Clarification from the agency

This position is being advertised through the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Delegated Direct-Hire Authority and is open to all U.S. citizens. Under this authority, competitive rating, ranking and veterans' preference procedures do not apply. All applicants who meet the basic qualification requirements will be forwarded to the Selecting Official for consideration.

As a General Engineer, you will perform the following duties:

• Guide and manage the division's technical assessments, proposed regulatory changes, and other assignments, working independently or with others, and serve as an expert engineering representative in leading and managing the organization both domestically and abroad. Use engineering skills to develop, plan, and conduct studies of emerging and foundational technologies, analyzing their potential risks to national security or foreign policy objectives, and provide findings to senior leadership based on assigned research from various source materials.
• Evaluate technological trends and technology maturity associated with various emerging and foundational technologies, and develop and recommend export control options to BIS senior leadership to mitigate national security risks associated with these technologies
• Lead BIS emerging technologies initiatives with the interagency (e.g., Departments of Energy, State, and Defense), the Executive Office of the President, foreign governments, and U.S. industry.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• This position requires a TOP SECRET/SCI CLEARANCE.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation. This may include a credit check, a review of financial issues, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use of possession of drugs.
• A probationary period may be required.
• Selective Service: Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see https://www.sss.gov/).
• If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application.
• All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
• Bargaining Unit Position: No
• Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE form 450): Yes
• Permanent Change of Duty Station (PCS) Expense: Will not be paid
• Education Requirement: Yes (See the Qualifications section of this announcement.)
• Drug Test Required: This position is subject to pre-employment drug testing and random drug testing thereafter.
• Pre-employment physical Required: No
• Two-Page Resume Limit: Resumes must not be more than two standard single-sided pages or one page if submitting a front and back, hard-copy. See the Required Documents section of this announcement.

Qualifications

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=Occupational-Series.

Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government.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.

Basic Requirement:

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 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).

Specialized experience: In addition to the education requirement described above, applicants must also possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government.

To qualify at the GS-14 grade level, you must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as:

• Applying professional engineering experience to analyze, evaluate, and provide input on policies, programs, or regulatory activities associated with commodities or technologies in one or more of the following areas: advanced computing; advanced engineering materials; advanced gas turbine engine technologies; advanced and network sensing and signature management; advanced manufacturing; artificial intelligence; biotechnologies; clean energy generation and storage; data privacy, data security, and cybersecurity; directed energy; highly automated, autonomous, uncrewed systems, and robotics; human-machine interfaces, hypersonics, integrated communication and network technologies, position, navigation and timing (PNT) technologies; quantum information and enabling technologies; semiconductors and microelectronics; or space technologies and systems;
• Leads and collaborates with engineering and program management personnel on engineering projects that integrate technologies or disciplines across a wide range of commodities and engineering areas; and
• Leads and prepares technical analyses, summaries, or reports and communicating technical information to any of the following: leadership, internal stakeholders, external stakeholders, or other relevant audiences to explain engineering concepts, assessment results, or policy-related considerations.

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 job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., two-page resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, the result of the USA Hire assessment, and a minimum qualification review.

If you successfully pass the USA Hire Assessment and meet the minimum qualifications stated in the vacancy announcement, your applicant will be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration. A referral to the Hiring Manager does not guarantee an interview. The Hiring Office determines which candidates proceed to the interview phase.

Under the provisions of the Direct-Hire Authority (DHA), rating, ranking and veterans' preference does not apply. While veterans' preference does not apply in DHA, preference eligibles are encouraged to submit their supporting documentation (DD-214 stating disposition of discharge or character of service, VA letter, SF-15, etc.).

For Certain Military Spouses: All applicants who meet the qualification requirements and military spouse noncompetitive eligibility requirements (see "Additional Information" section above") will be forwarded to the Selecting Official for consideration on a separate referral list.

CTAP/ICTAP Applicants: Applicants applying under CTAP or ICTAP eligibility for displaced or surplus workers, and who are determined CTAP or ICTAP eligible, must exceed the minimum qualification requirements to be referred under this selection priority placement program by attaining at least a rating of 85 out of 100. CTAP/ICTAP eligibles who are not determined well-qualified by scoring at least 85 will not be referred under the CTAP/ICTAP selection priority placement program; however, you will be referred for selection consideration for those eligibilities where you have selected "Yes".

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration.

The assessments will evaluate you on the following general/technical competencies required to perform the job; please do not provide a separate written response:

• Technical Competence (Engineering)
• Technical Creditability
• Strategic Thinking
• Planning and Evaluating

• Classified or government sensitive information
• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Photos of yourself
• Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.