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Quality Assurance Specialist (Aerospace)

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

Summary

Serves as a Lead Quality Assurance Specialist in one or more of the following disciplines (Mechanical, Avionics, or back-shops) for the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Research Aircraft. As the team lead, plans, develops, organizes, administers, evaluates, and coordinates a comprehensive aerospace quality assurance program.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open date: 01/19/2022
Closed date: 01/25/2022
Location
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$128,230 - $166,697 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 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
Temporary promotion - This is a temporary promotion or detail opportunity not to exceed 2 years, with option to extend up to a maximum of 5 years or be made permanent without further competition
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Drug test
Yes
Security clearance
Secret
Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Announcement number
AFRC-22-IMP-11345508-SH
Control number
631557600

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Current AFRC federal employee serving on a career, career-conditional, 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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  • Manage a team of Quality Assurance (QA) specialists, supporting multishift operations, at contractor and NASA facilities.
  • Evaluate contractor's quality systems to determine whether delivery of major procurement acquisitions will meet the contract criteria.
  • Conduct on-site assessments of suppliers capabilities and evaluate the potential supplier for compliance with NASA quality requirements.
  • Develop Government Inspection requirements and quality surveillance plans, verify effectiveness and determine root causes of product defects to ensure adequacy of compliance with the appropriate requirements.
  • Track product deficiencies. Mitigate risk and ensure compliance with AS9100 requirements.
  • Review written quality or inspection procedures for adequacy, and evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of quality systems, including sampling plans.
  • Verify by test or inspection that products comply with requirements prior to acceptance by identifying inadequacies and requesting corrective action.
  • Investigate customer complaints, and deficiency reports. Work with other agencies, and external customers for specific course of action appropriate to the deficiency.
  • Read, interpret, and apply technical data such as blueprints, engineering drawings, product specifications, or technical manuals.
  • Review and evaluate contractor operations and procedures through periodic audits and surveillance inspections by working with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Federal Aviation Administration and Center processes.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must meet qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
  • Position subject to pre-employment background security investigation.
  • If selected, you will be required to successfully complete an annual eye exam per NASA-STD-8739.6.
  • If selected, you must successfully obtain and maintain a NASA AFRC Inspection Stamp.
  • If selected, in accordance with the NASA-STD-8739.6, you must obtain the following License and/or Certification, within one year: NASA-STD-8739.1, -IPC J-STD-001FS, and -8739.4 or equivalent replacement standard.
  • 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-14, you must have one year of directly related specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 level; Leading and/or providing technical advice to aerospace mechanics, technicians, engineers and partners; Communicates effectively in supporting critical/complex aerospace or science oversight and/or implementation of manufacturing and quality assurance processes and systems that have direct impact on the quality of aircraft products and/or services provided; Conducting quality assurance audits/surveillances related to aircraft systems, equipment, materials and/or processes.

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.

Additional information

  • If you are selected, NASA may request information regarding your vaccination status for the purposes of implementing workplace safety protocols, such as masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

If selected at the same grade this will not result in a promotion; the selectee will be detailed at his/her current pay/grade level.

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:
Decision Making
Mission Assurance
Planning and Evaluating
Quality Assurance
Quality Management
Teamwork

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.

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Explore the Extraordinary
Calling all the innovators, pioneers, visionaries, and adventurers! We are a diverse group of professionals united by a common purpose: to discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity. We're building on our rich legacy by embarking on new and exciting missions, both on Earth and beyond and we're looking for fresh ideas to help us get there. Do you have a passion for exploration? Do you want your work to leave an enduring impact? Join us in a career that can take you farther than you can imagine. At NASA, our work is more than just a profession-it's a lifelong pursuit, a passion, and a chance to change the world. NASA is more than astronauts. We are scientists, engineers, IT specialists, human resources specialists, accountants, writers, technicians and many other kinds of people working together to break barriers to achieve the seemingly impossible.

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
Armstrong Flight Research Center
4800 Lilly Ave
Edwards, CA 93523
US

Visit our careers page

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

https://www.nasa.gov/careers

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