Electrical Engineer

Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. Basic Requirement for Electrical Engineer: A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering.

To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (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), 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, or 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 A above.

The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program. 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 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.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: GS-11 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes experience in electrical engineering design focused on the installation of electrical power systems. Experience includes (1) power distribution systems, (2) service feeds, (3) switchgear, (4) motor control centers, and/or (5) industrial civil works control systems.

This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09). (This experience must be well documented in resume). OR Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Electrical Engineering.

OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.

GS-12 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes experience performing electrical (1) design AND (2) analysis for power distribution systems AND (3) development of civil works industrial control systems. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-11). (This experience must be well documented in resume).

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. The GS-12 job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.

Serve as a senior (GS-12) or developmental senior (GS-11) engineer carrying out assignments independently using professional judgment in planning and initiating work techniques and approaches.,Develop preliminary and final design and layout of electrical equipment and special electrical communication and electronic features for Civil Works Projects.,Projects include multipurpose hydroelectric dams, river navigation structures, fish hatcheries, and fish bypass facilities, utilizing Revit, and AutoCAD as a CADD (computer-aided design and drafting) design tool.,Check shop drawings and descriptive literature submitted by contractors.,Perform calculations and computation as required to determine that the contractor proposed material and equipment is suitable and adequate for the purpose intended.,Review and checks detailed design, design analysis, plans and specifications prepared by both Electrical Design Section and A-E (Architect-Engineer) contractors for equipment, fixtures, and systems, etc.,Make field site inspections of existing equipment, construction in progress, and completed projects and creates studies and/or provides electrical observations regarding operation, condition, and evaluations of systems.,Independently design and program PLCs (Programmable Logic Controller) for industrial control systems.,Utilize AutoCAD Electrical, Revit or similar advanced modeling tools for the development of contract plans and drawings.,Complete arc flash studies for facilities ranging in complexity from simple building distribution systems to complex hydroelectric dams utilizing arc flash analysis software such as Etap, SKM, or EasyPower.,Review shop drawings and descriptive literature submitted by contractors for contract and design compliance.,Prepares correspondence to Construction Branch, explaining in detail the action taken and the comments, changes, and additions marked on the shop drawings and descriptive literature.,Performs a variety of related tasks such as preparation and review of correspondence and reports, and assists with preparation of portions of specifications for special systems and equipment.