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PETROLEUM ENGINEER WELL OPS COORD

Department of the Interior
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
District Field Operations

Summary

The Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) works to promote safety, protect the environment, and conserve resources offshore through vigorous regulatory oversight and enforcement. For information about our bureau go to: http://www.bsee.gov/

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
05/19/2026 to 06/01/2026
Salary
$122,749 - $159,575 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Jefferson, LA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
13
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
Yes
Bargaining unit status
Yes
Announcement number
BSEE-EENN-26-AT-015(MP)
Control number
869849600

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

This is a Merit Promotion announcement for current Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) employees and BSEE employees who are eligible under the hiring paths listed. For further clarification please click here: https://www.bsee.gov/what-we-do/administrative-services/human-resources/eligibility

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Duties

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This position is located within the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), Gulf of America Region (GOAR), Office of the Regional Director for DIEE, District Field Operations, in Jefferson, LA.

At the full performance level (GS-13) the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Ensures well operations conducted in the GOAR will be permitted in a consistent manner across the District offices and ensure all these operations are conducted in accordance with current regulations and policy.
2. Serves as Staff Engineering Specialist on oil and gas drilling operations with responsibility for assuring the technical adequacy of well designs, drilling programs, and abandonment procedures; and assuring that the operations will be conducted in accordance with the applicable lease terms and Regulations.
3. Review all new and revised Well Containment Screening Tools (WCST) for all drilling permits using a subsea BOP or a surface BOP from a floating production facility to determine well bore integrity in the event of a blowout.
4. Investigates all reports relating to inconsistent policy and procedures between Districts. Conducting field audits on and as needed basis to verify results.
5. Monitors the engineering permitting and reporting process by reviewing e-Well, TIMS and meeting with District personnel: evaluating the engineering program and reviewing the engineering program for the purposes of identifying those aspects of the program which need improvement in the areas of efficiency and effectiveness
6. Responsible for coordinating all new drilling policies as well as maintaining the official policy manual for drilling operations.
7. Serve on teams to investigate serious drilling accidents, blowouts, fires, and pollution incidents. Determine probable cause and makes recommendations for issuance of Safety Alerts where warranted.
8. Presents testimony as an expert witness on complex petroleum issues concerning completion and workover operations

The BSEE has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

Salary Information
GS-13: Step 1 $122,749 to Step 10 $159,575 per annum.

First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lower salary range of the grade level.

This vacancy may be used to fill additional positions as vacancies become available.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  1. You must be a U.S. Citizen.
  2. You will be subject to a background/suitability investigation/determination.
  3. You will be required to have federal payments made by Direct Deposit.
  4. You must submit ALL required documents and a completed questionnaire.
  5. Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service system, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See http://www.sss.gov/.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements:
To qualify for this position you must meet the (1) Basic Educational Requirements AND (2) Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying.

(1) Basic Educational Requirements:
To be eligible for this position, you must meet either A or B below for the series to which you are applying.

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), 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.
-AND-

(2) Specialized Experience
To qualify for the GS-13, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience:
1. Performs a complete range of program analysis and evaluation on exploration and development operations with special emphasis on regulatory proposals and impact analysis, policy making and guidance documents that involve drilling and workover/completion activities.
2. Reviews BOP information, i.e., certificates, shear test data. modifications, and instrumentation diagrams of he BOP Control System, to ensure the equipment can perform its designed function.
3. Meets with operators and contractors to discuss and resolve complex drilling issues.

Must meet all.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website: https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Merit Promotion candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

Education


Education: If this position requires specific educational course work to qualify, or you are qualifying based in whole or part on education, you are required to provide transcripts as proof of meeting the requirements.

Foreign Education: Education completed in colleges or universities outside the United States may be used to meet the specific educational requirements as stated above. You must provide acceptable documentation that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4

Additional information

Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.

