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Civil Engineer (Highway)

Department of Transportation
Department of Transportation - Agency Wide
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The position is in the FHWA Resource Center. The selected candidate is a technical specialist in the Construction & Project Management Team and has extensive knowledge and expertise in construction management, project management and innovative project delivery methods, etc. The position requires application of engineering knowledge in the development and evaluation of design, construction, contract administration, and Federal-aid policies relating to Federal-aid project delivery.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
12/20/2024 to 12/31/2024
This job will close when we have received 500 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. Learn more
Salary
$122,198 to - $191,900 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 14
Location
Anywhere in the U.S. (remote job)
1 vacancy
Remote job
Yes - This position may be eligible for remote work, which does not require reporting to the agency worksite location on a regular basis. If selected for a remote work location, you will be required to sign a remote work agreement detailing agency remote work policy requirements, working conditions, and expectations for the position.
Telework eligible
Not applicable, this is a remote position.
Travel Required
50% or less - The job may require up to 50% travel.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Full Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
14
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
Yes - The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter.
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
FHWA.DTS-2025-0003
Control number
825321600

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. citizen. Due to the potential of a high volume of applicants, not all applicants may receive consideration. Direct Hire Authority will be used to fill this position. The 'Rule of Three', Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy.

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Duties

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As a Civil Engineer (Highway), you will:

  • Identify the need for, develop, and conduct technical training courses for internal and external customers. Work in concert with the National Highway Institute, state and local agencies, industry, professional associations, and educational institutions as necessary.
  • Plan implementation efforts for highway construction initiatives and promote technological advances/technology transfer through facilitation of workshops and demonstration projects, technical review of state and local agency construction specifications, and drafting of technical documents/publications. Identify and pursue new partnerships, marketing approaches, and customer participation.
  • Review and implement technical construction and project management programs at the federal, state, and local levels. Evaluate FHWA recommendations for changes, as appropriate, to existing and proposed policies in an effort to improve technical program effectiveness and efficiency. Serve as a technical leader in developing engineering practices. Facilitate, coordinate, and impact national technical activities in the key construction and project management discipline.
  • Provide technical advice and guidance on highway construction projects and state-of-the-art project management delivery techniques and innovations such as 3D modeling, e-Construction, alternative contracting methods, risk-based estimation, major project financial plans, and course delivery and course development. Conduct reviews and analyses pertaining to project management fundamentals (e.g. cost estimation, scheduling, quality assurance, and scope control) and provide technical guidance in various project delivery matters such as utilities, inspections, Federal-aid, and emergency relief.
  • Provide innovative technical advice and program stewardship to assigned program areas in the field of contract administration and asset management. This includes providing interpretations of complex data, legislation and regulations, procedures, requirements, technological advancements and/or approaches, as well as lending assistance on unusual and/or unique situations relative to highway construction contracts that have been resistant to resolution through normal approaches.            

The ideal candidate for this position is a senior level Civil Engineer looking for an excellent opportunity to work with experts in roadway engineering to meet the challenges of advancing the best transportation system in the world. The selected candidate will have extensive knowledge and expertise in their area(s) of construction and project management, enjoy travel, serve as a technical authority and leader in developing Construction and Project Management practices and provide authoritative technical advice and guidance. We offer an excellent benefits package and alternative work schedules.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. citizen & meet specialized experience to qualify
  • Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date
  • Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
  • Direct Hire Authority will be used to fill this position

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

  • SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
  • GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel.  A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
  • REMOTE WORK: This position may be eligible for remote work, which does not require reporting to the agency worksite location on a regular basis. If selected for a remote work location, you will be required to sign a remote work agreement detailing
    agency remote work policy requirements, working conditions, and expectations for the position.
  • PROBATIONARY PERIOD: Applicants may be required to successfully complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
  • BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: You may be required to complete a background/security investigation and meet preliminary requirements prior to onboarding.

Qualifications

To determine which grade(s) you may be eligible for, review the following grade specific details.  You will be asked a few questions as part of your application but make sure to verify how you meet this experience in your resume, or you may be deemed ineligible.  

To meet the basic qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Mandatory Education Requirement for the series, (2) provide a copy of your transcripts or other applicable documentation for verification, AND (3) meet the specialized experience requirements for each grade you are applying to. Please review the following information before proceeding with the application process:

For the GS-14: you must have at least one year of specialized experience, equal or equivalent to the GS-13 grade level, which included:

  • Experience and leadership in applying professional civil engineering theories, concepts, principles, methods, practices, standards, and/or evaluation of procedures to advance construction and project management as they apply to Federal Aid highway project delivery; 

  • Experience leading the analysis and evaluation of highway construction project management fundamentals such as: cost estimation, scheduling, quality assurance and/or scope control;

  • Experience providing technical guidance in various project delivery matters such as: project management, e-construction, risk-based cost estimation and/or alternative contracting.

For additional information, please refer to the OPM qualifications standard for GS-800: All Professional Engineering Positions qualifications at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf.

Technical Competence - Uses knowledge that is acquired through formal training or extensive on-the-job experience to perform one's job; works with, understands, and evaluates technical information related to the job; advises others on technical issues.

Civil Engineering - Knowledge of the concepts, principles, theories, and methods required to plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain facilities such as buildings, transportation systems, water and sanitary systems, and other public works systems.

Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.



Education

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

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:

  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) 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).

Additional information

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits the Department of Transportation and its Operating Administrations from requesting an applicant's criminal history record before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S. Code § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Chance to Compete Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint to the Department of Transportation by email at, FairChanceAct@dot.gov. To learn more, please visit our page at: The Fair Chance to Compete Act | US Department of Transportation 

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

Qualified CTAP/ICTAP candidates receive priority and will be referred to the hiring manager.

How you will be evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level. 

All applicants:  For this announcement, applicants may be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational requirements.  Applications that are verified to meet the basic qualifications may be referred to the selecting official.

Applicants will not be rated or ranked.  Veteran’s Preference does NOT apply.

Please ensure that your work history provides enough details to support your answers. 


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