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General Engineer/Architect (Planning and Program Manager)

Legislative Branch
Architect of the Capitol

Summary

This position is located in the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), Office of the Chief Security Officer (OCSO), Deputy Operations, Security Infrastructure Projects Division. The Architect/Engineer (Planning and Program Manager) is responsible for project management development, with emphasis on projects involving security infrastructure or facilities. 

Overview

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Accepting applications
Location
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—Telework eligible subject to agency policy
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$121,785 - $158,322 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Promotion potential
13
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time - This is an Excepted Service position and does not require or confer Civil Service Competitive Status
Travel Required
Not required
Appointment type
Permanent - Permanent, Full Time
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Excepted Service
Drug test
Yes
Security clearance
Top Secret
Position sensitivity and risk
Critical-Sensitive (CS)/High Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Announcement number
OCSO-2026-369
Control number
883950900

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

See Requirements section of this announcement for information on who may apply.

Duties

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 The General Engineer/Architect develops a life cycle implementation plan, rough order magnitude budget and timeline for each project with all facilities and infrastructure as assigned by the Deputies and/or the Chief Security Officer. Also assists in meeting the needs of all organizations and stakeholders supported by the OCSO, including the U.S. Capitol Police, Legislative Branch tenants, and the entire Capitol Complex.

*Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top-Secret Clearance*

PROJECT/PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

  • Develops the planning and documentation for several multi-million-dollar new construction and renovation projects focusing on security infrastructure. Projects may include physical security systems, renovation, rehabilitation, alteration and new construction of buildings and infrastructure systems. Develops or reviews initial project requirements, specifications and rough order of magnitude costs for construction projects. Serves as the manager of the project intake process for SIP projects assigned by the Deputies and/or the Chief Security Officer, manages client confirmation of project requirements and develops initial project requests for all projects.
  • Plans various project development functions with project teams and assists with making decisions affecting multiple areas of responsibility. Serves as a technical specialist and a key source of information for assigned areas of accountability. Performs assessments to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of project development plans and recommends improvements to management.
  • Develops design and construction documentation of alterations and modifications with a focus on smaller scale projects for the OCSO’s mission. 
  • Provides professional architectural or engineering expertise in evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of plans and recommends improvements to management. This involves life-cycle phases of the project, such as planning and programming through the conceptual design stage, the construction document stage and the construction, equipment installation, commissioning, and post occupancy evaluation phase.
  • Prepares and updates schedules for project delivery efforts, implementing a system for review, control and reporting. Routinely reviews project schedules to ensure reasonable and timely implementation in relation to the annual OCSO’s construction program.
  • Prepares and updates all program and project funding documentation for all funding sources. 
  • Provides assistance to the Assistant Director, Security Infrastructure Projects Division in coordinating with AOC staff and officials of affected jurisdictions to keep them informed on project planning. Provides information for the Chief Security Officer to disseminate to Congress and other Capitol complex building occupants.
  • Provides assistance to the Assistant Director, Security Infrastructure Projects Division in development of requirements for security infrastructure design and construction projects.

CONSULANT/CONTRACTOR OVERSIGHT

  • Provides technical design and management guidance to professional design and construction contractors. Serves as the Contracting Officers Representative (COR) for review of compliance with design and construction contract specifications.
  • Assists in the monitoring of contractors for effectiveness in meeting contractual, functional and technical requirements. Recommends action in cases of construction and design deficiencies. 
  • Provides assistance to the Assistant Director, Security Infrastructure Projects Division over use of resources and efforts related to the implementation of projects; and exercises specified contracting officer authority for execution and administration of personal and professional services contracts.

TECHNICAL ADVICE AND GUIDANCE

  • Provides guidance, technical advice and consultation on project administration. Conducts studies to develop criteria for situations encountered during field inspections.
  • Provides guidance with AOC and International Code Council, NFPA and NEC building/Life safety codes to ensure that work produced or completed in compliance with associated codes. Also, must have a working knowledge of ADA accessibility standards to ensure compliance with these requirements; shall initiate or take corrective action to ensure compliance with these codes and standards.

