Civil Engineer

Summary

You will serve as a Civil Engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation Dam Safety Office. The incumbent will be responsible for managing the risks of water storage and reservoir operation at high hazard-potential dams, structures whose failure or mis- operation could endanger the downstream population. Specifically, you will be responsible for the implementation of the Dam Safety Program for Interior Region 7-Upper Colorado Basin (UCB).

Learn more about this agency

Duties

Help

Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following:

• Prioritizing dam safety work within the UCB Region and working with the other program managers and program coordinators to establish priorities across regions.
• Participates in budget planning and budget development to help ensure that annual appropriations are being used in accordance with risk reduction objectives and Dam Safety Office priorities.
• Contributes to dam safety information systems that support performance measurement and analysis, budget formulation, program execution, and program reporting.
• Engages with Area Office, Regional Office, and operations staff as well as other stakeholders to identify sensitive issues and build consensus around pragmatic solutions.
• Advises leadership on key issues, constraints, and next steps with respect to performance issues, risk portrayals, design concepts, and technical study conclusions.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

• Must provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Direct Deposit participation required.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit
• Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
• A financial disclosure report will be required within 30 days of appointment.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a one-year probationary to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest.

This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will 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.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. 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

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 08/28/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience . For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience.

Selective Placement Factors: This position requires a special qualification that has been determined to be essential to perform the duties and will be used as a screen out element. If you do not provide evidence that you possess the following selective factor(s), you will be rated not qualified.

To qualify for this position, you possess a current licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.

Note: You must include a copy of current certification of professional engineering registration showing the expiration date.

-AND-

Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the selective placement factor for this position, you must meet at least one of the following:

A. Successfully completed a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree with at least one program being accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Your professional engineering curriculum must 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. You must submit transcripts.

-OR-

B. Possess 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 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. A 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 will be considered as an acceptable display of both education and experience.

-AND-

Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position at the GS-14 grade level, you must meet the following specialized experience:

EXPERIEINCE : You must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies to perform successfully the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience includes: 1) Leading teams, managing projects, developing and tracking budgets and schedules, and performing safety evaluations of high hazard potential dams. 2) Making risk informed assessments that include identification of vulnerabilities, development of potential failure modes, providing support for dam safety decisions, and recognition of the need for tradeoffs between individual project objectives and portfolio level resource constraints. 3) making sound and defensible decisions under conditions involving limited time or ambiguous guidance, anticipating issues before they impact schedules and budgets, and discussing sensitive issues with a variety of audiences using strong written and oral communication skills, and 4) Possess the ability to apply creative thinking in the development of pragmatic civil engineering solutions.

Volunteer Experience: 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.

Education

This position has a mandatory education requirement.

You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit:

Additional information

Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement.

All DOI employees, their spouses, and minor children may not acquire or retain any claim, permit, lease, small tract entry, or other rights granted by the Department in Federal lands, with limited exceptions. Additional ethics prohibitions can be found here, DOI Ethics Prohibitions | U.S. Department of the Interior.

Physical Demands: The work is primarily sedentary, but with periods of considerable and strenuous physical exertion encountered in operational situations, site visits to remote terrain, inspections of Dams and associated structures such as pipelines, tunnels, confined spaces. The position requires ability to interact in large laboratory facilities, such as those encountered for centrifuges and soils testing. Work includes lifting equipment and material samples that exceed 50 pounds. Incumbent is subject to frequent travel 50% or more of time. Some travel is to visit Dam sites and other remote locations, laboratory settings, manufacturing facilities, power generation facilities. Incumbent also travels as needed to in-person meetings mostly within the continental United States, with international travel also occurring occasionally.

Work Environment: The position is primarily in a standard office environment. The office work environment involves normal office-related stressors, including competing deadlines, high visibility of decisions, and frequent interaction with internal and external stakeholders on complex, high-impact technical and administrative matters Routine travel to field/office/client locations will occur. Field and travel conditions may incur attendant risk and discomforts such as variable or extreme weather conditions, travel in smaller air and watercraft, exposure to loud and noxious environments as well as potentially flammable and carcinogenic materials. The incumbent must adhere to all applicable safety, occupational health, and environmental requirements while conducting field or site activities.

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.

Help

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.

Review our 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.