Summary

This position is located in Office of National Continuity Programs. The ideal candidate for this position will have experience testing and maintaining a variety of voice, video, and data communications systems; able to work independently, troubleshoot and correct communications issues; maintain readiness of assigned comms systems and equipment.

Duties

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What will I do in this position if hired?

In this position, you will be responsible for planning, acquisition, implementation, technical acceptance, installation, optimization/maintenance and security support of regulated and unregulated radio and wireless technology systems. Typical assignments include:

• Providing technical expertise in the areas of satellite communications and network engineering.
• Planning and designing the deployment, placement, installation, integration, operations, and maintenance of a large variety of wide and narrow band radio frequency systems with associated ancillary equipment.
• Performing frequency management functions and integration and evaluation of off-the-shelf and prototype radio frequency systems and subsystems.
• Performing monitoring, testing, alignment, and fault isolation of voice, data, and video telecommunications circuits, systems, and equipment.
• Providing oversight on programs technical areas related to the national security and crisis command and control programs.

What else do I need to know?

At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. 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.

Requirements

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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 TS/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.

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.

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

Education

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study electrical or electronic engineering,

mathematics, physics, public utilities, statistics, computer science, telecommunications

management, information systems management, business administration, industrial management, or

other fields related to the position to be filled.

Other Education:

Communications/electronics or automatic data processing training in technical

institutei or business schools above the high school level or in Armed Forces schools that included

advanced instruction in addition to basic courses, may be substituted for general experience on a

month-for-month basis.

OR

Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): Experience in evaluating, analyzing, developing,

managing, or improving communications systems, procedures, and requirements that demonstrated

knowledge of current developments and trends in communications concepts and technology.

Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service. The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 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:

• Evaluating, planning, and developing telecommunications systems for data, voice, and video and
• Enstalling, implementing, monitoring, and maintaining of telecommunications systems and
• Evaluating performance of telecommunications systems to include technical writing skills associated with network engineering and design specifications. Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification preferred.

OR

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study electrical or electronic engineering,

mathematics, physics, public utilities, statistics, computer science, telecommunications

management, information systems management, business administration, industrial management, or

other fields related to the position to be filled.

Other Education:

Communications/electronics or automatic data processing training in technical

institutei or business schools above the high school level or in Armed Forces schools that included

advanced instruction in addition to basic courses, may be substituted for general experience on a

month-for-month basis.

OR

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 by experience/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, occupational series and dates in which you held each grade level.

• Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/DAE employee? 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

Positive Education Requirement: This position has a positive education requirement, as outlined in the "requirements" section. You must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) with your online application. Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts.

Education substitution: This position permits applicants to qualify based on education (or a combination of education and experience), as outlined in the "requirements" section. If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) with your online application. Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts.

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. For example, specific courses accepted for college-level credit by an accredited U.S. college or university, or foreign education evaluated by an organization recognized for accreditation by the Department of Education as education equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. college or university. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. Visit the Department of Education's Recognition of Foreign Qualifications for more information.

Other Supporting Documentation (submit if applicable to you)

• Are you a veteran? Submit Member Copy 4 of your DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) or other acceptable documentation such as a certification letter from your Command reflecting rank, dates of service, and type of discharge, which verifies veteran's status and type of discharge prior to the closing date of this announcement. Those applying for 10-Point preference may fill out the SF-15 and/or provide documentation that demonstrates preference eligibility. If applying based on eligibility under the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) Act, you must submit certification from the Armed Forces that you will be discharged or released from active duty service under honorable conditions, within 120 days after the certification is submitted by the applicant. This must indicate your dates of service, expected release dates, your rank, and confirm that you will be separated under honorable or general conditions. View more veterans' information. (Note: for the purpose of verifying length and character of service, a letter from the VA will not suffice. A letter from the VA can only be used to determine disability rating.)
• Are you a Boren Awardee? Submit a copy of your National Security Education Program (NSEP) certification letter. You may be asked to

Additional information

• If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.