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Senior Staff Engineer

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Goddard Space Flight Center
This job announcement has closed

Summary

You will serve as a Senior Staff Engineer, an agency-level subject matter expert, embedded in the Materials Engineering Branch at GSFC

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
03/08/2021 to 03/22/2021
Salary
$144,128 to - $172,500 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 15
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Greenbelt, MD
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
15
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
GSFC-21-IMP-11037384-DT
Control number
593661000

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Current Goddard Space Flight Center employees on career, career conditional, non-competitive, and NASA term appointments that provide for conversion eligibility. Current NASA employees on long-term rotational assignments to the NASA Engineering and Safety Center or the NASA Safety Center.

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Duties

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  • Consult with materials and processes engineers and others on the selection and approval of materials for aerospace application considering requirements, operating conditions, material properties, and availability.
  • Conduct studies such as NDE methods; materials properties and applications; contamination risks from chemicals, heat treatment, welding, vacuum brazing techniques/processes, etc.
  • Determine feasibility, timing, technical approach, and management of specific study proposals. Initiate technology transfer activities. Serve as a recognized authority in the field, and advise/consult on a national and/or international level.
  • Conceive, direct, manage, and conduct pioneering theoretical or experimental studies and analyses.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must meet qualifications requirements by the closing date of this announcement
  • If selected, you will be required to complete a financial disclosure statement

Qualifications

In addition to the basic education requirement (shown below), you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade, which has equipped you with the particular competencies needed to successfully perform the duties of the position described above.

To qualify for GS-15, you must have one year of directly related specialized experience equivalent to the GS-14 level directing or managing complex studies in aerospace materials and components; and providing technical expertise in materials and processes to flight project engineering teams. Experience working in a laboratory setting with optical microscopy, micro-sectioning, scanning electron microscopy, thermal analysis, micro-hardness testing, mechanical testing, and non-destructive evaluation. Experience contributing new designs, processes, or techniques regarded as major advances, or opening the way for further developments, or resolving problems of great importance to agency flight and research projects.

Your resume must include a clear and detailed narrative description, in your own words, of how you meet the required specialized experience. Experience statements copied from a position description, vacancy announcement or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job.

Your resume must include a clear and detailed narrative description, in your own words, of how you meet the required specialized experience. Experience statements copied from a position description, vacancy announcement or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job.

Education

You must have successfully completed a bachelor's or graduate degree with a major in either a) engineering from a college or university that has ABET accredited engineering programs or b) Physical Science, Mathematics, Life Science, Computer Science*, or other field of physical science.
*Note: Curriculum must include 30 semester hours of course work in a combination of mathematics, statistics and computer science. Of the 30 semester hours, 15 must be in any combination of statistics and mathematics which includes differential and integral calculus.

Degrees in engineering technology are not considered to be qualifying for this position.

To find out if a school has an ABET accreditation, go to http://www.abet.org.

Degrees must have been received in the year of, or any year subsequent to the original date of accreditation.

Engineering degrees earned outside the United States: Engineering degrees earned outside the Unites States must be recognized by a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA), often known as accords. These are non-governmental agreements among organizations that accredit academic degree programs. MRAs recognize the substantial equivalence of mature accreditation systems and programs accredited by signatory organizations within their jurisdictions. For a listing of Signatories, please visit, https://www.abet.org/global-presence/mutual-recognition-agreements/is-your-program-recognized/.

Science and other related degrees earned within the United States: Science and other related degrees must have been awarded from colleges or universities that are accredited by recognized accrediting organizations. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, go to http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

Science and other related degrees earned outside the United States: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs. These education credentials must be 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://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Additional information

CLOSING DATE EXTENDED ON 3/12/2021 TO ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS.

Additional selections may be made for similar positions across NASA
within the local commuting area(s) of the location(s) identified in this announcement. By applying, you agree to have your application shared with interested selecting official(s) within NASA. CTAP/ICTAP will be cleared for any additional selection from this announcement.

You must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible for this position. To be eligible, you must have completed a minimum of 52 consecutive weeks in a position no more than 1 grade lower than the advertised position. (Please submit your SF-50 showing you have at least 1-year Time-in-Grade eligibility and which reflects your title, series, and grade. If your eligibility for both merit promotion and/or time-in-grade cannot be determined, your application will be rated ineligible. Please see Required Documents for additional information).
Note: Time-in-grade requirements also apply to applicants who have held a non-temporary, competitive service GS position in the past year.

If you have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP), you must:
- Indicate your eligibility when applying for a position. The questionnaire asks you to identify your ICTAP/CTAP eligibility.
-Be well qualified for this position to receive consideration. Candidates rated in the 'Best Qualified' category are considered well-qualified. Please see 'How You Will Be Evaluated' for more information.
-Submit proof that you meet the requirements for CTAP/ICTAP as indicated in 'Required Documents'

For additional information about CTAP/ICTAP eligibility, click here - https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/#ictap.

Qualified NASA term employees who have term conversion eligibility (http://nasapeople.nasa.gov/hclwp/term-appointments.htm) under the NASA Flexibility Act of 2004 will be referred and considered equally with other NASA permanent employees under internal competitive placement procedures.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated for this position based on how well you meet the qualifications and eligibility requirements listed in this vacancy announcement. To determine your qualifications and referral status, we may review your resume and supporting documentation and compare it against your responses to the vacancy questionnaire. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration.

You will be assessed on the following competencies:
Problem Solving
Research
Materials Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
Materials Test Engineering
Metallurgy
Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) Sciences
Non-Metallics
Technical Competence

NASA considers 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.

Under NASA's quality grouping process, applicants will be assessed on the position competencies and placed in one of three groups identified and defined below:

  • Best Qualified Group - Applicants who demonstrate a superior level of all evaluation criteria.
  • Highly Qualified Group - Applicants who demonstrate a satisfactory level of the evaluation criteria.
  • Qualified Group - Applicants who demonstrate the basic qualifications, with general knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Candidates eligible for ICTAP/CTAP, reemployment priority or priority consideration will be referred before other candidates, as necessary. If no such candidates apply or are eligible to be referred, the following candidates will be sent to the hiring official for employment consideration:
  • Best Qualified merit promotion candidates. Highly Qualified merit promotion candidates may also be referred, if additional candidates are needed.
  • Qualified candidates eligible for consideration under Schedule A or VRA in accordance with veterans' preference rules, as applicable.
  • Qualified candidates that are eligible for special hiring authorities or non-competitive hiring authorities.

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