Computer Engineer (Cybersecurity)

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards.

This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=Occupational-Series Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service.

Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. 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. BASIC REQUIREMENT- EDUCATION 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 ABET; 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- B.

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 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)1 , or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) 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 Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions. 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 and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A.

The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A. 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 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). - AND - SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT To qualify at the GS-14 level, you must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 in the Federal Service or its non-Federal equivalent performing the following: Applying computer engineering principles, techniques, and practices to analyze, design, test, or evaluate the operation of complex computer systems in areas such as software development, computer networking, telecommunications, cybersecurity, or internet-connected devices; AND Conducting technical studies and evaluating technical data to investigate potential technology vulnerabilities, analyze the various characteristics of systems, and evaluate effective mitigation techniques and strategies; AND Preparing and presenting technical analyses, reports, and recommendations that address the functionality and operation of complex systems, technology vulnerabilities, and effective mitigation techniques and strategies to audiences with varying levels of technical expertise.

As a Computer Engineer (Cybersecurity), you will perform the following duties: Conducts studies of telecommunications, computer engineering and science, information security and cybersecurity, and related technical data in terms of their potential for technology vulnerabilities and evaluates technical data to identify effective mitigation techniques and strategies.

Develops and formulates, with general guidance from senior officials, regulatory policy, evaluation of trade, including imports or exports, and remediation of technical and policy disputes between interested parties. Reviews prior regulatory or policy-related cases for precedent history, approvals, and denials. Resolves outstanding interagency issues, rarely involving senior Departmental officials.

Prepares technical analysis papers for escalation to interagency committees and provides information and analysis of cases to interagency parties. Represents the Office and the Department's position at interagency meetings. Serves as the Office liaison with industries on importation, acquisition or uses related to technology and services under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce. Integrates U.S. industry's economic/regulatory concerns into the Department's regulations.

Addresses complex and detailed questions from varying audiences to include peers, representatives from federal agencies or professional organizations or industries, and the general public, utilizing engineer skills and risk mitigation mechanisms gleaned from similar regulatory bodies including Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), and the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector This Job Opportunity Announcement may be used to fill other Computer Engineer (Cybersecurity) GS-0854-14, Full Performance Level, GS-14, positions within the Department of Commerce in the same geographical location or local commuting area with the same qualifications and specialized experience.