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Branch Chief

Nuclear Regulatory Commission
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The position is located in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), Division of Risk Assessment (DRA), PRA Oversight Branch (APOB).  The supervisor is Meena Khanna.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
01/06/2025 to 01/17/2025
Salary
$167,603 to - $195,200 per year
Pay scale & grade
GG 15
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Rockville, MD
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—As described by agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional travel may be required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—Travel expenses associated with interview and/or relocation expenses associated with job offer may be paid to the extent allowed by Federal Travel Regulations.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
15
Supervisory status
Yes
Security clearance
L Access Authorization
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
Yes - This position is subject to Confidential Financial Disclosure reporting requirements. This position is subject to security ownership restriction reporting requirements.
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
NRR/DRA-2025-0003
Control number
826606200

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

All NRC Employees are encouraged to apply. Based on the staffing needs of the agency/area of consideration, additional selections may be made from this vacancy announcement.

Duties

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The successful candidate will perform the full range of Branch Chief duties.  Such duties include but are not limited to:

The APOB Branch Chief is responsible for providing oversight of (1) the significance determination process and review and development of detailed risk assessments in support of the reactor oversight process, (2) Notice of Enforcement Discretions requests, (3) Management Directive 8.3 “NRC Incident Investigation Program,” evaluations, (4) Probabilistic Risk Assessment Configuration Control inspection and framework, (5) license amendment requests and applications related to reliability and risk analysis for operating, new, and advanced reactors, and non-power production or utilization facilities, encouraging the use of risk-informed decision making, (6) applying risk-informed/performance-based methods to support resolution of regulatory issues related to emergent issues, (7) development of inspection manual chapters, guidance and training guidance related to the significance determination process and risk-informed decision making, and (8) support inspection and oversight activities related to risk assessment, 10 CFR 50.69, “Risk-informed categorization and treatment of structures, systems and components for nuclear power reactors,” implementation and 10 CFR 50.65, “Requirements for monitoring the effectiveness of maintenance at nuclear power plants,” implementation.

As a first-line supervisor, you will be responsible for implementing organizational change, supervising people, facilitating resolution of policy, technical, and administrative issues, and planning and executing activities within the Branch's scope of responsibilities. You will also be responsible for the administration of NRC human resources programs relative to employees under your supervision. You will assist the Division Director in the development and maintenance of operating plans, infrastructure documents, and policies. You will act as a change agent in the organization.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship Required
  • This is a Drug Testing position.
  • Background investigation leading to a clearance is required for new hires.
  • Must be able to meet/maintain security & suitability requirements.

You must meet the qualifications for this position by no later than 30 calendar days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for this position, you must have at least one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector.  

The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:

1. Ability to direct, lead, and manage a diverse technical staff in mission-critical programs with competing deadlines, conflicting resource demands, and changing environments. Describe specific training, education, and experience that demonstrates your ability to manage a diverse workforce; create and foster a positive team environment within and across Branches, Divisions, and Offices; implement changes in practices and policies; identify personnel needs; select, motivate, and develop personnel; apply equal employment opportunity (EEO) principles and practices; balance work among employees; establish standards and evaluate performance; ensure adequacy of internal controls; identify labor market conditions affecting availability of resources; recognize potential; resolve conflicts and build consensus; and delegate authority.

2. Ability to communicate information, ideas, and advice in a clear, concise, and logical manner, both orally and in writing; demonstrated ability to establish effective working relationships with senior managers, coworkers, subordinates, members of the public, and external organizations such as professional committees, licensees, and Federal, State, and local government agencies. Ability to build and sustain coalitions across organizations. (See examples below). Describe specific experience, training, and accomplishments which demonstrate communication skills and your ability to: use formal and informal networks to build support for programs; lead complex and technical discussions and consolidate complex and diverse opinions into concise, balanced and well-founded recommendations; and communicate effectively in work relationships with subordinates, peers, management, and/or government or industry officials to develop solutions to regulatory problems and issues. Describe the kinds of oral and written presentations you have made to represent agency positions to others and complex technical documents you have developed. Describe what editorial review of work prepared by technical staff you have conducted, if any.

