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Civil Engineer (Highway) - ADL

Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration

Summary

The employee serves as the National Discretionary Grant Program Manager for the Tribal Transportation Program Safety Fund and Highway Safety Engineer for the Tribal Transportation Program, Office of Tribal Transportation (OTT), Office of Federal Lands Highway (FLH).  The OTT administers the Tribal Transportation Program (TTP) and provides support for all FHWA activities affecting Tribal Transportation.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
04/01/2026 to 04/10/2026
Salary
$143,913 - $187,093 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 14
Locations
1 vacancy in the following locations:
Juneau, AK
Montgomery, AL
Little Rock, AR
Phoenix, AZ
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—This position may be eligible for situational telework. Telework approval will be determined by your immediate supervisor or manager following the agency’s telework policy and guidance. If participating in the telework program, you will be required to sign a telework agreement detailing agency telework policy requirements, working conditions, and expectations for the position.
Travel Required
25% or less - Some travel will be required.
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
Moderate Risk (MR)
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
FHWA.HFL-2026-0001
Control number
863429200

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

FHWA-wide employees with competitive status only.

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Duties

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The Civil Engineer (Highway):

  • Coordinates with Tribal, State, Federal, and other partners to identify and deliver training, peer exchanges, and similar events that promote consultation on transportation safety needs in tribal areas.
  • Coordinates with FHWA and Bureau of Indian Affairs staff in the administration of projects.
  • Leads as an authoritative source on all aspects of program management for the Tribal Transportation Program Safety Fund.
  • Develops and maintains systems that accept project applications, manage review of proposals, and track allocated funds.
  • Provides for early safety consideration in the planning, design, and construction phases of transportation programs and projects.

The ideal candidate is a mid-career professional with experience implementing various highway safety standards, regulations, and practices as they apply to planning, risk management, roadside design, construction work zones, and the application of traffic control devices.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must meet specialized experience stated in Qualifications section
  • Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date
  • Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

  • your performance and conduct;
  • the needs and interests of the agency;
  • whether your continued employment would advance the organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
  • whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

  • 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.
  • PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
  • TIME-IN-GRADE: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade in the competitive or excepted service in the executive branch to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the specialized experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.

To qualify for the Grade 14, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-13, it must include:

  • Experience in highway safety standards, regulations, and practices.
  • Experience applying transportation legislation and regulations in partnership with localities including tribal governments to develop and implement transportation programs.
  • Experience consulting and advising others, developing alternatives, and helping to resolve engineering issues or conflicts related to safety and operations that arise with processes or outcomes.
  • Experience in developing and coordinating of procedures and oversight of funding.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs):  Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

  • Transportation Engineering - Knowledge of the concepts, principles, theories, and methods applicable to planning, designing, and constructing of transportation systems including traffic analysis, signal analysis, highway capacity, pavement design, bridge construction, planning of transportation projects, environmental analysis of transportation facilities, and transportation network analysis.
  • Oral 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 oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
  • Written Communication - Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.
  • Strategic Thinking - Formulates effective strategies consistent with the business and competitive strategy of the organization in a global economy. Examines policy issues and strategic planning with a long-term perspective. Determines objectives and sets priorities; anticipates potential threats or opportunities.
  • Project Management - Knowledge of the principles, methods, or tools for developing, scheduling, coordinating, and managing projects and resources, including monitoring and inspecting costs, work, and contractor performance.

For all types of consideration, 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.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link:  https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4

All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

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

NOTE: 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

Education

MANDATORY EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:

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. <B>OR</b>

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). All applicants must meet the education requirements under A or B to qualify for applying to an engineering position. Transcripts are required for this position.

Additional information

This announcement is being advertised under the FHWA's Alternative Duty Location (ADL) Program and can be filled in any one of the approved ADL locations listed on this announcement, as space allows for each location. It is possible to select a location that no longer has space available, and in that instance, the selecting office will not be able to move forward with placement.

Salary will be adjusted in accordance with the locality pay for the specific area.

Under this program, relocation assistance is not available to applicants residing in any one of the ADL locations advertised in this announcement. Relocation may be available for applicants located outside of the advertised duty locations. Employees who are not eligible for relocation because they reside in one of the advertised locations may apply for positions in other advertised duty locations; however, if selected, they must move themselves to the locations at their own expense. 

Positions under the ADL program have several unique requirements, such as remote supervision, the required signing of an ADL agreement, and possibility of increased travel.

Applicants are responsible for selecting the locations in which they want to be considered.

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.

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. 

Eligible Federal employees also seeking consideration for noncompetitive reassignment for this position, must indicate interest in the assessment. Noncompetitive federal candidates must have competitive status on a SF-50, meet minimum qualifications, have served at the same grade or higher, and held or exceeded the promotion potential of this position.

Your application will be reviewed in two phases determine how you move forward in the hiring process.  Phase I: Your resume will be reviewed to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience. ONLY two (2) pages of your resume will be reviewed. Additional information beyond your resume (e.g., cover letter, links embedded in your resume) will not be reviewed.  Applicants passing “Phase I” will move on to the “Phase II” of the assessment process where your application will be reviewed and rated based on the KSAs/Competencies listed in the vacancy announcement by a Subject Matter Expert (SME).


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