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 an Engineer (0861-Aerospace Engineering):
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.
To view the OPM education requirement for the Engineering (800 Series) go to: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf
Basic Education Requirement for a Computer Scientist (1550 series):
Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in computer science or bachelor's degree (or higher degree) with 30 semester hours in a combination of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. At least 15 of the 30 semester hours must have included any combination of statistics and mathematics that included differential and integral calculus.
To view the OPM education requirement for the Computer Science (1550 series) go to: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1500/computer-science-series-1550/
Basic Education Requirement for a Mathematician (1520):
A. I possess a college degree in mathematics; or the equivalent of a major that included at least 24 semester hours in mathematics. The course work included differential and integral calculus and, in addition, four advanced mathematics courses requiring calculus or equivalent mathematics courses as a prerequisite.
B. I possess a combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major that included at least 24 semester hours in mathematics, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The course work included differential and integral calculus and, in addition, four advanced mathematics courses requiring calculus or equivalent mathematics courses as a prerequisite.
In addition to meeting one or more of the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:
To qualify at the DB-IV pay band your resume must show that you possess experience that demonstrates your ability to perform the work in an interdisciplinary position encompassing either an Aerospace Engineer, Mathematician or Computer Scientist at the DB-04 pay band or equivalent grade level (GS-14/GS-15) in the Federal service. Specialized experience is described as (1) developing ballistic aiming data, ballistics technology and/or ballistic fire control software, (2) experience managing projects, and (3) experience preparing high-level briefings. Specialized experience must be at the next lower pay band (DB-03) or GS-12 equivalent.
You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:
- Communications
- Leadership
- Project Management
- Software Development