone or similar engineer and is responsible for providing technical guidance and in-the overall planning, design, installation, and maintenance of the engineering phases of soil and water conservation practices.

Duties

Help

• Supervise the planning, design and construction of engineering practices such as water management, animal waste management, erosion control, flood control, wetland creation / restoration, and other conservation practices needing engineering guidance.
• Prepares designs, preliminary and final drawings and specifications on complex engineering practices.
• Directs and performs site investigations, feasibility studies, and field construction checks for conservation practice installations.
• Make periodic quality reviews of notes, drawings, designs, and installations for compliance with policies procedures, and/or specifications.
• Assists leadership in evaluating the effectiveness of engineering practices, technical documents, and procedures.
• Assists leadership in determining the training needs of the field of personnel engaged in engineering work.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. If selected, you may be sent instructions on obtaining fingerprints. Please note we are unable to reimburse for any fees incurred.
• Probationary and Trial Period - Successful completion of a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period unless previous federal service is creditable. Refer to Next Steps for more information.
• Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• This will require the operation of a motor vehicle operator on public and private roads during daylight and after dark if needed to perform the duties of the position, must possess and maintain a valid state motor vehicle operator's license

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. If education is required or being used to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts.

This is an interdisciplinary position and may be filled in any of the job series listed below.

Basic Requirements: A. Degree: A bachelor's or higher degree in 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 (EI), 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) examination 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.

In addition to meeting the basic requirements, you must also meet the minimum qualification requirements below:

GS-11: Specialized Experience: 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 level or higher in Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. Examples of specialized experience include:

• Providing technical engineering guidance on soil and water conservation issues affecting farmers, landowners, and other parties;
• Managing the planning, design, and construction of engineering aspects for soil conservation practices and watershed flood protection programs; and
• Performing site investigations, feasibility studies, and field construction checks for conservation practice installations. OR

Education: 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in engineering or related field. OR

Combination of Education and Experience: Only graduate education beyond 2 years (36 semester hours) may be combined with specialized experience.

Combining Education and Experience:

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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Time-in-Grade Requirement: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. You must meet this requirement by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

College Transcript: If qualifying based on education, you must submit a copy of your college transcript with course number and department (i.e., Bio 101, Math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours, and grade earned. 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 syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college to ensure proper evaluation.

Your education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited toward qualifications. You may verify accreditation by visiting the U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs website. We will verify your education accordingly.

Foreign Education: You must submit verification that education completed in a foreign institution, was recognized by an accreditation body accepted by the U.S. Department of Education. You must include a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) website. Your transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.

You may submit an unofficial copy of your transcript at the initial phase of the application process. However, if selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Please refer to the "How to Apply" section for instructions on submitting transcripts.

Additional information

Location Consideration: There is one vacancy, which may be filled at any of the following duty locations: Heppner, Pendleton, La Grande, Hillsboro, Beavercreek, Salem, Ontario, or Roseburg, OR.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): Visit the OPM website for information on how to apply as a CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP eligible. To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

VEOA: Veterans who are preference eligible or who have been separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after three years or more of continuous active service are eligible for consideration under the Veteran's Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA).

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA): Provides current or former temporary or term employees of federal land management agencies opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Refer to PUBLIC LAW 114-47-AUG. 7, 2015 for more information.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Employees: Permanent County employees without prior Federal tenure who are selected for a Civil Service position under Public Law 105-277 will be given a career-conditional appointment and must serve a 1-year probationary period.

Locality Pay: The salary for each location may vary depending on geographically defined locality pay areas. Locality tables may be found at Office of Personnel Management Salaries and Wages.

Physical Demands: The work requires some physical exertion such as long periods of standing, traversing steep slopes and rough construction sites, recurring bending and stooping, jumping across shallow ditches, walking in soft, muddy and slippery conditions, and lifting and carrying equipment and samples that weigh up to 50 pounds.

Work Environment: Work is typically performed in the field and in an office setting. Frequent trips to field sites involve exposure to construction equipment and the environment, and extreme temperatures of hot and cold. Protective gear and clothing such as a hard hat, boots, and gloves may be necessary during field visits and in the area of moving machinery. Exposure to noise levels common to construction sites and exposure to disease carrying insects and irritating plants while in the field. Fieldwork is performed on a regular basis.

Telework: This position is not eligible for telework.

Incentives: Recruitment and/or relocation incentives may be authorized.

Bargaining Unit: This is a non-bargaining unit position.

Expand Hide additional information

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

Help

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.

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.