Electrical Engineer

Summary

You will serve as a Electrical Engineer with the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Missouri Basin and Arkansas-Rio Grande-Texas Gulf Region, Engineering Group, Mills, Wyoming Bureau of Reclamation.

**Closing date has been extended until October 30, 2026.**

This position is also open to public under announcement CBVI-27-13083389-DE-JP. You must apply to each announcement separately if you wish to be considered under both recruitment methods.

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Duties

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Pay will vary based on grade level which you're selected. First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the step 1 rate.

GS-07: $71,846-$84,779

GS-09: $87,887-$103,709

GS-11: $99,954-$119,097

GS-12: $104,502-$127,443

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

• Performs engineering analyses to include performing and coordinating technical planning activities; data collection (including validation and management); design; modeling and data analyses; analyses of equipment, operating conditions, and/or electrical/electromagnetic systems; troubleshooting electrical equipment and systems; and risk estimation and analyses.
• Analysis includes evaluating engineering aspects of state and Federal regulatory programs, electric reliability compliance programs, and power contracts. Makes engineering recommendations and decisions based on engineering analysis for complex projects and activities with unusual or special demands.
• Completes and reviews engineering designs of electrical systems.
• Preforms construction management and oversite of on-site construction work, including inspection and acceptance of work performed by a contractor.
• Provides engineering expertise of complex features/facilities.
• Preforms calculations for new and existing equipment type, size, capacity and ratings.
• Preforms analysis, troubleshooting, testing, evaluating, optimizing, and programing Industrial Control Systems.

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

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
• You may be required to travel occasionally for site visits. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
• Condition of employment: You may be required to obtain a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR)/Grants Officer's Technical Representative (GOTR) certification:

Probationary Period: 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 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 - 10/30/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

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

Basic Educational Requirement AND 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;

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. You must submit copies of your transcripts. -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), 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. -OR-

2. Written Test Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) 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. -OR-

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.

-OR-

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 this position at the GS-07 grade level:

Specialized Experience Requirement: you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service or its non-Federal equivalent that included experience assisting with the maintenance of electrical systems; electrical concepts; preforming basic computations and calculations; Using computers, software applications, or databases to accomplish engineering assignments. . -OR-

Education: Successfully completion of 1 full year of progressively higher-level graduate education in a field that is directly related to the duties of this position. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. You must include transcripts. -OR-

Superior Academic Achievement: Successfully completed a bachelor's degree in a directly related field AND meet one of the following: (1) Class Standing: rank in the upper 3rd of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, based on the completed courses; OR (2) Grad-Point Average (GPA): earn a GPA of (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) based on 4 years of education, or based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum -or- (b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field, or the required courses completed during the final two years. Note: GPA will be rounded to one decimal place, for example, 2.95 = 3.0, 2.94 = 2.9; OR (3) Membership in a National Scholastic Honor Society. -OR-

Combination of education and experience: You must have equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (in excess of the first year or 18 semester hours) and specialized experience to meet total experience requirements. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify. You must include hours per week worked and transcripts.

To qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level:

Specialized Experience Requirement: you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service or its non-Federal equivalent that included experience in the design, repair, testing, or modification of electrical/electronic equipment or systems; working with at least one of the following: control circuits, relay and protections circuits, electrical generation and motor equipment, Programable Logic Controllers (PLC) and computerized control equipment, communication equipment, meters, sensors, governors, transformers, and auxiliary equipment.. -OR-

Education: Successful completion of at least 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree in engineering or master's or equivalent graduate degree. You must include transcripts. -OR-

Combination of education and experience: You must have equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (in excess of the first year or 18 semester hours) and specialized experience to meet total experience requirements. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify. You must include hours per week worked and transcripts.

Education

Additional Qualifications:

To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level:

Specialized Experience Requirement: you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service or its non-Federal equivalent that included experience in the design, repair, testing, or modification of electrical/electronic equipment or system; included working with at least two of the following: control circuits, relay and protections circuits, electrical generation and motor equipment, PLC and computerized control equipment, communication equipment, meters, sensors, governors, transformers, and auxiliary equipment. -OR-

Education: Successful completion of at least 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. You must include transcripts. -OR-

Combination of education and experience: You must have equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (in excess of the first year or 18 semester hours) and specialized experience to meet total experience requirements. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify. You must include hours per week worked and transcripts.

To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level:

Specialized Experience Requirement: you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service or its non-Federal equivalent that included that included experience in the design, repair, testing, or modification of electrical/electronic equipment or systems; includes lead engineering activities working with at least three of the following: control circuits, relay and protections circuits, electrical generation and motor equipment, PLC and computerized control equipment, communication equipment, meters, sensors, governors, transformers, and auxiliary equipment.

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.

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.

This position has a mandatory education requirement.

Education:

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.

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.

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 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 regularly combines both office and field assignments. Field work requires physical exertion, such as long periods of standing, or recurring and considerable walking, stooping, bending, crouching, crawling, and climbing such as in regular and periodic construction activities and field inspections. Work may also include frequent lifting of moderately heavy items weighing less than 50 pounds.

Work Environment: The work is usually performed in an office setting. However, work time may also be spent periodically visiting field sites. Field site visits are typically performed in either an outdoor setting subject to weather changes, diverse terrain, and safety hazards associated with working around complex features and/or construction, or an industrial setting subject to noise, fumes, and moving machinery. Both settings may require the use of personal protective equipment.

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.