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Electronics Engineer

Department of Commerce
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS)

Summary

This vacancy is for an Electronics Engineer in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) within the Department of Commerce.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
03/04/2026 to 03/10/2026
Salary
$83,265 to - $182,316 per year
Pay scale & grade
ZP 3 - 4
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Boulder, CO
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—Situational as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
4
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Secret
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
Yes
Announcement number
NTIA-ITS-DHA-26-12895767
Control number
859719600

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This position is being advertised under Direct-Hire Authority. Under this authority, competitive rating, ranking and veterans' preference procedures do not apply.

Duties

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As an Electronics Engineer, you will perform the following duties:

  • Provide technical leadership and serve as a principal investigator or senior technical authority in the development of new radiofrequency experiments, systems, and analytical approaches to support spectrum management.
  • Evaluate and analyze current spectrum management programs and policies; develop and implement wireless or electromagnetic
    measurement systems; characterize equipment spectrum emissions, and assess conformance with spectrum regulations; develop and recommend mitigation methods, technical approaches, or procedures to resolve interference issues or facilitate more efficient spectrum use.
  • Measure and evaluate the current use and allocation of the radio spectrum to inform the development of new band plans.
  • Provide subject matter expertise in internal and external technical forums; brief senior leadership, high-level officials, and external stakeholder groups
  • Analyze and track the progress of research and effectively report to managers, external stakeholders, and senior-level policymakers; report findings and recommendations tactfully and persuasively.
  • Author major engineering reports and technical publications that inform spectrum management, standards development, or system interoperability requirements.
  • Develop project status and budget tracking reports.
  • Formulate research and engineering strategies, define technical direction, and develop new methods and tools to address complex and emerging radio spectrum management challenges.
  • Design, direct, and oversee tests and measurements and/or develop and validate state-of-the-art theoretical and empirical radio spectrum or wireless system models; translate findings into technical recommendations to support spectrum management.

This Job Opportunity Announcement may be used to fill other Electronics Engineer ZP-0855-3/4, FPL ZP-4 positions within the Department of Commerce in the same geographical location with the same qualifications and specialized experience.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
  • This position requires a SECRET CLEARANCE: Any required investigations and clearances must be completed before the selectee can be placed in the position.
  • 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: Yes
  • Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE form 450): No
  • Permanent Change of Duty Station (PCS) Expense: Will not be paid
  • License required: Yes- incumbent is required to operate a motor vehicle and must possess a current, active state-issued Driver's license.
  • Drug Test Required: Yes, This position is subject to pre-employment drug testing and random drug testing thereafter.
  • Recruitment Incentive may be offered (New Federal employees only) up to $10,000
  • Relocation Incentive may be offered (Current Federal employees only) up to $10,000

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.

This position is being filled under the Department of Commerce (DOC) Alternative Personnel System (CAPS). Under CAPS, positions are classified by career path and pay band.

The ZP-3 is equivalent to the GS-11/12 grade levels.

The ZP-4 is equivalent to the GS-13/14 grade levels.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS - All applicants must meet the basic requirements listed below: A. Degree in 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), 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.)
-AND-

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: All applicants must possess specialized experience and/or education outlined for each band level identified below:

To qualify at the ZP-3 or GS-11/12 level:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZP-2 (or GS-9 equivalent pay band) in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as:
  • Applying mathematical, statistical, simulation, or signal-processing methods to analyze measured radio frequency (RF), Radar, or electromagnetic signals;
  • Evaluating the performance of Radar, RF, or electromagnetic signals using analytical or numerical methods;
  • Preparing written technical reports or publications and presenting technical results to internal or external stakeholders; AND
  • Executing research approaches that address Radar, RF, or electromagnetic signal or spectrum challenges.
-OR-

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.

-OR-

COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE that together meets 100% of the required qualifications for this position.

To qualify at the ZP-4 or GS-13/14 level:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZP-3 (or GS-12 equivalent pay band) in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as:
  • Planning and conducting laboratory or field measurement campaigns for Radar, radiofrequency (RF) signals, or wireless systems;
  • Integrating radiofrequency (RF), Radar, or electromagnetic signal measurement data with analytical or numerical models to assess interference effects, protection criteria, or system performance;
  • Authoring scientific and technical reports or publications, and presenting results to internal and external audiences;
  • Formulating and leading research activities that address Radar, RF, or electromagnetic signal or spectrum challenges; AND
  • Providing technical recommendations to inform program, research, or spectrum management challenges.
NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with the application. Education cannot be credited without supporting documentation.

Education

See Qualifications Above.

NOTE:
Special Instructions for Foreign Education: Qualifying education from colleges and universities in foreign countries must be evaluated in terms of equivalency to that acquired in U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants educated in whole or in part in foreign countries must submit sufficient evidence, including transcripts, to an accredited private organization for an equivalency evaluation of course work and degree. You MUST provide a copy of the letter containing the results of the equivalency evaluation with a course by course listing along with your application. Failure to provide such documentation when requested will result in lost consideration.

Additional information

The following links provide information on various hiring authorities that do not fall under competitive examining procedures; however, they may enable you to apply through merit assignment procedures, or be eligible for a non-competitive appointment.

  1. Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)
  2. Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)
  3. Military Spouse Non-Competitive Hiring Authority

ICTAP and CTAP Eligibles: CTAP and ICTAP candidates will be eligible if it is determined that they have exceeded the minimum qualifications for the position by attaining at least a rating of 85 out of 100. Information about ICTAP eligibility is on the Office of Personnel Management's Career Transition Resources website at: Employee Guide to Career Transition

Military Spouse The spouse of a member of the armed forces seeking eligibility under the non-competitive hiring authority of certain military spouse MUST submit various required documentation by the closing date of the announcement in accordance with one of the three below eligibilities:

  • Spouse of a member of the armed forces serving on active duty,
  • Spouse of service member who incurred a 100% disability, or
  • Un-remarried widow or widower of a service member killed while performing active duty.

Please review the "Required Documents" Section for specific documents pertaining to each of the above eligibilities that MUST be included with your application, if you are applying as a Military Spouse.

Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Reasonable Accommodations (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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 based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. 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 required for this position.

All:

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:

  • Electronics Engineer
  • Oral Communication
  • Writing
  • Research
  • Interaction
  • Judgement
  • Reasoning
  • Reading
To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. Do NOT include the following types of information in your resume/application. If any are included, you will be deemed INELIGIBLE for consideration.
  • Classified or government sensitive information
  • Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Photos of yourself
  • Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.
To preview the questionnaire, click the following link:https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12895767

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