Electrical Engineer

Summary

You will serve as an Electrical Engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia-Pacific Northwest Region, located at the Grand Coulee Power Office and associated operating offices. You will provide electrical engineering support for powerplants, pumping plants, transmission systems, industrial control systems, protective relaying systems, and other complex water and power facilities.

Duties

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This position is an entry-level engineer hired under the requirements and provisions of Reclamation's Rotation Engineer Program (Program). The Program participant may receive an accelerated promotion after a minimum of six months of intensive training and evidence of professional development as documented through successful performance in the Program. Program participants may receive no more than two promotions in 52 weeks (5 CFR 300.603(b)). Promotions are neither guaranteed nor automatic but initiated at the request of the supervisory official.

This is a developmental position with promotion potential to the GS-12 level. At lower grade levels, assignments are performed under close supervision and involve less complex work. As experience is gained, the employee will perform progressively more difficult assignments with increasing independence and responsibility until the full performance level is reached.

• Lead engineering analyses and coordinate technical planning, design, modeling, and troubleshooting for complex electrical systems and projects across multiple locations.
• Develop and review project job plans, guidelines, and technical documentation; present findings at meetings and briefings.
• Plan, schedule, and conduct facility inspections, assessments, and investigations; identify deficiencies, estimate repairs, and document results.
• Mentor and guide engineers and technicians, provide technical reviews, and ensure quality assurance processes are followed.
• Manage project plans, oversee contract administration, ensure regulatory compliance, and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to deliver reliable power and water services.

Physical Demands: The work is typically performed in an office setting with no special physical demands. However, work may also be performed in the field which involves periods of moving about worksites, bending, climbing, or driving motor vehicles to worksites. The work regularly combines both office and field assignments. Field work requires physical exertion, such as long periods of standing, or recurring and considerable walking, stooping, bending, crouching, crawling, and climbing such as in regular and periodic construction activities and field inspections. Work may also include frequent lifting of moderately heavy items weighing less than 50 pounds. Field assignments may involve driving motor vehicles to work sites in remote locations requiring overnight stays.

Work Environment: The work is usually performed in an office setting. However, work time may also be spent periodically visiting field sites. Field site visits are typically performed in either an outdoor setting subject to weather changes, diverse terrain, and safety hazards associated with working around complex features and/or construction, or an industrial setting subject to noise, fumes, and moving machinery. Both settings may require the use of personal protective equipment. The work may also involve some overnight travel for training, meetings, and site visits. Safety precautions and protocols are observed at all times and the incumbent complies with safety instructions and regulations and ensures individual and others' safety by promptly reporting unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, and accidents to the supervisor. The work involves regular and recurring exposure to moderate risks, discomforts, and unpleasantness such as: high noise levels, infectious materials, or toxic or irritating chemicals; travel in safety approved small aircraft and watercraft; high winds and low or high temperatures; infestation of dangerous reptiles or poisonous plants, snakes, or insects; adverse weather conditions; noxious fumes; flammable liquids; or radiation. The work involves performing tasks in close proximity to rotating heavy mechanical and electrical machinery and may involve working within confined spaces for extensive periods of time. Special safety precautions such as protective clothing and gear are necessary. Safety precautions and protocols are observed at all times and the incumbent complies with safety instructions and regulations and ensures individual and others' safety by promptly reporting unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, and accidents to the supervisor.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Must have and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
• Certification and/or training to serve as a Federal Acquisition Certification (FAC) Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) or Grants Officer's Technical Representative (GOTR) may be required as articulated in Department and/or Reclamation policies depending on assignment.
• You must be at least 18 years of age or older to operate government vehicles.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will 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.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated.

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.

Qualifications

This is an open continuous announcement in which applications are accepted over several months and reviewed according to multiple cut-off dates. Applicants who apply by the initial cut-off date will receive first consideration. The first cut-off date is 11:59 pm ET, 10/29/2026. Applicants will have 5 days to complete the required USA Hire Assessment after receiving the assessment notice. Applications will continue to be reviewed throughout the open period; however, additional referral certificates will only be issued when a hiring official has exhausted a current certificate and/or when additional vacancies arise. Final application disposition will be completed once all positions have been filled or the announcement reaches the end of the open period stated in the announcement.

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-01/08/2027-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To be considered qualified for this position, you must first meet the basic education requirements for the series. In addition, the HR Office must be able to clearly determine from your resume that you meet the specialized experience requirements. Be sure your resume fully and explicitly supports the specialized experience you claim.

Basic Education Requirements;

Successfully completed a bachelor's or higher degree in Engineering in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

OR

Successfully completed a bachelor's or higher degree in Engineering that included 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

A 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)1, 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)2 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, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

AND

Note: The GS-5 has no additional qualification requirement beyond the Basic Education Requirements (IOR) listed above.

To qualify at the GS-7, have at least one (1) year of specialized experience to at least the GS-05 level in the Federal Service (obtained in the public or private sector). EXAMPLES such as, experience assisting with basic engineering tasks such as conducting simple analyses, collecting data, and helping troubleshoot electrical equipment under close supervision. Experience interpreting routine computational results, learning inspection and assessment practices, supporting project and compliance activities, and communicating with team members to clarify engineering work is also typical at this level.

OR

have completed one full year of progressively higher-level graduate education in electrical engineering or a directly related engineering field.

OR

have Superior Academic Achievement (SAA): Requires a bachelor's degree in a directly related field and meeting one of the following: Class Standing: Ranked in the upper third of your graduating class; or GPA:- Overall GPA of 3.0 or higher (based on 4 years or final 2 years), or- GPA of 3.5 or higher in required major courses (overall or final 2 years).Note: GPA is rounded to one decimal place (e.g., 2.95 = 3.0). Honor Society: Membership in a recognized national scholastic honor society.

OR

have completed a bachelor's degree in engineering and gained appropriate technician experience equivalent to the GS 5 level or higher. **Understand this technician experience may be credited toward GS 7 qualification on a month for month basis, up to a maximum of 12 months.

OR

have successfully completed a five-year engineering program totaling at least 160 semester hours leading to a bachelor's degree in engineering.

OR

have an equivalent combination of specialized experience and graduate education.

Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, includ