What are the responsibilities and job description for the Electrical Engineer position at USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)?
Find Your Future With Us at USDA – Animal Plant Health Inspection Service
Job Summary
The Engineering Services Branch provides professional services of an Architectural and Engineering nature specifically in the areas of planning, design, construction, utilities, alterations, repairs, in agency owned/leased buildings and facilities. If selected you will assist the project team with providing technical support to the various engineering projects and managing assigned construction projects
Qualifications
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement, including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. BASIC REQUIREMENT: A. 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 B. 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: 1. 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. 2. 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. 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 under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A. 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.) In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: FOR THE GS-09 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-7 grade level) that demonstrates: Performed electrical engineering design and project management for major APHIS construction projects, including developing criteria, plans, specifications, and cost estimates from the planning phase through final inspection. Led electrical engineering activities by determining technical requirements, coordinating with scientific and engineering staff, and adapting designs to meet specialized facility needs such as laboratories, quarantine areas, and emergency power systems. Monitored and inspected construction to ensure work met electrical design standards, resolved on-site technical issues, documented changes, and ensured compliance with codes, safety regulations, and agency policies. Served as a technical expert in acquisition and planning processes, including developing Statements of Work, evaluating contractor proposals, participating on design and construction boards, and advising Contracting Officers during construction. OR Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 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, such as: Engineering. Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level. Note: There is no education substitution for this grade level. TRANSCRIPTS are required if: This position requires specific coursework or a degree in a specific field to be basically qualified. You are qualifying for the position based on education. You are qualifying for this position based on a combination of experience and education. This education must have been successfully completed and obtained from an accredited school, college, or university COMBINATION OF EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE AT THE GS-9 GRADE LEVEL: Applicants may have combinations of successfully completed education and specialized experience to meet total qualification requirements. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade 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.
Major Duties
The duties described are for the full-performance level. At developmental grade levels, assignments will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity.The duties may include, but are not limited to:Provides technical engineering support during planning, design, and construction; contributes to plans, specs, estimates, and electrical system analysisParticipates in project planning, offering technical input on feasibility, scope, cost, schedules, instrumentation, and resource optimization.Helps resolve construction issues, coordinates with designers/contractors, and ensures work meets specs, safety standards, documentation, and compliance.Reviews shop drawings, cost proposals, pay requests; researches technical problems; recommends solutions; conducts site visits and progress meetings.Assist in the development of SOWs, reviews bids and proposals, supports FCA projects, stays current on engineering practices, and ensures EPA/state/local compliance.Assists senior staff managing in-house and A-E designed construction projects, serving as EPM/COR for facility construction, repairs, and electrical work.
Position Start Date:
04/14/2026
Position Close Date:
04/20/2026
Salary Offered: 62729 - 89470 USD Per Year
You can make a difference! The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Marketing and Regulatory Programs (MRP) needs bright, energetic and committed professionals to facilitate the domestic and international marketing of U.S. agricultural products and to protect the health and care of animals and plants in the United States. We operate in domestic and global markets. Be part of an organization that protects the health and agriculture of the American people. Join our team! To learn more about what it's like to work at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, what the agency does, and the types of careers, please visit the APHIS careers site. APHIS is an emergency response agency. This means that all Agency employees may be asked or assigned to participate in rotating temporary duty assignments to support emergency programs at some time during their careers with APHIS. For details click: APHIS Emergency Response
Please see the full announcement on USAJobs by clicking on the APPLY button!
Job Summary
The Engineering Services Branch provides professional services of an Architectural and Engineering nature specifically in the areas of planning, design, construction, utilities, alterations, repairs, in agency owned/leased buildings and facilities. If selected you will assist the project team with providing technical support to the various engineering projects and managing assigned construction projects
Qualifications
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement, including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. BASIC REQUIREMENT: A. 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 B. 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: 1. 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. 2. 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. 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 under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A. 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.) In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: FOR THE GS-09 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-7 grade level) that demonstrates: Performed electrical engineering design and project management for major APHIS construction projects, including developing criteria, plans, specifications, and cost estimates from the planning phase through final inspection. Led electrical engineering activities by determining technical requirements, coordinating with scientific and engineering staff, and adapting designs to meet specialized facility needs such as laboratories, quarantine areas, and emergency power systems. Monitored and inspected construction to ensure work met electrical design standards, resolved on-site technical issues, documented changes, and ensured compliance with codes, safety regulations, and agency policies. Served as a technical expert in acquisition and planning processes, including developing Statements of Work, evaluating contractor proposals, participating on design and construction boards, and advising Contracting Officers during construction. OR Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 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, such as: Engineering. Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level. Note: There is no education substitution for this grade level. TRANSCRIPTS are required if: This position requires specific coursework or a degree in a specific field to be basically qualified. You are qualifying for the position based on education. You are qualifying for this position based on a combination of experience and education. This education must have been successfully completed and obtained from an accredited school, college, or university COMBINATION OF EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE AT THE GS-9 GRADE LEVEL: Applicants may have combinations of successfully completed education and specialized experience to meet total qualification requirements. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade 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.
Major Duties
The duties described are for the full-performance level. At developmental grade levels, assignments will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity.The duties may include, but are not limited to:Provides technical engineering support during planning, design, and construction; contributes to plans, specs, estimates, and electrical system analysisParticipates in project planning, offering technical input on feasibility, scope, cost, schedules, instrumentation, and resource optimization.Helps resolve construction issues, coordinates with designers/contractors, and ensures work meets specs, safety standards, documentation, and compliance.Reviews shop drawings, cost proposals, pay requests; researches technical problems; recommends solutions; conducts site visits and progress meetings.Assist in the development of SOWs, reviews bids and proposals, supports FCA projects, stays current on engineering practices, and ensures EPA/state/local compliance.Assists senior staff managing in-house and A-E designed construction projects, serving as EPM/COR for facility construction, repairs, and electrical work.
Position Start Date:
04/14/2026
Position Close Date:
04/20/2026
Salary Offered: 62729 - 89470 USD Per Year
You can make a difference! The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Marketing and Regulatory Programs (MRP) needs bright, energetic and committed professionals to facilitate the domestic and international marketing of U.S. agricultural products and to protect the health and care of animals and plants in the United States. We operate in domestic and global markets. Be part of an organization that protects the health and agriculture of the American people. Join our team! To learn more about what it's like to work at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, what the agency does, and the types of careers, please visit the APHIS careers site. APHIS is an emergency response agency. This means that all Agency employees may be asked or assigned to participate in rotating temporary duty assignments to support emergency programs at some time during their careers with APHIS. For details click: APHIS Emergency Response
Please see the full announcement on USAJobs by clicking on the APPLY button!