Skip to main content
U.S. flag
Back to results

Mechanical Engineer

Department of the Army
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Nashville Integrated Project Office, Chickamauga Lock Resident Office
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD Workforce to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service.

About the Position: You will serve as a Mechanical Engineering Specialist of the Resident Engineer performing field and office mechanical engineering duties associated with the construction of large civil works projects, and locks and dams.

Overview

Help
Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
11/26/2024 to 12/04/2024
Salary
$72,553 to - $113,047 per year

GS-11 Range: $72,553 - $94,317; GS-12 Range: $86,962 - $113,047

Pay scale & grade
GS 11 - 12
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Chattanooga, TN
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel up to 10% of the time for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Term - 13 Months
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
12
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
CERE245478423233HW
Control number
820891500

Videos

Duties

Help
  • Review project plans and specifications prior to and during the construction period to determine the practicability from construction standpoint.
  • Advise lower grade employees, contractor’s and subcontractor's key personnel on testing problems; construction, and installation of equipment.
  • Provides mechanical/constructability technical engineering support for assigned projects including RFIs and other technical issues related to mechanical features of work.
  • Review shop drawings, schedules, mechanical layouts, etc., to assure that drawings are in compliance with contract specifications.
  • Serve as the technical mechanical engineering specialist for civil works construction and apply mechanical engineering principles to make recommendations to the Resident Engineer for resolution on the full range of design and constructability issues.
  • Review technical data and furnishes information for progress reports, provides data for processing of pay estimates such as quantities of materials or installations included in construction and percentages of work completed.
  • Assist in the technical aspects of preparation of Government Estimates, and provides documentation to support Government position on claims.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

  • Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
  • Term employment is subject to a one year trial period.
  • May be required to work weekends and holidays.
  • This position has a Temporary Duty (TDY) or business travel requirement of 10% of the time.

Qualifications

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:
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:

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 qualify at the GS-11 grade level, you must have:
A. Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes performing journeyman developmental level work with assignments designed to provide the competencies, skills, and experience required to perform the more complex work at the full performance grade level and demonstrates a full comprehension of assigned work applying mechanical engineering concepts, principles, and practices within engineering duties of as a specialist in mechanical systems and equipment, monitoring aspects of a number of contractor's quality control and inspection programs which include responsibility for conducting tests, observing tests, recognizing and detecting design problems, etc. Mechanical systems and equipment include heating and ventilating, air conditioning, plumbing, steam, refrigeration, pneumatic and electrical control system, fuel distribution system, boilers, waste control and sewage treatment, etc. Facilities constructed are Locks and Dams, utilities, office buildings, warehouses, powerhouse cranes, generator rewinds, etc. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09); OR
B. Education: 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; OR
C. Combination of Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for this position. Determine your total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determine your education as a percentage of the education required for the grade the grade level; then add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal 100 percent to qualify for this position. (To compute the percentage, divide you total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify).

To qualify at the GS-12 grade level, you must have:
A. Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes applying mechanical engineering concepts, principles, and practices within engineering duties of as a specialist in mechanical systems and equipment, monitoring aspects of a number of contractor's quality control and inspection programs which include responsibility for conducting tests, observing tests, recognizing and detecting design problems, etc. Mechanical systems and equipment include heating and ventilating, air conditioning, plumbing, steam, refrigeration, pneumatic and electrical control system, fuel distribution system, boilers, waste control and sewage treatment, etc. Facilities constructed are Locks and Dams, utilities, office buildings, warehouses, powerhouse cranes, generator rewinds, etc.
This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-11).
B. Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience to qualify. For this grade level, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.

Education

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been 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://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/

Additional information

  • Term Appointment NTE -- Position may be filled as a Term Appointment NTE 13 months. Term appointments may be extended beyond six (6) years, up to eight (8) years. With DoD approval, Term appointments may be extended beyond eight (8) years.
  • Current permanent Federal employees (to include permanent Army employees) applying for a Term appointment will be appointed/converted into a term appointment with no statutory return rights back to a permanent position.
  • Relocation/Recruitment/Retention/Student Loan Repayment incentive(s) MAY BE authorized to highly qualified candidate.
  • Must sign a service agreement if incentive(s) is/are authorized.
  • Non-competitive promotion potential to the target grade based on time-in-grade requirements and demonstrated ability to perform the higher graded duties.
  • Male applicants born after December 31, 1959, must complete a Pre-Employment Certification Statement for Selective Service Registration.
  • You will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
  • One year trial/probationary period may be required.
  • Direct Deposit of Pay is required.
  • Selection is subject to restrictions resulting from Department of Defense referral system for displaced employees.
  • If you have retired from federal service and you are interested in employment as a reemployed annuitant, see the information in the Reemployed Annuitant information sheet.
  • This is a Career Field 18 position, Engineers and Scientists (Resources and Construction).
  • Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
  • Salary includes applicable locality pay or Local Market Supplement.
  • Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is not authorized, based on a determination that a PCS move is not in the Government interest.

How you will be evaluated

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

Once the announcement has closed, a review of your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine whether you meet the qualification requirements listed on this announcement.

If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully when applying, errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

You should list any relevant performance appraisals and incentive awards in your resume as that information may be taken into consideration during the selection process. If selected, you may be required to provide supporting documentation.

Veterans and Military Spouses will be considered along with all other candidates.

Your session is about to expire!

Your USAJOBS session will expire due to inactivity in 8 minutes. Any unsaved data will be lost if you allow the session to expire. Click the button below to continue your session.