Civil Engineer (Geotechnical)

This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD Workforce to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and 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 Education Requirement for All Grades is listed in the Education Section below. GS-07: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes one or more of the following: 1) Prepare technical reports and/or design documentation for project planning or design decisions; 2) interpret geotechnical investigation, laboratory, and/or field data to support engineering guidelines; 3) perform geotechnical engineering analyses to evaluate soil, foundation, slope, settlement, and/or seepage conditions for engineering projects; 4) coordinate engineering activities with multidisciplinary project delivery teams to support project schedules or milestones; 5) review specifications, design documents, scopes of work, and/or engineering modifications for compliance with project requirements; and 6) Conduct construction inspections to verify conformance with design requirements and/or recommend appropriate corrective actions. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-05). OR Education: One full year of graduate level education in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. OR Superior Academic Achievement. In order to be creditable under this provision, Superior Academic Achievement must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled, such as that identified in Education above. Superior Academic Achievement is based on:(1) Class Standing - Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses; OR(2) Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) - Applicants must have a grade-point average of either (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on your official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.; OR(3) Honor Society Membership - Applicants may be considered eligible based on membership in one of the approved national scholastic honor societies listed by the Association of College Honor Societies (https://www.achsnatl.org/). GS-09: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes meeting two of the following: 1) Prepare technical reports and/or design documentation for project planning or design decisions; 2) interpret geotechnical investigation, laboratory, and/or field data to support engineering guidelines; 3) perform geotechnical engineering analyses to evaluate soil, foundation, slope, settlement, and/or seepage conditions for engineering projects; 4) coordinate engineering activities with multidisciplinary project delivery teams to support project schedules or milestones; 5) review specifications, design documents, scopes of work, and/or engineering modifications for compliance with project requirements; 6) Conduct construction inspections to verify conformance with design requirements and/or recommend appropriate corrective actions. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-07). OR Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 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. 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-11: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes meeting three of the following: 1) Prepare technical reports and/or design documentation for project planning or design decisions; 2) interpret geotechnical investigation, laboratory, and/or field data to support engineering guidelines; 3) perform geotechnical engineering analyses to evaluate soil, foundation, slope, settlement, and/or seepage conditions for engineering projects; 4) coordinate engineering activities with multidisciplinary project delivery teams to support project schedules or milestones; 5) review specifications, design documents, scopes of work, and/or engineering modifications for compliance with project requirements; 6) Conduct construction inspections to verify conformance with design requirements and/or recommend appropriate corrective actions. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09). 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. 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 meeting four of the following: 1) Prepare technical reports and/or design documentation for project planning or design decisions; 2) interpret geotechnical investigation, laboratory, and/or field data to support engineering guidelines; 3) perform geotechnical engineering analyses to evaluate soil, foundation, slope, settlement, and/or seepage conditions for engineering projects; 4) coordinate engineering activities with multidisciplinary project delivery teams to support project schedules or milestones; 5) review specifications, design documents, scopes of work, and/or engineering modifications for compliance with project requirements; 6) Conduct construction inspections to verify conformance with design requirements and/or recommend appropriate corrective actions. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-11). "Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted". The incumbent will serve as a Civil Engineer responsible for performing a variety of work in support of the districts geotechnical design program. Conduct studies pertaining to foundation stresses, seepage, slope and foundation stability, dewatering, grouting, and related data for inclusion in review, feasibility, and design memoranda reports to higher authority. Write reports and technical appendices for feasibility and design memo studies, incorporating results of design data and estimates of quantities. Responsible for geotechnical portions of plans and specifications and drafts technical provisions of contract specifications. Make inspection trips to earth construction projects to insure that the project is being constructed to conform to design requirements and to verify assumptions made during design. Develop preliminary and final design for earth and rock structures such as levees, rubble mound breakwaters, roads, channel improvements, cut slopes, and earth dams. Compile data and prepare correspondence pertaining to the Districts geotechnical design program. Education Basic Education Requirement for Civil Engineer (Geotechnical) 0810 series: 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: Professional registration or licensure, Written Test, Specified academic courses, and/or Related curriculum. Please see the following link for more detail: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf. In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed above: FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/