Materials Engineer

Joining the Secret Service, Office of Technical Operations, Advanced Research and Capabilities Division will allow you to provide scientific research and manage the design, implementation, and enhancement of specialized equipment to support technical investigations and maintain secure environments for Secret Service protectees globally.

The Selectee Will Serve As a Materials Engineer In The Office Of Technical Operations, Advanced Research And Capabilities Division. Typical Work Assignments Include

• Serving as a subject-matter expert and collaborating with other engineers to design, develop, and facilitate technical day-to-day activities.
• Assisting in the research, testing, and deploying ballistic and blast security equipment for specialized programs.
• Assisting in the development and modification of materials and software, selecting technical solutions, and creating design specifications for specialized mission needs.
• Managing projects by coordinating tasks such as writing studies, developing and testing products, and preparing operational guidelines.
  
  

Apply for this exciting opportunity to impact the Secret Service's mission by contributing to and delivering professional and scientific engineering support for daily operations. This Materials Engineer position starts at a salary of $85,447.00, GS-11, step 1, with promotion potential to $158,322.00, GS-13 step 10.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
  
  

If selected for this position, you will be required to:

• Obtain and maintain a Top-Secret Tier 5 clearance. For more information visit OPM Mythbuster Page.
• Submit a credit check after a conditional offer of employment has been accepted.
• Submit to a drug test prior to your appointment and random drug testing while you occupy the position.
• Submit to a Full-Scope (FS) polygraph examination prior to your appointment.
• Submit a financial disclosure report.
• Must obtain Federal Acquisition Certification-Contracting Officer's Representative (FAC-COR) Level 1 certification within one-year of appointment.
• Work may involve exposure to sites and materials requiring special safety precautions (e.g., safety glasses, hearing protection, gloves and protective clothing).
• Incumbent may work with a variety of recurring exposures and hazards including chemical, biological, radiological and explosive materials, unidentified substances and exposure to various levels of noise.
  
  

Required

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.
  
  

Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To be considered qualified for this position you must meet the following qualification requirements for the respective grade level in which you are applying.

Applicants must demonstrate that they meet the Basic Requirements AND Minimum Qualification requirements as listed below:

Basic Requirements

• 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)¹, 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)² 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 paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
• 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.)
  
  

IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS ABOVE, YOU MUST ALSO MEET THE FOLLOWING MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

You qualify for the GS-11 level (starting salary $85,447.00) if you possess one of the following:

One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level performing duties such as:

• Supporting the design and construction of models to aid in materials engineering projects and analysis;
• Conducting experiments to test various metallic and non-metallic materials to assess their properties and performance;
• Performing market research and analysis to evaluate armor materials and track new technologies;
• Assisting with the planning and execution of materials engineering projects such as coordinating tasks, monitoring progress, and supporting project completion.
  
  

OR

• Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position.
  
  

OR

• A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position if the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.
  
  

Duties

You qualify for the GS-12 level (starting salary $102,415.00) if you possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level performing duties such as:

• Designing models to support engineering projects focused on protective and security materials;
• Applying engineering principles to evaluate the suitability of metallic and non-metallic materials for specific applications;
• Utilizing technologies such as 3-D printers and data acquisition systems to evaluate material performance and reliability, and developing solutions for identified system gaps;
• Planning materials engineering projects by defining project scope, goals, and deliverables to meet organizational requirements.
  
  

The qualification requirements listed above must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

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.

Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Education

For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for a position by substituting education or training for experience, you MUST submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. Unofficial transcripts will be accepted that includes your name, the name of the educational institution, course title(s), number of credits, grade, and date of completion. An official transcript will be required if you are selected.