Summary

This position is located with the Disaster Emergency Communication Division in Bothell, WA. The ideal candidate for this position will have extensive operational, maintenance, and diagnostic troubleshooting experience of satellite and Radio Frequency (RF) electronic and mechanical communications systems.

Duties

EXCEPTED SERVICE: This is a full-time position in the Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) Detachment. MERS positions are in the excepted service. Employees will not acquire civil service status but will have standard and optional benefits.

EMERGENCY ASSIGNMENT: Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

In this position, you will perform duties as a team member, or Team lead/trainer when assigned to direct and evaluate the work of employees assigned to deploy, operate, and maintain radio frequency and communications systems.

Typical duties include:

• Deploy, install, and maintain a wide array of mobile wide and narrow band radio and satellite transmission systems such as High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), Ultra High Frequency (UHF), all the way up to commercial satellite frequency bands and 5G network systems with their associated support equipment that provide voice, video, or data services to be employed in the field and in potentially austere environments.
• Research, test, and recommend new technologies to improve communications capabilities; develop standard operating procedures and checklists to incorporate them into MERS operations.
• Monitor, test, calibrate, and repair radio equipment and systems with specialized test equipment to ensure they meet strict operational criteria and satisfy the mission readiness and deployment requirements of the unit.
• Fabricate, modify, perform preventative maintenance and technology upgrades to mobile command and control communications platforms and transmissions systems.
• Troubleshoot failed systems and networks to perform repairs to the lowest replaceable units and restore system functionality.
• Coordinate with FEMA and other federal and outside agencies to establish, maintain, and restore voice, video, and data services.
• Work with FEMA frequency management and civilian agencies to establish frequency allocation and deconflict spectrum issues.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

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, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Top Secret/SCI as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit OPM Investigations.

Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below.

Key Requirements:

1. You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
2. You must successfully pass a background investigation.
3. Selective Service registration required.
4. Current federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements.
5. You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
6. You must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.
7. Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.

Qualifications

The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

To qualify for this position at the GS-12 level (starting salary $100,602), you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:

• Installing, operating, and maintaining mobile radio systems and related equipment. and
• Integrating, testing, and repairing radio systems to ensure they meet operational needs and
• Testing, diagnosing and monitoring voice, data and video telecommunications systems and equipment to maintain performance and functionality

In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must meet the following requirement(s) to be considered qualified for the position:

• Ability to obtain and maintain a Class A Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:

• Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

• Please limit your resume to two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages.
• Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.

Are you qualifying based on your work experience?

• Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized byexperience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the grade level and dates in which you held each grade level.

• Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.

• Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."

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

• For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Education

No Educational Substitution: There is no educational substitution for this position, and you must meet the qualifications listed in the "requirements" section of this announcement.

Additional information

• A one-year trial period is required for this position.
• You are required to obtain and maintain a valid Class A CDL License, if selected for this position.

• This is a Not-Bargaining Unit position.
• Must be able to lift weight up to 45 pounds.

Expa