Nuclear Engineer

Summary

This position is part of the Office of Environmental Management - Savannah River Operations Office, Department of Energy. As a Nuclear Engineer, you will coordinate criticality safety technical reviews as appropriate or directed; identify, plan, and coordinate efforts to ensure criticality safety is achieved and maintained; provide expert theoretical advice and assistance on matters relating to nuclear criticality safety for DOE-SR facilities and programs.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

U.S. citizens or U.S. Nationals; Military Spouses; no prior Federal experience is required.

Duties

As a Nuclear Engineer, you will:

Serve as an authoritative resource for DOE, other agencies and private organizations on novel and challenging nuclear engineering problems and latest developments.

Direct the research and development, program planning, scheduling and implementation of a key segment of a major DOE assigned nuclear program/project.

Evaluate overall progress in the engineering effort and resolve highly technical nuclear engineering challenges.

Direct and coordinate the execution of programs/projects through interaction with appropriate DOE organizations and supporting contractors.

Formulate overall nuclear engineering concepts and provide leadership for broad and complex DOE engineering programs that advance the DOE mission pertaining to promoting nuclear power as a resource capable of meeting the energy, environmental, and national security needs.

Negotiate or advocate for large high priority/high dollar engineering projects.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

You must be a U.S. Citizen or National.

This employer participates in the e-Verify program.

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

If selected, your appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.

If selected, you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.

This position is a Testing Designated Position (TDP) subject to applicant testing and random drug testing thereafter. Failure to test or a positive result on random drug tests conducted after appointment may result in removal from Federal employment.

This position has been designated as Critical-Sensitive (CS)/High Risk and requires a security clearance at the Q level. The incumbent is required to obtain and maintain this clearance level.

This position requires physical effort performing field work and potential exposure to hazardous materials and requires personal protective equipment.

This position is included in the Department of Energy's Technical Qualification Program (TQP).

Occasional travel may be required.

Upon promotion to GS-14, you will be required to submit a Financial Disclosure Statement, OGE-450, Executive Branch Personnel Confidential Financial Disclosure Report within 30 days and annually.

This position is not included in a Bargaining Unit.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENT:

You must meet both the Basic Requirement and the Specialized Experience to qualify for this series as described below. See the Education section for the Basic Requirement.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-12) in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is defined as meeting ALL of the following:

1. Update Nuclear Criticality Safety and other technical safety documentation such as safety operational procedures and processes in coordination with senior nuclear engineers;

2. Conduct assessments of nuclear facility operations; AND

3. Deliver technical presentations on assigned program areas to internal stakeholders.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations. 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.

CTAP/ICTAP candidates: To be considered "well qualified" you must (1) meet all of the requirements as described in this section; and 2) be rated "well-qualified", which is defined as scoring in the in Well Qualified category (or higher).

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

Education

BASIC REQUIREMENT: 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

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:

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.

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.

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 Degree paragraph above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in the Degree paragraph above.

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.)

This vacancy has a positive education requirement. In order to be rated as qualified, you must provide copies of your college transcripts. Failure to provide copies of your college transcripts may result in a rating of "Ineligible". Education must be obtained from an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Foreign education must be reviewed by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For special instructions pertaining to foreign education and a list of organizations that can evaluate foreign education, see

Additional information

The U.S. Department of Energy fosters a diverse and inclusive workplace and is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional similar vacancies across DOE.

For general information on government-wide Telework polices visit:

Hiring incentives may be authorized in accordance with agency policy and if funding is available.

EEO Policy:

Reasonable Accommodation Policy:

Veterans Information:

Selective Service Registration:

The Fair Chance Act prohibits specific inquiries concerning an applicant's criminal or credit background unless the hiring agency has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant. An applicant may submit a complaint to the agency within 30 calendar days of the date of alleged noncompliance by completing the Fair Chance Act Intake Form and submitting it to the Administrative Investigations Program at .

