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Explosives Safety Specialist

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

Summary

As the Explosive Safety Officer for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and associated component facilities you will ensure that the Center's Explosives Safety Program meets all regulations and protects people and property from mishaps. You will serve as technical adviser for the application of new explosive safety technologies and implementation of regulations to mitigate or eliminate explosive safety hazards. The position is located at Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open date: 01/14/2022
Closed date: 01/24/2022
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$94,373 - $144,976 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 13 - 14
Promotion potential
14
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Drug test
Yes
Security clearance
Sensitive Compartmented Information
Position sensitivity and risk
Special-Sensitive (SS)/High Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Announcement number
GSFC-22-IMP-11349356-MG
Control number
631127100

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Current Goddard Space Flight Center federal employee serving on a career, career-conditional, VRA, Schedule A for individuals with disabilities, or NASA term appointment that provides eligibility to convert to a permanent appointment or a current NASA employee on a long-term rotational assignment to the NASA Engineering and Safety Center or the NASA Safety Center.

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Duties

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  • Duties described below are at the full-performance level. Duties assigned at a lower grade level will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity; duties will be commensurate with the grade of selected employee.
  • Serve as the Designated GSFC Explosive Safety Officer (ESO) for explosives, propellant, and pyrotechnic operations. Advise and resolve technical matters, while also making recommendations to management.
  • Manage all aspects of, and jurisdictions covered, per the GSFC Explosive Safety Program (e.g., Greenbelt, Wallops Flight Facility, Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, White Sands Missile Range, Poker Flat Research Range).
  • Support NASA HQ Explosive Safety Program, working groups, and audits as required.
  • Work closely with management to utilize data to render explosive safety advice, consultation, and assistance.
  • Calculate explosive quantity distances, perform qualitative review analyses and serve as the approval authority for all explosive licenses.
  • Develop and propose explosive safety requirements and criteria, review plans and specifications for new construction or building alterations, and monitor project completion to ensure compliance with safety codes and standards.
  • Lead Technical Interchange Meetings with project/program engineers to review operational plans, evaluation data and findings, review current or future plans in regard to compliance on the Federal and Agency level.
  • Maintain contact with other stakeholders to develop the program, while also preparing procedures and reports to facilitate and conduct mishap investigations.
  • Manage the explosive safety inspection program involving field surveys and investigations of facilities, systems, or equipment.
  • Review operating procedures for handle, storage, and transport of explosives, propellants, energetic liquids, and pyrotechnics.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must meet qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement
  • If selected, you will be required to complete a financial disclosure statement
  • Please see the "Additional Information" section for important information about COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal employees.

Qualifications

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-13, you must have one year of directly related specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level evaluating operational plans or trade studies of new or existing programs/projects and developing or proposing explosive safety requirements for complex or high value projects and recommending integrated explosive safety policy; and controlling the use, storage, handling and/or transportation of explosives, propellants, and/or pyrotechnics in accordance with explosive safety laws, regulations, rules, policies, procedures, methods, criteria and techniques.

To qualify for GS-14, you must have one year of directly related specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 level developing explosive safety requirements and criteria for construction, facilities, systems, equipment, and hardware; managing explosive safety program operations and compliance and providing recommendations on areas for improvement; leading and performing field surveys, mishap inspections, and safety analysis.

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

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN UPDATED:

As required by Executive Order 14043, Federal employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of the employee's duty location or work arrangement (e.g., telework, remote work, etc.), subject to such exceptions as required by law. To ensure compliance with an applicable nationwide preliminary injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, NASA will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement at this time. For more information, please see: https://www.usajobs.gov/help/working-in-government/vaccine.

Due to COVID-19, NASA is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement within 30 days. At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework one or more days a pay period depending upon the terms of the agency's telework policy.

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.

If you are a current federal employee, 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 weeks in a position no more than 1 grade lower than the advertised position. (Please submit your SF-50 that shows Time-in-Grade eligibility and 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
Ammunition and Explosives
Public Safety and Security
Institutional Logistics, Supply and Transportation
Pyrotechnics
Workplace Safety

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.

Goddard Space Flight Center

Explore the Extraordinary
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Explore the extraordinary, every day; explore a career at NASA!

Agency contact information

NASA Shared Services Contact Center
Phone
1-877-677-2123
Fax
1-866-779-6772
Email
nssc-contactcenter@mail.nasa.gov
Address
Goddard Space Flight Center
8800 Greenbelt Rd
Greenbelt, MD 20771
US

Visit our careers page

Learn more about what it's like to work at Goddard Space Flight Center, what the agency does, and about the types of careers this agency offers.

https://www.nasa.gov/careers

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