Mechanical Engineer

DLA Careers; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 105,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

DLA Careers in Arlington, VA seeks a Mechanical Engineer to lead and manage complex engineering, construction, and facility projects for government and contractor teams.

You will serve as project manager and technical authority across mechanical, structural, and advanced engineering disciplines, ensuring regulatory compliance, quality assurance, and on-time, within-budget delivery of critical facilities and protective systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor-level engineering degree; ABET accreditation preferred.
• Experience satisfying professional engineering criteria or registration in relevant jurisdiction.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage complex engineering, construction, and facility projects from planning through execution.
• Serve as project manager and technical authority across mechanical, structural, and advanced engineering requirements.
• Oversee quality control, quality assurance, installation, and O&M of protective systems (decontamination, filtration, air-handling).
• Review A/E design, conduct site inspections, ensure regulatory compliance, and develop mission-aligned solutions.
• Manage contracts and program activities: budgeting, SOWs, proposals, negotiations, and COR duties.

Skills

Project management

Technical leadership

Quality assurance

Regulatory compliance

Cross-functional coordination

Education

ABET-accredited engineering program

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Job description

Summary

See below for important information regarding this job.

Duties

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• As a Mechanical Engineer you will be responsible for the following duties:
• Lead and manage complex engineering, construction, and facility projects from planning through execution, coordinating design, construction, analysis, and related work performed by government and contractor organizations.
• Serve as project manager and technical authority, providing expert guidance across all project phases on mechanical, structural, and advanced engineering requirements.
• Oversee quality control, quality assurance, installation, and operations and maintenance of decontamination systems, water filtration systems, and advanced air-handling systems for chemical, biological, and radiological protection.
• Oversee engineering and architectural design by reviewing A/E work, conducting site inspections, ensuring regulatory compliance, and developing strategic, mission-aligned solutions.
• Manage contract and program activities, including budgeting, SOW development, proposal reviews, negotiations, and COR duties to ensure compliant and successful project delivery.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. citizen
• Tour of Duty: Set Schedule
• Security: Required to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance with access to SCI and SAPs); including submitting to background checks as a condition of employment and/ or continued access to Special Access Programs.
• Appointment is subject to the completion of a favorable suitability or fitness determination, where reciprocity cannot be applied; unfavorably adjudicated background checks will be grounds for removal.
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Exempt
• Selective Service Requirement: Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service.
• Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
• Bargaining Unit Status: No
• Selectees are required to have a REAL ID or other acceptable identification documents to access certain federal facilities. See https://www.tsa.gov/real-id for more information.
• This is a Mission Essential (ME) position. The incumbent may be required to report to work in the event of a natural disaster, inclement weather, or crisis.
• Pre-Employment Physical: No

Qualifications

To qualify for a Mechanical Engineer, your resume and supporting documentation must support:

• Basic Requirement: A bachelor's degree or higher in professional engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; 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

Education

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 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:

• 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 in engineering that included the courses specified in the Basic Requirements above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum as described in the Basic Requirements 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).

AND

• Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience that equipped you with the particular competencies to successfully perform the duties of the position and is directly in or related to this position. In addition to meeting the Basic Requirement above, to qualify for the GS-14 grade level, specialized experience must be at the GS-13 grade level or equivalent under other pay systems in the Federal service, military, or private sector. Applicants must meet eligibility requirements including time-in-grade (General Schedule (GS) positions only), time-after-competitive appointment, minimum qualifications, and any other regulatory requirements by the cut-off/closing date of the announcement. Creditable specialized experience includes:
• Experience planning, managing, and delivering multi‑million‑ dollar engineering and architectural projects involving state‑of‑the‑art systems, specialized facilities, and both new construction and renovation programs.
• Experience serving as a senior technical authority in mechanical, structural, composite materials, shock/FEA analysis, and building systems engineering, including quality control/assurance, O&M, and integration of advanced CBR protection technologies.
• Experience overseeing project finances, developing SOWs, evaluating contractor proposals, negotiating terms, serving as COR/COTR, and collaborating with diverse government, DoD, contractor, and engineering organizations to ensure full compliance and successful program execution.

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.

The incumbent will be designated as Emergency Essential (EE). In the event of a crisis situation, the incumbent may be required to deploy via temporary reassignment or be required to stay in place to support contingency operations. This position may require deployment in support of a contingency operation where such deployment may subject the incumbent to Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) jurisdiction. The incumbent may be required to take part in readiness exercises. This position cannot be vacated during a national emergency or mobilization without seriously impairing the capability of the organization to function effectively; therefore, the position requires the incumbent to be screened from military recall. Positions identified as EE are subject to deployment to combat support situations. Deployment will be via Temporary Duty (TDY) orders. Deployment may entitle the employee to additional monetary compensation dependent upon the deployment location. Additional allocations are based on the Department of State's determination of a combat zone.

Education

Substitution of education may not be used in lieu of specialized experience for this grade level.

Additional information

As required by 5 C.F.R.

• 302.106, DLA will provide Section 508 conformant ICT to employees with disabilities. All ICT interfaces with the public related to vacancy announcements and career transition opportunities must conform to the applicable requirements in the current ICT Standards and Guidelines (36 C.F.R. 1194).
• 1194).

For Important General Applicant Information and Definitions go to: http://www.dla.mil/portals/104/documents/careers/GenAppInfoDef.pdf

Reemployed Annuitants

This position does not meet criteria for appointment of Reemployed Annuitants. The DoD criteria for hiring Reemployed Annuitants can be found at: https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/140025/140025_vol300.PDF

Information for Veterans

Information for Veterans is available at: https://www.dla.mil/Careers/Programs/. As of 23 December 2016, Military retirees seeking to enter federal service in the Department of Defense now require a waiver if they would be appointed within 180 days following their official date of retirement.

Drug-Free Workplace Policy

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is committed to maintaining a safe, drug‑free workplace. All DLA employees are required to refrain from illegal drug use on and off duty. DLA conducts pre‑employment, reasonable suspicion, post‑accident, and random drug testing.

Applicants tentatively selected for employment in testing designated positions will undergo a urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Refusal to undergo testing or testing positive for illegal drugs will result in withdrawal of the tentative job offer and a six‑month denial of employment with DLA from the date of the drug test.

Employees in drug testing designated positions are subject to random drug testing. A negative drug test result must be received by HR within 30 calendar days after the EOD (i.e., start date). The selectee's inability successfully pass; or refusal to conduct the test may result in: 1) the tentative or FJO being withdrawn during the recruitment process; or 2) subsequently being removed from Federal service for failure to meet a condition of employment. You may be required to sign a "Drug Test Statement of Understanding" if you are selected for this position.

The DLA drug testing panel tests for the following substances: marijuana, cocaine, opiates, heroin, phencyclidine, amphetamines, methamphetamines, fentanyl, norfentanyl, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), and opioids.

ADVISORY: Use of cannabidiol (CBD) products may result in a positive drug test for marijuana. DLA employees are subject to Federal law and under Federal law, Marijuana is illegal

Additional guidance on writing a federal resume can be found at: USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job? The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.

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.

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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 windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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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.