Summary

This position is located with Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), in Project Engineering Telecom (TENP), Systems Engineering (TEN), Engineering and Technical Services (TE), Transmission Services (T).

Take the next step in your BPA career as a Principal Engineer and lead technical authority for critical telecommunications networks powering the Pacific Northwest grid. In this role, you will champion complex infrastructure modernizations, guide technical strategy, and mentor engineering talent.

Duties

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Power the Future of the Pacific Northwest Grid as BPA's Lead Telecommunications Authority

As a vital contributor to Bonneville Power Administration's mission of delivering reliable, clean, and affordable power across the Pacific Northwest, your expertise keeps our region moving forward. Take the next step in your professional journey and elevate your impact across our agency.

This Principal Engineer role offers an extraordinary career advancement opportunity. In this high-visibility position, you will serve as the premier technical authority driving the strategy, design, and execution of the sophisticated communications networks that monitor and control our high-voltage transmission grid.

Leverage your deep familiarity with our grid infrastructure and agency values to lead high-impact capital projects, champion modern technologies, and mentor the next generation of technical talent.

Key Responsibilities & Highlights

• Drive Enterprise Technical Strategy: Serve as the primary technical authority on critical telecommunications architecture, establishing long-range technology roadmaps and enterprise-level requirements that ensure power grid security, resilience, and operational excellence.
• Lead Flagship Capital Initiatives: Direct complex engineering scoping, design, and execution for major, high-visibility modernization projects-such as control center upgrades, next-generation communications rollouts, and large-scale equipment replacements.
• Champion Emerging Technologies & R&D: Evaluate and pioneer the integration of state-of-the-art technologies-including advanced fiber optics, high-speed packet networks, radio frequency/microwave systems, and smart grid communications-into existing utility infrastructure.
• Represent the Agency in Key Partnerships: Serve as the primary technical liaison in collaborative initiatives with regional power utilities, federal agencies, and leading equipment manufacturers to solve complex, grid-wide communication challenges.
• Shape Standards and Governance: Formulate technical policies, design standards, and construction guidelines across the agency, providing authoritative counsel to executive leadership and technical governance boards on critical program decisions.
• Master Cross-Functional Integration: Partner closely with internal engineering groups, field operations, system planners, and external vendors to streamline project delivery from initial concept and prototyping through final field commissioning.
• Spearhead Mentorship & Talent Development: Lead internal technical training and professional development programs, coaching junior and senior engineers to elevate team capabilities and strengthen engineering best practices.
• Mitigate Risk & Upgrade System Reliability: Perform technical feasibility studies and delivery risk assessments for legacy-to-modern network migrations, ensuring full compliance with national utility reliability standards and cybersecurity regulations.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answer to these questions is not scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration.

When you apply you will be asked a series of questions to determine your eligibility for employment and your qualification for this position specifically. You must answer all of these questions completely and truthfully.

Key Requirements:

• You must be a United States Citizen.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males must abide by Selective Service registration requirements.
• You will be required to report in person to the official duty location.

Conditions of Employment:

• Selectee will be required to complete the Office of Government Ethics Standard of Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OFGE450e) within 30 days of employment and annually.
• This position requires a valid driver's license as a condition of employment.
• After employment, this position may be subject to periodic physical examinations, as prescribed by competent medical authority and at BPA expense, if exposed to health hazards.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENT:

A. 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 (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. -OR-
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. -OR-
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. -OR-
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.)

For more information on how to meet the Basic Requirements please visit: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf

In addition to meeting the basic requirements, you must also meet the specialized experience requirements as listed below.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

A qualified candidate's resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-13) in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is defined as experience 1) performing complex electronics engineering assignments involving the design, evaluation, and integration of operational telecommunication systems (such as fiber optics, microwave radio, SCADA, or packet-based networks); 2) leading engineering studies, feasibility reviews, and the development of technical design standards, specifications, and risk assessments for major telecommunication projects; and 3) providing technical guidance to project teams, contractors, and external stakeholders to resolve complex system integration and performance issues.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations. 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.

Time-in-Grade: Current Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement to receive consideration.

CTAP candidates: To be considered "well qualified" you must meet all of the requirements as described in this section.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

This vacancy has a positive education requirement. In order to be rated as qualified, you must provide copies of your college transcripts. Education must be obtained from an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. See Department of Education Accreditation Search to verify school accreditation.

Foreign education must be reviewed by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For special instructions pertaining to foreign education and a list of organizations that can evaluate foreign education, see the Department of Education website.DO NOT email or mail in any of your application documents. Documents will not be accepted outside of the online application system.

Failure to provide copies of your college transcripts may result in a rating of "Ineligible".

Additional information

• The salary is based on a Special Rate Table, Number 0754: https://apps.opm.gov/SpecialRates/
• This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional similar vacancies across DOE

Benefits

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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 c