Research Civil Engineer

Full Job Description

About the Position: This position is with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL).

This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service.

This position is being filled as a Research Civil Engineer DB-02 (GS-05/11): $40,736.00 - $97,087.00 OR DB-04 (GS-12/14): $89,508.00 - $163,514.00 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.

To qualify for this position, you must meet the Basic Requirement for Research Civil Engineer DB-02 (GS-05/11) AND DB-04 (GS-12/14) in addition to required experience: 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 at the DB-04 (GS-12/14) level, you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes applying principles, concepts and methodology associated with engineering, computer science, physical science and/or mathematics; administering engineering and scientific methods and procedures within routine research, projects, and studies.

This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-11). OR Education: Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Engineering, Architecture, Physics, Physical Sciences, Mathematics.

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.

Time in Grade Requirements: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade (DB-02) or equivalent GS-11.

This announcement MAY be used to fill like vacancies for six months after the closing date. In accordance with the Federal Register Vol. 63, No.

57, dates March 25, 1998, an employee of the Laboratory Demonstration project must have a current average performance score of 2.5 or above in order to be selected for promotion.

All applicants currently employed under a Laboratory Demonstration Project must include their most recent performance appraisal score as part of their electronic resume.

If you are a Lab Demo employee submitting your resume for the first time, or if you have previously submitted your resume without your most recent score, you must submit your resume now with the following statement to be included in the section on your training: Current Performance Rating.

All qualification requirements, including time after competitive appointment, must be met within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. Major Duties:

• If selected at the DB-02 level, duties will be performed in a developmental capacity.
• Serves as a Research and Development (R and D) Engineer responsible for executing and managing projects in the field of civil engineering.
• Designs and performs complex laboratory and field experiments.
• Analyzes statistical or numerical data from experiments and prepares interim and final reports.
• Uses numerical modeling and finite element analyses to design and analyze systems, simulate experiments, and conduct parametric analyses.
• Conducts detailed material characterization to provide required input for numerical modeling.
• Transfers technology to the nation and warfighter through technical publications, guidance documents, and/or software and web applications.
• Works with organization leadership to coordinate R and D endeavors and effectively communicates with teams, sponsors, and stakeholders.
• Directs and Manages personnel as required.