The application contains information subject to the Privacy Act (P.L. 93-579, 5 USC 552a). The information is used to determine qualifications for employment, and is authorized under Title 5, USC, Section 3302 and 3361.

Notice of Financial Disclosure Report Requirement: The position to which you will be appointed is subject to a financial disclosure reporting requirement and you will be required to complete a new entrant Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days of your appointment.

Important Note: All Department of the Interior (DOI) employees are subject to the conflict of interest restrictions imposed upon all employees of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and may be required to file a Financial Disclosure Report. In addition, DOI employees, GS-15 and above, who work in the Office of the Secretary; along with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) employees (at ALL grade levels), are further restricted concerning their interests in Federal lands and resources administered or controlled by the Department of the Interior. This includes holding stock in energy corporations which lease Federal lands (e.g.: oil, gas, coal, alternative energy resources, etc.). If you have any such investments you should contact the DOI, BOEM or BSEE Ethics Office before accepting employment. DOI employees are held to the highest level of integrity. Employees must be objective and impartial in the performance of their work. All potential issues (e.g.: work-related interactions with friends, family members, or previous employers) must be disclosed at the time of application or during the interview process.

NOTICE: This employer participates in E-Verify and will utilize your Form I-9 information to confirm you are authorized to work in the U.S.
A preliminary background check must be completed before a new employee can begin work with the U.S. Department of the Interior. The preliminary background check consists of a search of Office of Personnel Management and Department of Defense background investigation files and an FBI National Criminal History Fingerprint Check; it may take up to 3 weeks to complete. If selected for this position, you will be extended a tentative offer of employment pending a satisfactory background check. Current Federal employees or individuals with an existing completed background investigation may not be required to undergo another background check; these will be handled on a case-by-case basis in coordination with the Bureau security office.

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.

Once the application process is complete, we will review your application to ensure you meet the job requirements. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your resume, supporting documentation and responses to the online questionnaire will be made. Your responses to the online assessment will be used to measure the degree to which your background matches the requirements for this position. However, your resume must support your responses to the scored occupational questionnaire, or your score may be lowered. The best qualified candidates will be identified for referral to the hiring manager and may be invited for an interview.

NOTE: After the closing date of the vacancy announcement, you will receive two narrative technical questions via email. These two questions were developed by subject-matter experts. You will be required to respond to all narrative questions, addressing each question separately within 48 hours. Please give a complete and detailed answer for each question. Do not enter "Refer to Resume" to explain your answer. Applications directing the reader to search within the application or to "See Resume" or failure to submit a narrative for each response in the given timeframe will be considered incomplete and WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. Your responses to the questions will be evaluated by a subject matter expert. Falsifying your background, education, and/or experience is cause for removing you from further consideration. Please note that a complete application is required for consideration. (Please review the "Required Documents" section of this job announcement to see what must be included in a complete application).

DUE WEIGHT
Due Weight Consideration is a review process used to provide consideration to performance appraisals and awards submitted with each application on a used merit promotion certificate and factoring the results into the merit promotion selection process.

Please submit 1) a copy of your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation and 2) a list of any awards (e.g. superior performance awards, special act or achievement awards, quality step increase, etc.) you received in the last 5 years. Any performance appraisal/evaluation and award documentation you provide will be forwarded to the selecting official. The selecting official will review this documentation and give it due weight consideration during the overall selection process.

If you do not have your most recent performance appraisal/evaluation, please submit a statement as to why it is not available. Please indicate if any prior performance appraisals/evaluations were at an acceptable level.

It is your responsibility to obtain and upload your performance appraisal/evaluation and/or list of awards prior to the closing of the vacancy announcement.

To preview the assessment questionnaire click: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12956784

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

The Department of the Interior protects and manages the Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other information about those resources; and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities.


Agency contact information

Adarian Thompson
Phone
504-736-2878
Email
adarian_thompson@ios.doi.gov
Address
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
45600 Woodland Road
Sterling, VA 20166
US

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