Electrical Engineer at Umatilla

JOB SUMMARY:

Civilian employees serve a vital role in supporting the Army mission.  They provide the skills that are not readily available in the military, but crucial to support military operations.  The Army integrates the talents and skills of its military and civilian members to form a Total Army.

About the Position:
This position has a positive education requirement and you must submit your college transcripts with your application.

The Walla Walla District US Army Corps of Engineers comprises of motivated and talented employees providing the very best engineering services for communities in the Pacific Northwest.  The Districts civil works boundaries generally follow the Snake River drainage basin and includes approximately 107,000 square miles in six states - Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and small parts of Nevada and Utah.  A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officer commands the Districts professional civilian workforce of more than 800 personnel in engineering, scientist, technician, trade/craft, and administrative support staff positions.  The District helps manage local water resources for navigation, flood damage reduction, disaster assistance, hydroelectric power generation, and other natural and heritage areas.

This position is located at McNary Dam, a hydro-electric generating facility that includes hydro power, navigation, fish passage and recreation activities.  The project sets in the middle of the Columbia River near the town of Umatilla in Northeastern Oregon, which is approximately 10 miles north of Hermiston, Oregon and 30 miles south of Kennewick, Washington. The area is mostly desert with irrigation for agriculture and crop production.

Who May Apply: US Citizens

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs will be authorized
• Defense National Relocation Program will NOT be authorized.
• Temporary Duty (TDY) travel is 10 percent.

DUTIES:Back to top

Serve as an Electrical Engineer for the Project responsible for a variety of functions in support of the large hydropower plant, fish passage systems, navigation lock, spillway, levees, Habitat Management Units (HMU), recreation and other features and equipment of a multi-purpose project.

• Primary role is to provide and/or improve asset/capacity reliability through technical support of the maintenance process.
• Serve as a maintenance/reliability engineer. Guide efforts to ensure reliability and maintainability of equipment, processes, utilities, facilities, and safety and security systems. Design, develop, monitor and refine the process.  Develop efficiencies for maintenance work; insure system check-out, functional tests and adjustment of newly installed equipment; provide technical assistance to supervisors and craft foreman in the selection of materials, equipment and spare parts replacement; prepare reports covering inspections, maintenance, tests, operation analysis, and work performed. 
• Review and analysis of Hydroelectric Design Center (HDC) District Designs and Design of minor projects.  Develop and evaluate alternative choices for equipment; incorporate modifications to existing power generation, water conveyance and navigation lock equipment. 
• Technical Point of contact for Project hydroelectric generators/governors, instrumentation and control systems, power transformers, generator excitation systems, generator protective relaying systems, plant and switch-yard grounding systems, fire detection and security systems, switch-yard equipment (circuit breakers, motor operated disconnects) and computers used to control the above systems.
• Serve as Contracting Officer Representative for routine maintenance contracts and as the Technical Point of Contact to review contractor submittals, contractor supplied technical and administrative data, and inspection of contractor installed equipment.
  

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:Back to top

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application.
Experience required: To qualify based on your work experience, your resume must describe at least one year of experience which prepared you to do the work in this job. Specialized experience is defined as: experience applying electrical engineering theories, concepts, principles, and design fundamentals to perform studies and analysis related to power generating plants, which includes elements such as hydroelectric generators/governors, instrumentation and control systems, power transformers, generator excitation systems, generator protective relaying systems, and switch-yard equipment (circuit breakers, motor operated disconnects). (This experience must be well represented in your resume). This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09).

– OR-

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

-OR-

Have the specialized experience as described in A, but less than one year; and I have more than two years but less than three years of education as described in B. I have computed the percentage of the requirements that I meet, and the total is at least 100% (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate level education in excess of 2 years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.)
 

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency (knowledge, skills, abilities)in the following areas:

• Ability to Ensure Reliability and Maintainability
• Ability to Provide Professional Electrical Engineer Expertise
• Ability to Coordinate Contract Work with Project Actions
• Ability to Communicate
  

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify.  For this job, you may qualify if your education meets the definitions below:

Specialized experience can be substituted by education at the GS-11 level. Must have progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. This education is directly related to the position.

Education:

This position has a basic entry qualification requirement.  Applicants must meet one of the following in order to meet the basic entry qualifications. The quality of the combination of education and experience must be sufficient to be comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study with a major in the appropriate field.

1.Degree: professional engineering. 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 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

2.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 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 -- 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 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 Boards eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.

2.Written Test -- Evidence of having succesfully passed the Engineer-in-Training (EIT) examination, or the written test required for professional registration, which is administered by the Boards of Engineering Examiners in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Applicants who have passed the EIT examination and have completed all the requirements for either (a) a bachelors degree in engineering technology (BET) from an accredited college of university that included 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences, or (b) a BET from a program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) may be rated eligible for certain engineering positions at GS-5. Eligibility is limited to positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of the engineering technology program. Applicants for positions that involve highly technical research, development, or similar functions requiring an advanced level of competence in basic science must meet the basic requirements in paragraph A.

Because of the diversity in kind and quality of BET programs, graduates of other BET programs are required to complete at least 1 year of additional education or highly technical work experience of such nature as to provide reasonable assurance of the possession of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for professional engineering competence. The adequacy of this background must be demonstrated by passing the EIT examination.

3.Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and in engineering that included the courses specified in the basic requirements. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum as described in paragraph A.

4.Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelors degree in engineering technology or in an appropriate professional field, e.g., physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a 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.)

Foreign education must be evaluated for U.S. equivalency in order to be considered for this position. Please include this information in your resume.

Only degrees from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education are acceptable to meet positive education requirements or to substitute education for experience. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and U.S.Department of Education websites at - http://www.opm.gov/qualifications and http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html

Other Requirements:  Click here for more information.

• If you are male AND if you were born after December 31, 1959, you must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
• You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
• You may be required to serve one year in a trial/probationary status.
• If selected, official college or university transcripts must be submitted.
• Unofficial college or university transcripts must be submitted with your resume.
• Personnel security investigation required.
• Direct deposit of pay is required.

HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:

Your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be reviewed to verify that you meet the basic eligibility and qualification requirements. Your responses to the questionnaire will be used to evaluate your relevant personal, educational, and work experiences. Only the most recently submitted resume will be considered.

 

Basis for Rating: Qualified candidates will be assigned to one of three quality categories: Best Qualified, Highly Qualified and Qualified. Veteran preference eligibles are listed ahead of non-preference eligibles within each quality category.

 

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies.  If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if:  1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP eligibility, 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. Well-qualified is defined as meeting all of the minimum qualification standards and eligibility requirements as well as possessing skills that clearly exceed the minimum qualification requirements for the position. Under competitive delegated examining, an ICTAP eligible will be considered well-qualified if they attain an eligibility rating of 90 or higher, not including points for veterans preference. You must provide proof of eligibility with your application to receive selection priority.  Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of ICTAP eligibility or a copy of your separation personnel action form.  Information about ICTAP eligibility is on OPMs Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Country: USA, State: Oregon, City: Umatilla, Company: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.