Clarification from the agency

The public

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In this position, you will:

- Design, simulate, layout, and characterize the performance of high-frequency millimeter-wave to terahertz active circuits for NIST mission-critical applications.
- Lead collaborative research teams to develop electronic circuits with advanced performance that operate at frequencies up to 1 THz.
- Develop new characterization techniques for on-wafer circuits and components.
- Create project plans, design experiments, improve test infrastructure, and develop new measurement techniques to demonstrate and characterize circuit performance.
- Mentor graduate students and postdocs.
- Communicate and collaborate with NIST researchers, as well as with industry, academic, and other government agencies.
- Write proposals.
- Present and publish research results and measurement best practices.

Conditions of employment

• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Suitable for Federal employment
• Bargaining Unit Position: No

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's
degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by 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 nd 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)1, 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)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and 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 the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
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 bachelor's 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. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

AND

Applicants must possess one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level, (ZP-III at NIST).
Specialized experience is defined as:
- Experience in circuit design, layout, modeling and characterization for both GaN and InP based technologies
- Experience with microwave circuit simulations of millimeter-wave integrated circuit components such as power amplifiers, frequency multipliers, or oscillators
- Experience with multiline TRL calibration structure design in GaN and InP technologies
- Experience with microwave (GHz) to terahertz (THz) on-wafer measurements using semi-automated probe stations
- Experience using network analyzers with frequency extenders
- Experience with load-pull measurements for nonlinear devices
- Experience with extraction of transistor models from on-wafer load-pull measurements
- Experience in uncertainty analysis and propagation of uncertainty for on-wafer measurements
- Experience writing successful research proposals, presenting results at technical conferences, and publishing technical research results

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). 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.

The qualification requirements in this vacancy announcement are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook.

Applicant Reconsideration

How you will be evaluated

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

How you will be evaluated: We will review your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documents to assess your qualifications for this position. Please be sure that your resume and supporting documents include detailed information to support your qualifications for this position. Failure to provide sufficient and/or legible evidence in your resume or supporting documents may result in a "not qualified" determination. You MUST select at least ONE eligibility (i.e., how you wish to be considered) to receive consideration for this position.

Referral: All applicants who meet the minimum qualifications will be referred to the selecting official for consideration. Under Direct Hire Authority, applicants are not rated and ranked, and veteran preference does not apply.

CTAP or ICTAP eligibility: If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP), you must be determined eligible and rated as well-qualified to receive special selection priority. "Well Qualified" means that in addition to meeting the minimum qualification requirements and selective placement factor(s), if applicable, you must receive a score of 85 or higher. Please review the following site regarding required documents to support CTAP or ICTAP eligibility and additional information regarding this authority - CTAP/ICTAP Eligibility