Engineering Equipment Operator

Forest Service (DOA); Nogales (AZ); On-site; USD 33,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Forest Service in Nogales, AZ seeks an Engineering Equipment Operator to operate and maintain heavy machinery for road systems and related programs. This is a temporary, full-time role with occasional travel, not eligible for telework, and requires a CDL as part of the position.

You will work with various heavy equipment and ensure proper maintenance and safety practices. The job emphasizes operating equipment on forest roads, maintaining ditches and shoulders, clearing brush, and verifying

Qualifications

• Applicants will be evaluated on their ability to perform the duties of the position rather than length of experience.
• Operation of Motor Vehicles
• Work Practices (keeping things neat, clean, and in order)
• Ability To Interpret Instructions, Specifications, etc. (related to mobile equipment operation)
• Ability To Drive Safely (Motor Vehicles)
• Reliability and Dependability as an Engineering Equipment Operator.

Responsibilities

• Incumbent operates one or more types of heavy equipment, such as graders, tractors with bulldozer or angledozer blades, front-end loaders, backhoes, trench diggers, and large industrial tractors with pan or scraper attachments.
• Work is generally done on flat or rolling terrain with simple terrain problems, such as forest roads and compounds.
• Incumbent maintains ditches, road shoulders, and beds and firelines and clears brush, tree stumps and rocks.
• Reviews the work to be performed and adjusts equipment attachments for a set level, angle, or depth, according to the type of equipment used.
• Ensures equipment is maintained in good working condition.

Skills

Heavy equipment operation

Vehicle operation

Interpret instructions

Drive safely

Reliability

Job description

Summary

This position is located within a National Forest. The position is established on a Forest unit in support of road systems and other program areas. Incumbent operates and maintains engineering equipment.

Overview

Many vacancies in the following locations: Nogales, AZ. Location Negotiable After Selection. No matching locations found. Work site options.

• Telework eligible: No
• Remote job: No
• Relocation expenses reimbursed: No
• Salary: $29.17 – $29.17 per hour
• Pay scale & grade: WG 8
• Promotion potential: None
• Work schedule: Full-time
• Travel Required: Occasional travel – You may be expected to travel for this position.
• Appointment type: Temporary
• Occupations and job series: 5716 Engineering Equipment Operating
• Supervisory status: No
• Federal service type: This job is in the Competitive Service
• Represented by a union: No
• Drug test: Yes
• Security clearance: Other
• Financial disclosure required: Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
• Announcement number: 27-TEMP3-R3-FS3141-8DT-SM
• Control number: 890793000

The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Duties

• Incumbent operates one or more types of heavy equipment, such as graders, tractors with bulldozer or angledozer blades, front-end loaders, backhoes, trench diggers, and large industrial tractors with pan or scraper attachments.
• Work is generally done on flat or rolling terrain with simple terrain problems, such as forest roads and compounds.
• Incumbent maintains ditches, road shoulders, and beds and firelines and clears brush, tree stumps and rocks.
• Reviews the work to be performed and adjusts equipment attachments for a set level, angle, or depth, according to the type of equipment used.
• Ensures equipment is maintained in good working condition.

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.
• Direct Deposit – Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of your choosing.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify.
• Must be 18 years of age.
• This is a Testing Designated Position (TDP). Selectee must submit to a urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment and random testing thereafter. Final appointment and continued employment is conditional on negative results for illegal drug use. This announcement constitutes 30 days advance notice.
• This position requires the selectee to obtain or possess a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and therefore, is a Testing Designated Position (TDP) under the Department of Transportation (DOT)/Forest Service Alcohol and Controlled Substance Testing Program.
• If selected, you must register with the DOT Clearinghouse as a driver at and complete a Query Consent. You must respond to the consent within 24 hours.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined in the announcement. Applicants will be evaluated on their ability to perform the duties of the position rather than length of experience.

• Ability to do the work of the position without more than normal supervision.
• Operation of Motor Vehicles
• Work Practices (includes keeping things neat, clean, and in order)
• Ability To Interpret Instructions, Specifications, etc. (related to mobile equipment operation)
• Ability to Drive Safely (Motor Vehicles)
• Reliability and Dependability as an Engineering Equipment Operator.

Selective Placement Factors

• This is a Testing Designated Position (TDP). Selectee must submit to a urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment and random testing thereafter. Final appointment and continued employment is conditional on negative results for illegal drug use. This announcement constitutes 30 days advance notice.
• This position requires the selectee to obtain or possess a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and therefore, is a Testing Designated Position (TDP) under the Department of Transportation (DOT)/Forest Service Alcohol and Controlled Substance Testing Program.

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, 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.

To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Additional information

This vacancy is being used to fill positions for FY2027 Temporary Employment Hiring season. The expected start date for this position will be between April 18, 2027 to June 13, 2027.

By selecting the “Location Negotiable” option during the application process, implies your willingness to be considered for any official duty location listed on this announcement and/or those duty locations not listed for this Regional announcement. Pay rates vary depending on location. The salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.

This position is temporary, has a Not-to-Exceed date and will be filled for up to 6 months or as a not to exceed (NTE) 1 year, however an extension of the appointment may be possible without further competition. The appointment may also end early due to lack of work or lack of funds.

Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other groups within the Region who have vacancies within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in any of the geographic location(s) listed on the announcement. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.

The duty station for this position will be at one of the duty locations listed in this announcement. Please visit the Office of Personnel Management’s website for additional information on pay rates in your duty location State.

The USDA Forest Service has legislative authority to recruit and fill Permanent (Career/Career-Conditional), Temporary, and Term Appointments under the USDA Demonstration Project. Under this authority, any U.S. citizen may apply.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligible must meet the agency’s definition for a quality candidate as provided in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement to be considered.

If you are retired from the Federal Government and are selected for this vacancy, your retirement annuity may be offset from your pay.

This position is not eligible for telework. Availability of government housing and federal day care facilities will vary by location.

Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.

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.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new window Learn more about federal benefits.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

Required documents

• Resume that includes: Personal Information: name, address, contact information; Education ; Work Experience related to this position as described in the major duties including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); other qualifications . Resume cannot exceed 2 pages.
• If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application if it includes your name and the necessary course information; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the NACES website. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
• Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), current performance appraisal with rating of at least “Fully Successful” or equivalent, and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.

Agency contact information

HRM Contact Center

Phone: [phone] X2

Email: [e-mail]

Address: USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center, Albuquerque, NM 87109, US

Next steps

Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.

You must choose to turn on email notifications in your USAJOBS profile if you want to receive important email notifications that may impact your applicant experience (e.g. If you start an application and do not submit it prior to the closing date, USAJOBS will send an email reminder that the closing date is approaching and your application is in an incomplete status).

Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.

Fair and transparent

The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
Criminal history inquiries Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy
Financial suitability New employee probationary period
Privacy Act Reasonable accommodation policy
Selective Service Signature and false statements
Social security number request