Civil/Agricultural Engineer (Agriculture Construction Engineer)

Summary

Located in the Columbus State Office; provides assistance to the State Conservation Engineer. Responsibilities include structural design reviews, developing, technical assistance and maintaining expertise in structural codes, and completing structural calculations for NRCS designed projects.

NEW Recruitment and/or Relocation incentives up to 25% of pay may be authorized with a 4-year Service Agreement as allowed by OPM and USDA Policy.

This job is open to

Duties

Assists the area/zone and is responsible for providing technical guidance and planning, design, installation, and maintenance of the engineering phases of soil and water conservation practices.

Coordinates and supervises the planning, design and construction of engineering practices such as water management, animal waste management, erosion control, flood control, wetland creation or restoration, and other conservation practices.

Directs the type, scope, and intensity of field investigations and surveys needed for the practice implementation.

Directs and performs site investigations and feasibility studies; field checks and field construction checks for conservation practice installations.

Recommends changes in designs, specifications, and schedules to accommodate conditions at construction site, availability of materials or to expedite construction. Makes hydrological determinations and solves hydraulic problems.

Assists the Leadership in determining the training needs of the field personnel engaged in engineering work. Makes recommendations to Leadership on training needed and assists in the organization of the statewide engineering training program.

Serves as a member of a team developing Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

You must be a US Citizen or US National.

Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.

Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. If selected you will be sent instructions on obtaining fingerprints. Please note we are not able to reimburse any fees incurred for fingerprints.

Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.

Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.

Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at

Must possess and maintain a valid state motor vehicle operator's license for the type of vehicle(s) operated to perform the duties of this position.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

Basic Education Requirement:

Degree: Must have a bachelor's or higher 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

Combination of Education and Experience: Must have a 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 (El), 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.)

(Must submit copy of transcripts and/or licensure and/or proof of passing written test.)

In addition to meeting one of the Basic Requirements listed above, applicants must meet the following Minimum Qualifications Requirement in order to be considered:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required specialized experience and/or education for the respective grade level(s) in which you are applying:

GS11

Specialized Experience: One or more full-time years (12-months) of specialized work experience, equivalent to at least the GS-9 grade level in the Federal service, performing the following duties:

1) Assist with the planning, design and construction of engineering practices such as water management, animal waste management, erosion control, flood control and conservation practices needing engineering guidance;

2) Utilize engineering surveying equipment to collect field data;

3) Interpret plans and specification for contractors; and

4) Perform calculations of earthwork, concrete, steel, conduits, and other materials to prepare construction estimates.

OR

Education: Three years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in civil or agricultural engineering or other engineering field which provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position.

OR

Combination: Combination of graduate level education and specialized experience as described above that totals 100 percent when combined. Only graduate education in excess of two years (i.e., 36 semester hours) may be combined with experience under this standard. When combining education with experience, first determine the qualifying education as a percentage of the education required for this grade level; then determine the experience as a percentage of the experience required for this grade level; finally, add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent.

GS12

Specialized Experience: One or more full-time years (12-months) of specialized work experience, equivalent to at least the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service, performing the following duties:

1) Assist with the planning, design and construction of engineering practices such as water management, animal waste management, erosion control, flood control and conservation practices needing engineering guidance;

2) Conduct on-site inspections of engineering work for technical adequacy and adherence to standards;

3) Interpret plans and specification for contractors; and

4) Recommend contract modifications and other duties as delegated to contracting officers.

There is no education substitute for minimum qualifications for this position at the GS-12 grade level.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The OPM Qualification Standards for this position can be found at:

Education

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

You must submit a copy of your transcripts to include course number, title, completion and grade. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from . If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g. special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college for that particular course to ensure you are properly evaluated. Please note that qualifications determinations are based solely on the information submitted for each particular vacancy announcement.

Important: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Click on this for more information.

Failure to provide all of the required documents/information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

Additional information

Locality Pay: The salary for each location may vary depending on locality. Locality tables may be found at .

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): Visit the website for information on how to apply as a CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP eligible. To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP/ICTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Promotion Potential: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied nor guaranteed.

Recruitment and/or relocation incentives may be authorized.

Physical Demands: The work requires some physical exertion such as long periods of standing, traversing steep slopes and rough construction sites, recurring bending and stooping, jumping across shallow ditches, walking in soft, muddy and slippery conditions, and lifting and carrying equipment and samples that weigh up to 50 pounds.

Work Environment: Work is typically performed in an office setting. Frequent trips to field sites involve exposure to construction equipment and the environment, and extreme temperatures of hot and cold. Employees will be required to wear hard hats and observe necessary precautions on scaffolding, in trenches, and in the area of moving machinery. Exposure to noise levels common to construction sites with large earth moving equipment can be expected. There will be exposure to disease carrying insects and irritating plants.

PLEASE NOTE: In the interest of filling these positions as efficiently as possible, we are requiring the following:

If called for an interview, applicants must be available to interview within 3 business days of being contacted.

If a tentative job offer is extended, selectee will have 2 business days in which to accept or decline.

This position is eligible for telework within the local commuting area of the position and other flexible work arrangements. Current USDA policy includes telework for an 8 hour work day, 4 days per week; other flexibilities are possible dependent upon availability and/or the position and its associated duties. Employee participation is at the discretion of the supervisor.

Recruitment and/or relocation incentives may be authorized.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Applications will be evaluated in accordance with Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Delegated Examining Procedures and USDA policy using category rating. Applicants who meet basic minimum qualifications will be placed in one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. Within these categories, applicants eligible for veteran's preference will receive selection priority over non-veterans. Category placement will be determined based on applicants' quality of experience and the extent they possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) or competencies:

Technical Competence

Your application, including the online Assessment Questionnaire, will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position. Those determined to be in the best qualified category will be referred to the selecting official for consideration.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities, or you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service.

Clicking the link below will present a preview of the application form; i.e. the online questionnaire. The application form link below will only provide a preview and does not initiate the application process. To initiate the online