This position does not support 100% remote work. You will be required to report physically to the official reporting worksite as specified by the supervisor, but no less than 2 days per pay period.

A preliminary background check must be completed before a new employee can begin work. Current Federal employees or other individuals with an existing completed background investigation may not be required to undergo another background check.

This position may be covered by a bargaining unit. Bargaining unit will vary by departmental element, grade, and/or location.

Applicants referred for selection consideration for this position will be shared within the Department of Energy and may be shared with other Federal agencies at their request. You may choose to opt-in to having your information shared with other federal agencies when applying for this position. If an agency requests a list of applicants referred for selection consideration (i.e., certificate), and you are on that list, you will be notified. There is no guarantee of further consideration, and you can continue to explore other job opportunity announcements.

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, your resume and supporting documentation will be used to determine whether you meet the job qualifications. If you are minimally qualified for this job, your responses to the self-assessment questions (True/False, Yes/ No, Multiple Choice questions) will be evaluated and you will be placed into one of three pre-defined quality categories under Category Rating procedures. These categories are "Best Qualified", "Well Qualified", and "Qualified. If you rate yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

Knowledge Management

Nuclear Engineering

Planning and Evaluating

Project Management

Application of Veterans' Preference: If you are a preference eligible candidate, you will be listed at the top of whichever quality category your rating places you in. CP/CPS veterans are placed at the top of the highest category for all positions except professional and scientific positions at GS-9 and higher.

Non-Competitive Hiring Authority for Military Spouses: If you are a military spouse eligible under this authority, and you meet the minimum qualification requirements for the position, you will be referred to the selecting official for consideration on a separate list specific to only military spouses.

Career Transition Assistance Programs: To receive selection priority for this position, you must: 1) meet the eligibility criteria; and 2) be rated "well-qualified", which is defined as scoring in the in Well Qualified category (or higher).

Structured Resume Review: Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will review your resume to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience. SMEs will review ONLY four pages of your resume, starting at your work experience. SMEs will not review additional information beyond your resume (e.g., links embedded in your resume will not be opened). Applicants passing the structured resume review will move on to the next phase of the assessment process where SME's will be validating your assessment responses. The applicant list produced from this announcement is shareable to other hiring managers within the organization seeking to fill similar positions. When the hiring manager completes their selections, the remaining list of qualified candidates MAY be shared with other hiring managers.

Shared Certificates: The Department of Energy shares lists of applicants among its internal Departmental Elements and organizations. You may be referred for consideration to other DOE Hiring Managers throughout the Department for more than one position based on this application. By applying to this announcement, you understand your application materials may be shared with multiple Hiring Mangers throughout DOE. If additional positions are filled from this announcement conditions of employment may differ. You will be notified if you are referred for additional positions. There is no guarantee of further consideration, and you can continue to explore other job opportunity announcements.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date (11/05/2024) of this announcement.

To preview the Assessment Questionnaire, click.

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you MUST provide a complete application package which includes:

Your showing all relevant work experience (paid and unpaid) including: duties performed; full name and address of each employer; start and end dates (month/day/year); work schedule (part-time, full-time, number of hours if intermittent); salary; and any completed education and training (program title, subject area, number of hours completed, and completion date).

Cover Letter, optional, expressing additional information not covered in your resume.

Transcripts, if specific educational requirements are indicated in this job announcement. Unofficial transcripts or any report listing institution, course title, credits earned (semester or quarter hour) and final grade is acceptable. It is your responsibility to provide adequate proof that you meet the educational requirements.

Veterans' Preference documentation,if applicable, DD-214 Member Copy 4 showing type of discharge/character of service; current active duty members- certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions dated within 120 days; SF-15 Form and related documentation; VA letter. For more information visit the & OPM CHCOC website for information.

Career Transition Assistance Program/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program documentation, if applicable(e.g., Certification of Expected Separation, Reduction-In-Force Separation Notice, or Notice of Proposed Removal; SF-50