Summary

This vacancy is for a GS-0871-7/9/11/12/13, Naval Architect located in the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, OFFICE OF NAVAL ENGINEERING in Baltimore, Maryland.

Duties

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You will serve as a Naval Architect and be responsible for preforming the most difficult and/or critical aspects and projects of the Section and in assisting the Section Chief to administer the function of the section These functions are associated with the construction, modernization, overhaul, conversion, maintenance and repair of a wide variety of vessels.

Being a Coast Guard civilian makes you a valuable member of the Coast Guard team. Typical work assignments include:

• Conducting conceptual and preliminary design studies for proposed vessels based on operational requirements documents. Determines principal dimensions and hull type, powering requirements, general arrangement layout, preliminary structural arrangement and stability analysis. Recommends compromises or trade-offs to achieve optimum characteristics.
• Analyzing, evaluating and developing naval architecture design plans, procurement specifications, hydrostatics, lines and offsets, calculations of hull strength, analyses of ship stability, resistance and propulsion, propeller selection, test and trial data, propulsion machinery selection and auxiliary machinery systems, functional arrangements plans, ventilation and air conditioning plans, bills of material, specifications, reports and test data associated with naval architecture.
• Inspecting the preparations and conducting of inclining experiments of U. S. Coast Guard small vessels. Either checks the results of calculations prepared by others or performs the necessary calculations. Makes appropriate recommendations in case that stability criteria are not met. The incumbent uses, maintains and expands as necessary a limited library of computer programs to aid in the above tasks.
• Developing statements of work for contracted design projects including cutter alterations. Monitors progress of contractors; approves or redirects efforts; and reviews submittals, plans, and specifications for technical accuracy and adherence to prescribed procedures.
• In addition to traditional manual drafting techniques, incumbent uses computer-aided drafting (CAD) equipment to create new drawings or to modify existing drawings. Analyzing, investigating and solving unusually difficult design problems referred to him/her by others.
• Performing engineering analysis to identify and correct problems in hydrodynamics, structure, stability, seakeeping and maneuvering.
• Analyzing, evaluating and developing plans, procurement specifications, more difficult calculations and designs.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

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

Do NOT include the following types of information in your resume:

• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Date of Birth (DOB)
• Photos of yourself (if included on your resume you will not be considered for this position)
• Personal information: such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.

Key Requirements:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must provide transcripts.
• Must be registered or exempt from the Selective Service. See www.sss.gov
• A one-year probationary period may be required.
• To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo and successfully pass a background investigation. This position requires a Public Trust clearance.
• This is not a Bargaining Unit position.
• All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit.

The Office of Personnel management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule, C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: This position has a positive Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of Specialized Experience or substitution of education for experience or combination (if applicable) in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with your application package. You MUST meet the following requirements:

NOTE: All experience statements (i.e., duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire) copied from this announcement and pasted into your resume will not be considered as a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

GS-07: Applicants must have at least 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement or one year of professional engineering experience (equivalent to the GS-5 level in the federal service).GS-09: In addition to meeting the basic education requirements (above),

GS-09 applicants must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level GS-07 level in the federal service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular ability, skill, and knowledge to successfully perform the duties of this position and is typically in or related to this line of work. Examples of specialized experience at the GS-9 level include: estimating costs for tasks; understanding project management principles and applying them;

OR 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree.

GS-11: In addition to meeting the basic education requirements (above), GS-11 applicants must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level GS-09 level in the federal service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular ability, skill, and knowledge to successfully perform the duties of this position and is typically in or related to this line of work. Examples of specialized experience at the GS-09 level include: developing, analyzing and reviewing designs, specifications and independent cost estimates for a variety of vessel designs; reviewing designs and specifications prepared by consulting engineers for compliance with requirements and recommends necessary revisions and improvements;

OR 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.

GS-12: In addition to meeting the basic education requirements (above), GS-12 applicants must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level GS-11 level in the federal service. Examples of specialized experience at the GS-11 level include: developing, analyzing and reviewing designs, specifications and independent cost estimates for a variety of vessel designs; reviewing designs and specifications prepared by consulting engineers for compliance with requirements and recommends necessary revisions and improvements;

GS-13: In addition to meeting the basic education requirements (above), GS-13 applicants must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level GS-12 level in the federal service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular ability, skill, and knowledge to successfully perform the duties of this position and is typically in or related to this line of work. Examples of specialized experience at the GS-12 level include: managing large-scale vessel sustainment engineering change projects involving efforts such as analyzing, evaluating, developing and integrating detailed construction and installation plans required for critical mechanical projects or reviewing the calculations, studies, technical documentation, specifications, and plans of others to determine whether they meet the projects stated requirement.

Specialized experience may include the following:

• Knowledge of the principles, practices and techniques of naval architecture and of the operational requirements and characteristics of a wide variety of vessels in order to apply this knowledge to difficult engineering problems.
• Knowledge of related engineering fields and a thorough knowledge of the latest developments in the field of naval architecture.
• Ability to design large and complex hull systems.
• Ability to evaluate and apply the latest technological developments or experimental theories to problems not readily treatable by conventional methods, and the ability to extend and modify existing techniques.
• Knowledge of ship design supplemented by experience in shipyards or related activities.

NOTE: Education cannot be substituted for experience at the GS-12 and 13 grade levels.

National Service Experience (i.e., volunteer 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, 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.

Education

This position does have a positive education requirement. If you are including education on your resume, report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. See Required Documents section for detail.

You must provide Transcripts

Are you qualifying based on education? Submit a copy of your college transcript (unofficial is acceptable) from an accredited institution. Once selected & prior to appointment, applicants must provide an official college transcript. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the U.S. (see FOREIGN EDUCATION below).

College Transcript: If this position requires specific educational course work to qualify, or you are qualifying based in whole or part on education, you are required to provide all unofficial transcripts (undergraduate, graduate, etc.) by the closing date of this announcement or you will be disqualified from further consideration. Transcripts should be legible and detailed, showing course number and department (i.e., bio 101, math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours, and grade earned. If course content cannot be easily identified from the title of the course as listed on your transcript, you must submit an official course description from the college/university that reflects the content at the time the course was taken.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. See Recognition of Foreign Qualifications click here

Applicants must show successful completion of a professional engineering curriculum leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in engineering in an accredited college or university. To be acceptable, the curriculum must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and advanced courses 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); (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR B. 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 professional engineering, and (2) a good theoretical and practical understanding 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: current registration as a professional engineer 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 e