3. Knowledge of the applicable NRC rules, regulations, policies, practices, and procedures for either power reactors or similar regulated entities, including regulatory guides, industry codes and standards and other NRC criteria, and ability to interpret and apply these criteria.  Knowledge and ability to apply effective decision making using available information and risk insights. Describe specific experience, education, and training in this area. Give specific examples of how you applied and interpreted policies, regulatory guides, industry codes, standards and other criteria. The focus of this rating factor is the breadth of your knowledge and experience in this area.

4. Knowledge of the fundamentals of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) as they relate to design, licensing, operation, and inspection of nuclear power plants.  Describe work experience, education, training or developmental assignments which have provided you with knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of PRA as they relate to design, licensing, operation, and inspection of power plants. If applicable, describe knowledge in specific areas such as: fault tree and event tree analysis, containment analysis, consequence analysis, significance determination process, risk-informed licensing, and risk-informed inspections.   If applicable, also describe work experience in leading projects to risk-inform regulatory activities.  Describe knowledge in applying risk insights to regulatory decisions for nuclear power plants.  The focus of this factor is the depth and ability to apply your knowledge and experience to risk-informed licensing and oversight activities. 

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE is defined as: experience that demonstrates a thorough knowledge of NRC programs with emphasis in one or more of the following areas: engineering support, risk assessment, reactor operations, licensing, rulemaking, and NRC inspection and oversight programs.   A description of how you possess the specialized experience as well as how you meet the qualifications desired in an ideal candidate should be addressed in your resume, and in the additional space provided for your supplemental response.

Education

Qualification for All Professional Engineering 0800 Series:

Basic Requirements:

  1. 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

  1. 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:
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.)

GG-1301, (General Physical Science Series):

Basic requirements:

  1. Degree: physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics. 

OR

Combination of education and experience -- education equivalent to one of the majors shown in A above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Additional information

The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate.  Individuals with disabilities may contact the Selective Placement Coordinator for assistance with the application or hiring process via  Disability.Resource@nrc.gov.  Deaf applicants may contact the Disability Program Manager by calling the NRC videophone at 240-428-3217.

Individuals who are eligible for non-competitive appointment under an OPM special appointing authority may apply for consideration under a comparable NRC non-competitive appointing authority. Veterans, please visit:  http://www.fedshirevets.gov/

Selectee's will be required to complete a "Declaration of Federal Employment", (OF-306), prior to being appointed to determine their suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation.  False statements or responses on your resume or questionnaire can jeopardize your employment opportunity and subject you to disciplinary action, including removal from Federal service.

A transferable security clearance from another agency or a background investigation leading to a clearance is required for all new hires.  To begin work at the NRC without a security clearance, you must be granted a temporary waiver of the required clearance, referred to as a 145(b) waiver.  To be eligible for a 145(b) waiver you will need a favorable education verification, reference, credit, and criminal history checks.  If a wavier is granted, the successful completion of a background investigation and favorable adjudication is required for continued employment.  If you have resided outside the U.S. for an extended period of time, the agency may not be able to (1) grant the 145(b) waiver where the required investigation cannot be completed in a timely manner, or (2) achieve timely completion of the background investigation required for a security clearance.

The NRC is a zero tolerance agency with respect to illegal drug use.  Individuals selected for this position will be subject to pre-appointment drug testing unless currently in a NRC position subject to random drug testing AND will be subject to random drug testing upon appointment to the NRC.

How you will be evaluated

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

When the application process is complete, your application will be reviewed to determine if you meet the job requirements.  You will be rated based on the information provided in your resume and responses to any vacancy questions to determine your level of knowledge, skill and ability related to the job requirements.  If you are among the top candidates for this position, your application will be referred to the hiring manager.

Your resume is the key means we have for evaluating your skills, knowledge, and abilities as they relate to this position.  Therefore, we encourage you to submit a thorough resume that directly relates to this position.


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