Responsible for thoroughly understanding and ensuring compliance with applicable AOC and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety rules and regulations. Efforts ensure that work progresses in a safe manner and takes corrective actions to mitigate unsafe conditions. Ensures that Job Hazard Analysis’ are developed and followed and that required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is utilized.

Performs other related duties as assigned.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be able to pass a drug test.
  • Your resume and question responses must demonstrate the job-related KSAs.
  • You must meet the definition of specialized experience.
  • You must meet the education requirements for Architect or Engineer.
  • You must be able to obtain a Top Secret Security Clearance.

To be employed by the Architect of the Capitol in a paid position, an individual must meet one of the categories below:

  • A citizen of the United States;
  • A person who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence and is seeking citizenship as outlined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)(B);
  • A person who is admitted as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157 or is granted asylum under 8 U.S.C. 1158 and has filed a declaration of intention to become a lawful permanent resident and then a citizen when eligible;
  • A person who owes allegiance to the United States (nationals of American Samoa, Swains Island, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and nationals who meet other requirements described in 8 U.S.C. 1408); or
  • A person who is currently an officer or employee of the Government of the United States.

Qualifications

You must meet the United States Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) qualification requirements (including specialized experience and/or educational requirements) for the advertised position. You must meet all eligibility and qualifications requirements by the closing date of the job announcement. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on the OPM web site at OPM qualification standards

For Engineers:

http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/general-engineering-series-0801/ 

For Architects:

http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/architecture-series-0808/

--AND--

In addition to meeting the basic education requirement for an Engineer or Architect, you resume must clearly demonstrate the required specialized experience as described below.

Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, an applicant's one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for successful job performance.

To qualify at the GS-13 level, your resume must clearly demonstrate that you have one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience comparable in difficulty and responsibility to at least the GS-12 level in the federal service. Examples of qualifying experience include the following types of tasks performed on a regular and recurring basis:

  • Performing design and development, technical reviews, quality control and project management on security infrastructure projects from planning and programming through construction;
  • Providing technical advice and recommendations on construction projects, staff, and resources, including costs, design and contract and development management; and 
  • Evaluating studies, plans, design specifications and progress reports for architectural, engineering and construction processes and projects;
  • Serving as a Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) or equivalent.
  • Collaborating with top level technical representatives of industry, Congressional offices, and others in the development of facilities and long range work plans supporting facilities and infrastructure projects.
  • Providing authoritative interpretations of guidelines and practices used in the design and repair, restoration and alteration of existing facilities;

*Professional registration as a planner American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), Architect, Landscape Architect or Licensed (PE) engineer and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professional is highly desired but recommended.*

Education

In addition to meeting the specialized experience requirements for this position, applicants must possess the following:

Education Required for Engineers:

1. Bachelor's degree in professional engineering: To be creditable, the program must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; 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: statics, dynamics;(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

2. 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 professional 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. 

For a detailed explanation of the related curriculum or experience, please visit, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf

Education Required for Architects:

1. Bachelor’s Degree in architecture; or related field that included 60 semester hours of course work in architecture or related disciplines of which at least (1) 30 semester hours were in architectural design, and (2) 6 semester hours were in each of the following: structural technology, properties of materials and methods of construction, and environmental control systems.

OR

2Combination of education and experience: college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished: (1) a thorough knowledge of the arts and sciences underlying professional architecture, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the architectural principles, methods, and techniques and their applications to the design and construction or improvement of buildings. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by at least one of the following:

  1. Related Curriculum: Degree in architectural engineering may be accepted.   
  2. Experience: An applicant lacking a degree in architecture must have had l year of experience in an architect's office or in architectural work for each year short of graduation from a program of study in architecture. In the absence of college courses, 5 years of such experience is required. This experience must have demonstrated that the applicant has acquired a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional architecture.

For a detailed explanation, please visit, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/architecture-series-0808/

Special Instructions for Foreign Education

Education completed outside of the United States must be deemed equivalent to that gained in conventional/accredited U.S. education programs to be acceptable for Federal employment.

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 of 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 if selected.

