Electrical Engineer

Electrical Engineer (Controls)

Open & closing dates  07/26/2024 to 08/09/2024

Salary  $103,507 - $122,137 per year

Pay scale & grade  GS 11

Location   Lakewood, CO

Duties

Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Division Mission Statement:
Industry-leading electrical and mechanical engineers providing advanced design, maintenance, and modernization solutions for the reliable delivery of hydropower and water.

Electrical Controls Group
The Electrical Controls Group provides engineering services for designs, drawings, technical specifications, and construction/installation support for control systems, control networks, communication systems and low voltage power systems for Reclamation facilities.
- Works closely with other electrical and mechanical groups as well as plant operators to develop both hard wired and PLC based control and monitoring systems (including SCADA) for water treatment processes, fish structures, gate controls, pumping plants, excitation systems, governors, protection relays and other auxiliary systems.
- Prepares calculation, specification, design drawings and other design documentation related to controls, security, low voltage power, and communication systems for construction contracts.
- Attends site visits for scoping, planning studies, testing and commissioning of units.
- Reviews contractor submittal to ensure control system conformance with contract specifications.

This position is located in the Technical Service Center within the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) within the Department of the Interior (Department). This position provides electrical engineering expertise for a variety of projects and activities throughout the Office which typically include combinations of complex features. Electrical engineering includes design, studies, diagnostics, automation, controls, analyses, construction administration, documentation, inspections, assessments, investigations, reviews, cost estimating, specifications writing, and evaluating facility capacities and operations. Electrical engineering assignments may specialize in one or more specialties: Design, Construction Management, Operations and Maintenance, Systems Analysis, Industrial Control Systems, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. Electrical systems include communication, control, and security systems; interior and exterior lighting; generators, motors, pump-generators and auxiliary systems. Duties include but are not limited to:

Engineering Analysis - Performs engineering analyses to include performing and/or coordinating technical planning activities; data collection (including validation and management); design; analyses of site location and/or conditions; troubleshooting electrical controls equipment and systems; and risk estimation and analyses including evaluating aspects of state and Federal regulatory programs, electric reliability compliance programs, and power contracts.

Documentation and Presentation - Prepares and reviews technical documentation such as technical memorandums and reports, engineering study analyses and results, correspondence, design criteria, calculations, design summaries, design standards, designer's operating criteria, drawings, job plans, operating procedures, value studies reports, inspection and assessment reviews, impact assessments, emergency action plans and exercises, construction plans and reports, quantity estimate worksheets, specifications, constructability reviews, solicitation packages, required planning, final design, and/or procurement construction cost estimates and contract correspondence including responses to submittals and Request for Information . Makes oral presentations of technical documentation at coordination meetings, design or other technical briefings.

Investigations, Assessments, and/or Inspections - Plans, schedules, coordinates, and conducts electrical controls engineering facility examinations, reviews, and/or inspections which include conducting condition assessments and construction and transfer inspections; identifying and addressing deficiencies relative to design criteria, applicable codes and standards, or state or Federal statutes or regulations; calculating estimates for repairs; coordinating with internal and external partners; documenting and presenting results; and identifying needs for the asset investment.

Reviewing and Mentoring - Provides technical reviews, peer reviews, and/or checking of designs, drawings, engineering analysis, and technical documents, specifications, and contract correspondence, ensuring documents are accurate and quality assurance processes were followed and advice to lower graded engineers and technicians and other internal and external stakeholders.

RequirementsConditions of Employment

You must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National.
You must be suitable for federal employment, determined by a background investigation.
You must submit a resume and supporting documentation (see Required Documents).
You must submit eligibility documents for veterans consideration (see Required Documents).
You must meet any minimum education and/or experience requirements (see Qualifications).
You must submit transcript(s) to verify education requirements (see Qualifications/Education).

Qualifications

In order to qualify for this position, you must meet BOTH the Basic and Additional qualification requirements for each grade level described below. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience. A copy of your unofficial transcripts must be provided with your application.

Basic Requirements:

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), 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.
OR
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.
OR
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.
OR
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.)

Additional qualification requirement: In addition to the basic education requirement and in order to be rated as qualified for this position, the HR Office must be able to determine that the applicant meets the following education or specialized experience requirement; this information must be clearly supported in the resume.

GS-11

A. Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-11, you must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to at least the GS-09 level in federal service having demonstrated experience performing engineering duties; using typical engineering calculations and engineering principles to develop designs and technical documentation for the procurement and installation of control systems, protection systems, communication systems or security systems; for a facility similar to a pumping plant, hydroelectric power plant, water treatment plant or other industrial facility.
OR
B. Education: You could otherwise qualify on the basis of Education having 3 years of progressively higher level education leading to a PH.D. degree or equivalent doctoral degree.
OR
C. Combination of Education and Experience: You may combine specialized experience and education to meet the minimum qualifications.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience. One year of specialized experience is equivalent to 12 months at 40 hours per week. Part-time hours are prorated. You will not receive any credit for experience that does not indicate exact hours per week or is listed as "varies".

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.

You must meet all Eligibility and Qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors if applicable, by 08/09/2024.