Civil Engineer (Geotechnical)

Army Corp.; West Palm Beach, Northern (FL, KY); Hybrid; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Army Corp. is seeking a civil engineer with deep geotechnical expertise to evaluate embankments and subsurface conditions for dams, levees, and related hydraulic structures.

The role requires sophisticated slope stability and seepage analyses using advanced modeling tools and will involve presenting results to senior management. Qualified candidates will have a bachelor's degree in engineering (ABET-approved) and professional registration or recognized credentials; experience with complex

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering from an ABET-accredited program or equivalent.
• Demonstrated understanding of soil mechanics, geotechnical design, and earth structures.
• Professional registration or eligibility per federal qualification standards.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate embankments and subsurface conditions for hydraulic structures.
• Perform slope stability and seepage analyses using 2D/3D numerical tools.
• Provide expert consultation and communicate technical findings to leadership.

Skills

Geotechnical engineering

Slope stability analysis

Seepage/underseepage modeling

Numerical modeling (2D/3D)

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Job description

Duties: Serves as a technical expert responsible for the evaluation of embankments and subsurface conditions involving complex soil conditions for earth and rockfill dams, levees, spillway structures, pumping stations, bulkheads, cut-off walls, and other types of hydraulic structures

Who May Apply:

Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities.

In order to qualify, you must meet the requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.

Basic Requirement for Civil Engineer:

A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (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 a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and 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, or 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 A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program.

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 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.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:

Specialized Experience:

One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level performing senior level geotechnical engineering on complex embankments and major hydraulic structures to include independently planning, directing, and executing slope stability and seepage/underseepage analyses in soil and rock using 2D and/or 3D numerical modeling tools (e.g., SLOPE/W, SEEP/W, PLAXIS, FLAC or equivalent), and applying advanced soil and rock mechanics principles to assess stability, performance, and risk for projects with complex subsurface and loading conditions. Leading the preparation, presentation, and critical evaluation of technical designs; modifying and developing technical criteria and procedures for embankment stability and seepage. Experience advising leadership on conflicting technical, customer, and policy requirements; serving as an authoritative technical point of contact on embankment stability and seepage modeling and design; and providing expert consultation and clear written and oral communication of complex geotechnical issues to senior management, interagency partners, and both technical and nontechnical audiences.

Selective Placement Factor:

This position requires a current Professional Certification as an Architect, Engineer or Geologist.

Time in Grade Requirement:

Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-12).