Mechanical Engineer

Summary

This position is in Grand Coulee Power Office of the Bureau of Reclamation, within the Department of the Interior. The incumbent serves as an experienced mechanical engineer, providing mentorship and technical expertise for a variety of complex projects and activities at Grand Coulee Dam, the nation's largest hydropower facility, and the source of water for the Columbia Basin Project, serving irrigation water to more than 670,000 acres in Eastern Washington State.

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Duties

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At the full performance level (GS-12) the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to Technical Consultation and Guidance; Reviewing; and Engineering Analysis:

Technical Consultation and Guidance : Provides technical expertise, mentorship, training, and advice to engineers, technicians, management, and internal and external stakeholders; contributes to engineering policies, technical guidelines, standards, procedures, and project objectives; and collaborates with technical teams and external partners to address complex mechanical engineering issues.

Reviewing : Conducts and supports technical and peer reviews of designs, drawings, engineering analyses, specifications, cost estimates, contract documents, and related correspondence. Verifies technical accuracy, constructability, compliance with applicable policies and standards, and adherence to quality assurance requirements before documents are approved or accepted.

Engineering Analysis : Performs advanced mechanical engineering studies and evaluations involving planning, data collection, modeling, risk analysis, instrumentation data, design development, diagnostic testing, commissioning, and operational support. Develops procedures and recommendations for unique or complex problems; evaluates equipment and systems; supports acceptance testing and maintenance activities; and prepares or reviews cost estimates for significant projects.

At the GS-11 level, the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to Technical Consultation and Guidance; Reviewing; and Engineering Analysis

Technical Consultation and Guidance : Provides technical support, guidance, and training to junior engineers, technicians, and internal partners. Assists in interpreting engineering analyses, supports team discussions, and assists senior engineers in developing technical standards and guidelines. At this level, consultation is advisory and collaborative-focused on reinforcing established policies and contributing to technical decision-making under the oversight of senior engineers.

Reviewing : Conducts and assists in technical reviews and peer reviews of designs, drawings, calculations, specifications, cost estimates, and engineering analyses. Ensures technical accuracy, completeness, and adherence to applicable codes and standards. Confirms compliance with quality assurance requirements and assists in ensuring documents are ready for technical approval.

Engineering Analysis : performs and coordinates engineering analyses that include technical planning, data collection, modeling, troubleshooting, and risk estimation. Provides engineering recommendations based on conventional and well-established methods. Provides analyses supporting feasibility studies, preliminary and final design work, contractor design submittals, equipment evaluations, and field acceptance testing. Assignments may involve multiple systems or complex facilities, applying established methodologies and precedents to address problems.

Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

This is an open continuous announcement in which applications are accepted over several months and reviewed according to multiple cut-off dates. Applicants who apply by the initial cut-off date will receive first consideration. The first cut-off date is 11:59 pm ET, 10/20/2026. Applicants will have 5 days to complete the required USA Hire Assessment after receiving the assessment notice. Applications will continue to be reviewed throughout the open period; however, additional referral certificates will only be issued when a hiring official has exhausted a current certificate and/or when additional vacancies arise. Final application disposition will be completed once all positions have been filled or the announcement reaches the end of the open period stated in the announcement.

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
• As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

• You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and purchase authority.
• You must be at least (1)18 years old or (2) at least 16 years old and: (a) Have graduated from high school or been awarded a certificate equivalent to graduating from high school; or (b) Have completed a formal vocational training program; or (c) Have received a statement from school authorities agreeing with their preference for employment rather than continuing their education; or (d) Be currently enrolled in a secondary school and either work only during school vacation periods or work part-time during the school year under a formal student employment program.
• Certification and/or training to serve as a Federal Acquisition Certification (FAC) Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) or Grants Officer's Technical Representative (GOTR) may be required as articulated in Department and/or Reclamation policies depending on assignment.

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.

*Additional Requirements located under qualifications*

Qualifications

Requirements Continued...

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-01/05/2027-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

To receive credit for experience, 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. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

Minimum Qualification Requirements : To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications:

Basic Educational Requirement AND/OR Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying.

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

Successfully completed a bachelor's or higher degree in Engineering in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

OR

Successfully completed a bachelor's or higher degree in Engineering that included 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

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. 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.)

-AND-

To qualify for the GS-11 level: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level GS-09 in the Federal service. Specialized experience for the GS-11 is defined as using Mechanical Engineering theories, principles, and practices applicable to engineering designs and/or construction contracting for water resource facilities such as dams, canals, hydroelectric power plants, pumping plants, and the operating characteristics of associated civil, mechanical, or electrical equipment. OR 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D., or have a Ph.D., or equivalent doctoral degree in engineering or a related field which provides the knowledge, skills and abilities for the position.

To qualify at the GS-12 level: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level GS-11 in the Federal service. Specialized experience for the GS-12 level is defined as using Mechanical Engineering theories, principles, and practices applicable to engineering designs and/or construction contracting for water resource facilities such as dams, canals, hydroelectric power plants, pumping plants, and the operating characteristics of associated civil, mechanical, or electrical equipment. In addition, experience performing design studies, calculations, plans, specifications, and or construction contracting on water related and/or hydroelectric facilities.

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. Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | U.S. Department of Education.

Additional information

Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement.

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

If otherwise eligible and qualified, you may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information visit: Recruitment Incentive or Relocation Incentive. A continued service agreement may be required if it is determined you are eligible for a permanent change in duty station (PCS), recruitment, or relocation incentive.

All Department of Interior (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,

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.