Additional information

Welcome Veterans. The Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) gives veterans' preference rights in the legislative branch to certain veterans as applied by the Congressional Accountability Act. Veterans' preference is applied on this vacancy announcement. If you are a veteran and have been separated under honorable conditions, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 or other proof of eligibility; SF-15, if applicable; and Department of Veterans Affairs documentation of disability, if applicable. For more information, please visit OPM vet guide

If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System. If you are exempt from registration under Selective Service Law, you must provide appropriate proof of exemption. Please visit the Selective Service System website for more information.

DRUG TESTING: The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is a Drug Free Workplace. As part of the AOC’s suitability assessment, a candidate tentatively selected for a position who is not currently an AOC employee is required to submit to screening for illegal drug use. Satisfactory completion of a drug test is a condition of employment with the Agency. A candidate must test negative prior to being eligible for appointment into a position. We will schedule, provide and cover the cost for the drug test.
 
The selectee(s) under the vacancy announcement for this position is subject to a criminal record check by the U.S. Capitol Police and satisfactory adjudication to be eligible for employment at the Architect of the Capitol.
 
The Architect of the Capitol is an E-VERIFY Participant. E-VERIFY is an Internet-based system that compares information from an employee's Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment authorization in the United States. If you are selected for this position, the documentation that you present for purposes of completing the DHS Form I-9 will be verified through the DHS "E-VERIFY" electronic system. For more information on E-Verify, please visit http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1185221678150.shtm

The Architect of the Capitol is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information and/or disability.

This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the agency. The decision on granting reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
 
Moving expenses are not authorized.
 
Relocation expenses are not authorized.
 
Probationary Period A newly appointed selectee is subject to the completion of a one-year trial/probationary period, regardless of whether or not a trial/probationary period has been completed previously with the Architect of the Capitol or another Federal agency.

This vacancy announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies in any of the jurisdictions of the Architect of the Capitol.

All application materials become the property of the Architect of the Capitol.

Note:  Please be advised that federal retired annuitant candidates may only be considered as a temporary employee if the role can be filled in that capacity.

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.

Review your resume and responses carefully. Your eligibility for consideration and qualifications for the position will be determined based upon a review of your detailed resume and your responses to job specific self-assessment questions. 

Your resume will be evaluated based on evidence of your ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for this position, possession of any specialized experience, and how well your background and experience relates to the self-assessment questions in the job announcement. The self-assessment questions relate to the following knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies:

  • Broad knowledge of Engineering/Architectural concepts, principles, and practices; Mastery of and skill in applying an extensive range of knowledge of architecture/engineering methods, principles and techniques and the expert ability to apply this knowledge to very difficult and complex projects; knowledge of construction practices, methods, techniques, costs of materials and equipment; and the ability to understand project tracking and scheduling processes; and the ability to read and interpret architectural and engineering documents and specifications.
  • 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.
  • Contract Management - Professional knowledge of contract administration requirements and application of quality surveillance methods, practices and techniques to monitor technical projects and evaluate contractor’s performance.
  • Oral Communication
  • Written Communication

Your responses to the self-assessment questions serve as the basis for your initial rating. You will receive a numerical score based on your responses to these questions.  Next, your responses will be evaluated by a Human Resources Specialist and/or a subject matter expert against the information provided in your resume and optional cover letter. Your resume must support your answers to the self-assessment questions. Falsifying your background, education and/or experience is cause for non-selection or disqualification 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).


You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Architect of the Capitol

The mission of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is to serve Congress and the Supreme Court, preserve America's Capitol and inspire memorable experiences. The AOC is responsible for the maintenance, operation, development and preservation of 18.4 million square feet of buildings and more than 570 acres of land throughout Capitol Hill. The AOC provides a welcoming and educational environment for millions of visitors through the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center and the US Botanic Garden. Learn more at https://www.aoc.gov/careers.  The AOC prides itself on its Core Values of Respect, Integrity, Safety and Empower (RISE).

Agency contact information

Clarissa Anderson
Phone
202-215-4316
Email
clarissa.anderson@aoc.gov
Address
Architect of the Capitol
United States Capitol
Washington, District of Columbia 20515
United States

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