Civil Engineer

Summary

You will serve as an expert Civil Engineer with the Dam Safety Office in the Bureau of Reclamation, providing civil engineering consultation and advisement to senior colleagues and/or Department officials for dam safety projects with complex features representing an important segment of the Department's operating programs and affecting the welfare of the public and the sustainability of natural resources and the environment.

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Duties

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Some of the major duties you will perform as a Civil Engineer GS-0810-13 include but are not limited to the following:

• Serve as a valuable member of the dam safety program team. Bring your team commitment to contribute to a culture that values respect, questioning, growth, safety, and mission accomplishment.
• Provide technical consultation, guidance, and leadership for the dam safety program through the application of experience, sound judgement, understanding of organizational dynamics, collaboration across industry, assessments of alternatives, and development of recommendations.
• Develop new insights into dam safety program activities by leveraging new ideas and innovations through research, design and implementation of new or cutting edge program processes.
• Innovate, modify, and deploy systems for oversight and management of dam safety program operations and planning. Leverage emerging technologies in the deployment of programmatic innovation, monitoring, accomplishment, and reporting.
• Develop program guidelines, protocols, monitoring systems, reporting methodologies, and procedures that support program accomplishment.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• 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.
• You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.
• Must possess a Professional Engineer (PE) License Required (License must active)
• Time-in-grade requirement - Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period 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 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 - 10/23/2026-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.

A. Professional Engineering license

• 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. 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).

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

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Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following:

A. Degree : 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.

B. Combination of education and experience : course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. 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.

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Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position at the GS-13 grade level you must meet the following minimum qualifications:

Specialized Experience : To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience showing professional knowledge in civil engineering concepts and practices, with specialized expertise in dam safety as applied with the Bureau of Reclamation or in the broader industry. This includes experience relating to the design, construction, and maintenance of water storage infrastructure, and the ability to integrate risk management principles into civil engineering solutions that support the agency's objectives of protecting public welfare and ensuring reliable water resources. You must include hours per week worked.

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 basic 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 travel 25% 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 to in frequent in person meetings mostly within the continental United States, with international travel 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.

The duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

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.