Supervisory Electrical Engineer

Full Job Description

This position is part of the WAPA-UGP-Upper Great Plains.

As a Supervisory Electrical Engineer, you will be responsible for regional transmission planning in the planning horizon, system reliability studies and analysis, as well as operating studies in the operating horizon and real-time.

**THIS IS NOT A REMOTE POSITION. YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO REPORT TO THE BILLINGS, MONTANA DUTY LOCATION.** 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.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS: Applicants must meet the Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR) for the 0800 Series as described below: 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 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 gradfather 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)2 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.) SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Applicants must possess one year (52 weeks) 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 knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position.

The experience need not have been in the federal government.

To qualify for the GS-14: In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR) for the 0800 Series, applicants must have one year (52) weeks of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level or pay band in the Federal service.

This experience includes ALL of the following: Conducting technical transmission and operational studies to ensure reliable operation of the interconnected system.

Coordinating with other agencies and regional reliability transmission organizations to analyze and assess various operating scenarios and identify the reliability impacts of the interconnected power systems operation.

Performing transmission planning, operations planning, and real-time engineering functions in the operations horizon (real-time through next day), the operations horizon (up to 12 months into the future), near-term transmission planning horizon (future years one through five), and the long-term transmission planning horizon (future years six and beyond).

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience.

Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations.

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.

Time-in-Grade: Current career or career-conditional GS employees of the Federal government, or former career or career-conditional GS employees, who have a break in service of less than one year, are required to meet the time-in-grade restriction of one year of Federal experience at the next lower grade, with few exceptions outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b).

Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to current career or career-conditional federal employees applying for a Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: There are no special physical requirements. Walking or bending in the inspection of installed equipment or during construction stage visits may occur.

Some physical exertion such as long periods of standing, or recurring and considerable walking, stooping, bending, crouching, and climbing such as in performing regular and periodic construction activities, field inspections, or to observe and study work operations in an industrial, storage, or comparable work area.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: Work is primarily in an office setting. Occasional exposure to under construction or alteration buildings and facilities may occur.

Work involves regular and recurring exposure to moderate risks, discomforts, and unpleasantries such as high noise levels, infections materials, or toxic or irritating chemicals; dust, auto and/or aircraft exhaust; high winds and low or high temperatures; adverse weather conditions; carcinogenic materials; noxious fumes; flammable liquids, etc.

requiring special safety precautions such as protective clothing and gear. Major Duties:

As a Supervisory Electrical Engineer, some of your duties will include but are not limited to: Supervises the development of local and regional transmission planning and operating studies and real-time analysis such as power flow studies, transient stability studies, and fault study models.

Considers and apply guidelines such as Department of Energy (DOE) and WAPA regulations, directives and policies; standard operating procedures; electric transmission grid management procedures; engineering and business practices of power marketing agencies and electric generation, transmission and distribution companies.

Analyzes complex contractual and operating agreements for interconnected operation and their relationship to policies and goals of numerous organizations and agencies to formulate relevant information into cogent solutions.

Represents the UGPR on interagency and interregional committees/workgroups dealing with hydropower operations, water management and river basin development that may impact the UGPR ability to meet its transmission and reliability obligations.

Serves as first line supervisor to a staff of Electrical Engineers engaged in transmission planning, operations planning, and real-time reliability studies and analyses.