Civil Engineer (Area Engineer)

US Natural Resources Conservation Service; Oregon; On-site; USD 80,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

The US Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Oregon seeks a qualified engineer to provide technical guidance and leadership in planning, design, installation, and maintenance of soil and water conservation and watershed flood protection programs.

The incumbent will coordinate engineering QA checks through site investigations and feasibility studies, and must meet basic and specialized requirements described below.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree from ABET-accredited program or equivalent
• Knowledge of statics, dynamics, fluids, thermodynamics, and related engineering areas

Responsibilities

• Provide technical guidance and leadership in planning, design, installation, and maintenance of engineering aspects of soil and water conservation practices.
• Coordinate and conduct engineering quality assurance through site investigations and feasibility studies.

Skills

Technical leadership

Engineering planning

Site investigations

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

This position is located in a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service state, area, or field office within Oregon. The incumbent is responsible for providing technical guidance and leadership in the overall planning, design, installation, and maintenance of the engineering phases of soil and water conservation practices as well as watershed flood protection programs.

There is one vacancy, which may be filled at any of the following duty locations: Beavercreek, OR; Hillsboro, OR; or Salem, OR.

Basic Education Requirement

Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree be in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) http://main.abet.org/aps/accreditedprogramsearch.aspx; 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 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 Boards 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, which is administered by the Boards of Engineering Examiners 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 above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described above.
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.)

Minimum Qualifications Requirement

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

Specialized Experience to qualify for GS-12

You must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level or higher in Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as:

• Providing technical guidance and leadership in the overall planning, design, installation, and maintenance of the engineering phrases of soil and water conservation practices; Coordinating and conducting engineering quality assurance checks through site investigations and feasibility studies.

Note: There is no education substitution for the GS-12 level.

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.