Civil Engineer (Senior Hydraulics Engineer)

Summary
The location of this position is the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Office of Infrastructure, Office of Bridges and Structures (HIBS). You will serve as the Senior Bridge Engineer - Hydraulics (Senior Hydraulics Engineer) within the Hydraulic and Geotechnical Engineering Team (HIBS-20). The incumbent reports to the HIBS-20 Team Leader and HIBS Director.
This job is open to

• Individuals with disabilities
• Federal employees - Competitive service
  Current or former competitive service federal employees.
• Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)
  Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee.
• Military spouses
• Family of overseas employees
  Family members of a federal employee or uniformed service member who is or was, working overseas.
• Peace Corps & AmeriCorps Vista
• The public
  U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
• Special authorities
  Individuals eligible under a special authority not listed above, but defined in the federal hiring regulations.
• Veterans

Clarification from the agency
This announcement is for a Merit Promotion opportunity and also serves as a Direct Hire Public Notice to gather resumes. Vacancies are open under merit promotion to current and former Federal employees with competitive status and VEOA Applicants AND/OR applications will be accepted from All U.S. Citizens under Direct Hire Authority. The 'Rule of Three', Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply under direct hire.
This is not a Bargaining unit position.
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Duties
As Civil Engineer (Senior Hydraulics Engineer), you will:

• Serve as senior advisor in developing and administering programmatic, technical, and outreach initiatives and efforts related to the FHWA Hydraulics Program.
• Provide National leadership and support of functional areas encompassed within the FHWA Hydraulics Program.
• Support FHWA colleagues in preparing and delivering national programmatic and technical guidance, notices, regulations, materials, reviews, practices, procedures, and outreach.
• Coordinate with research and deployment efforts, incorporating those results and findings into FHWA Hydraulics Program manuals materials (including technical manuals, training courses, articles for publications).
• Work within a multidisciplinary team to support other FHWA hydraulic, geotechnical, structural, resilience, and asset management activities and project reviews, providing timely feedback and recommendations.

The ideal candidate will be a mid-career engineer and visionary leader with national and/or international experience and expertise in hydraulic engineering related to the hydrologic, floodplain, culvert and bridge hydraulics, aquatic organism passage, scour and scour countermeasures, coastal engineering issues, and climate related attributes, and needs of the USA's highway system and infrastructure.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.
• Applicable documents are required for the Mandatory Education requirements.
• Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
• Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.
• Direct Hire Authority may be used to fill this position.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

• SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
• BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: You will be required to complete a background/security investigation and meet preliminary requirements prior to onboarding.
• FOR MERIT PROMOTION CANDIDATES: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade in the competitive or excepted service in the executive branch to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. And complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
• PCS/RELOCATION/RECRUITMENT: Permanent Change of Station (PCS), Relocation, and Recruitment Incentive authorization varies by position/selection and a service agreement may be required.
• FOR DIRECT HIRE CANDIDATES: You must complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
• GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel. A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
• TELEWORK ELIGIBILITY: This position may be eligible for occasional and/or regularly scheduled telework. The number of telework days approved will be determined by your immediate supervisor or manager following the agency's telework policy and guidance. If participating in the telework program, you will be required to sign a telework agreement detailing agency telework policy requirements, working conditions, and expectations for the position.

Qualifications
To meet the basic qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Mandatory Education Requirement for the series, (2) provide a copy of your transcripts or other applicable documentation for verification, AND (3) meet the specialized experience requirements for the grade. Please review the following information before proceeding with the application process:
(1) All applicants must meet the education requirements under A or B to qualify for applying to an engineering position:
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 the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); or (2) that included differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced that first year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials; (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials; 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 or training: college level education, training and/or technical experience that has 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).
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.
3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences which included the courses as specified in Paragraph A above.
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 had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. There should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering type experience. This must be clearly described in your resume.

For additional information, please refer to the OPM qualifications standard for GS-800: All Professional Engineering Positions qualifications at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf.
(2) Upload the appropriate document(s) to your application for verification purposes.
(3) Specialized Experience: To determine if you are eligible, review the following grade specific details. You will be asked a few questions as part of your application and you will need to verify how you meet this experience in your resume.
For the GS-14:
On Experience, you must have at least one year of experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-13 grade level, which included:

• Experience providing national leadership on all aspects of transportation hydraulic engineering including interpretations of data, legislation and regulations, procedures, requirements, technical advancements, and technical approaches; AND
• Experience using state-of-the-practice or state-of-the-art technology to solve hydrologic and hydraulic engineering problems, related to highway transportation systems; AND
• Experience in conducting hydrologic or hydraulic training courses and workshops for entities such as state departments of transportation, local governments and/or the private sector.

Although you must meet the mandatory education requirement, you cannot qualify for GS-12 and above grades based solely on education. You must meet the specialized experience, which is cited above for this grade.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will also be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

1. Hydraulic Engineering - Knowledge of the concepts, principles, theories, and methods applicable to analysis of the flow of fluids (open channel and pressure flow), estimation of river stages, and design of hydraulic structures, drainage structures, pipes, navigation facilities, reservoirs, locks, and dams.
2. Technical Competence - Uses knowledge that is acquired through formal training or extensive on-the-job experience to perform one's job; works with, understands, and evaluates technical information related to the job; advises others on technical issues.
3. Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

For all types of consideration, 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.
All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
Education
See the Qualifications section for Mandatory Education Requirements.
Additional information
This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.
Qualified CTAP/ICTAP candidates receive priority and will referred to the hiring manager.

• Benefits
  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 career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
  Review our benefits
  Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
For this announcement, all applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational and specialized experience requirements.
DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level.
UNDER DIRECT HIRE: Applicants will not be rated or ranked. Veteran's Preference does NOT apply. All applications that are verified to meet the basic qualifications will be referred to the selecting official.Applications received under direct hire public notice may or may not result in a referral or selection. Management has the prerogative to extend a job offer at any grade level.
UNDER MERIT PROMOTION: If you meet the basic qualifications, your application will be scored on a scale betw...