The federal Mechanical Engineering Series covers engineering and scientific jobs centered on mechanical devices and systems, including their equipment and components. People in these jobs design and develop that equipment, bring it into service, build it, run it, keep it working, and dispose of it at the end of its life.
The work draws on how motion, force, and energy behave, and on the properties of materials. Engineers apply that knowledge so that mechanical devices and systems, along with their equipment and components, operate safely, reliably, efficiently, and at reasonable cost.
Not every job in the series means doing the engineering work directly. The series also covers positions that manage, supervise, or lead this work, so it includes supervisory and team-leading roles as well as hands-on engineering.