Materials Engineer (6 Month Register)

Summary

This is an open-continuous announcement with an established initial cut-off date of April 30 2026 . Please see the How You Will Be Evaluated section for more information.

See below for important information regarding this job.

Duties

• Develops comprehensive documents required to advance acquisition of strategic and critical materials mitigation products.
• Develops services including Statements of Work (SOW) Performance Work Statements (PWS) Statements of Objectives (SOO) and Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCE).
• Provides technical support to acquisition staff during solicitation proposal evaluation negotiation and post-award proceedings.
• Develops guidelines evaluating the parameters of products and services required to support acquisition operations and sales activities.
• Anticipates requirements and provides supporting technical information (specifications standards Materiel Safety Data Sheets) for long-range and ad hoc commodity testing projects.
• Assists with evaluation of the technical merits of customer quality complaints providing recommendations for solutions.
• Serves as Program Manager on material projects and processes for acquisition disposal and upgrade.
• Collaborates with other Directorates Government agencies and industries.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. citizen
• Tour of Duty: Flexible ( Requirements: Non-Critical Sensitive with Secret Access
• Appointment is subject to the completion of a favorable suitability or fitness determination where reciprocity cannot be applied; unfavorably adjudicated background checks will be grounds for removal.
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Exempt
• Selective Service Requirement: Males born aftermust be registered or exempt from Selective Service.
• Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
• Bargaining Unit Status: No
• Pre-Employment Physical: Not Required
• Selectees are required to have a REAL ID or other acceptable identification documents to access certain federal facilities. See for more information.
• Financial Filing: Required
• This is a Mission Essential (ME) position. The incumbent may be required to report to work in the event of a natural disaster inclement weather or crisis.
• You will be a Mission Essential employee. This requires you to work during an emergency to ensure continuation of essential functions. You may be required to work at the designated duty location a telework site or an alternate location/facility.
• This position and any future selections from this announcement may be used to fill various shifts located within DLA Strategic Materials in Fort Belvoir VA.
• Defense Acquisition Workforce position. Must complete DoD certification and other requirements. See Addtl Info.

Qualifications

To qualify for a Materials Engineer your resume and supporting documentation must support:

A. Basic Requirement: A bachelors degree or higher in professional engineering. To be acceptable the program must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; 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
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 professional 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 Boards 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) 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 in engineering that included the courses specified in the Basic Requirements above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum as described in the Basic Requirements above.
4. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelors 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 bachelors 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).

B. Specialized Experience : One year of specialized experience that equipped you with the particular competencies to successfully perform the duties of the position and is directly in or related to this position. To qualify at the GS-13 level applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level or equivalent under other pay systems in the Federal service military or private sector. Applicants must meet eligibility requirements minimum qualifications and any other regulatory requirements by the cut-off/closing date of the announcement. Creditable specialized experience includes:

• Performing complete and thorough analysis of engineering factors (Material Mechanical or other Physical properties) impacting the performance and design of manufactured items.
• Professional-level knowledge and understanding of manufacturing practices and processes to access Material Mechanical or other Physical functions to review design criteria.
• Demonstrated strong proficiency and knowledge of quality assurance practices and policies.

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

Substitution of education may not be used in lieu of specialized experience for this grade level.

Are you using your education to satisfy the Basic Requirement You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your educational claims. Unless otherwise stated: Unofficial transcripts are acceptable at time of application.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours that your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate schools definition of one year of graduate study 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

Additional information

For Important General Applicant Information and Definitions go to: Annuitants: This position does not meet criteria for appointment of Reemployed Annuitants. The DoD criteria for hiring Reemployed Annuitants can be found at: requires DoD Acquisition Engineering & Tech Management Practitioner certification within required timeframes. Selectee must also achieve 80 hours of Continuous Learning Points (CLPs) every 2-years. Click here for more details and resources.

Drug-Free Workplace Policy

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is committed to maintaining a safe drug-free workplace. All DLA employees are required to refrain from illegal drug use on and off duty. DLA conducts pre-employment reasonable suspicion post-accident and random drug testing.

Applicants tentatively selected for employment in testing designated positions will undergo a urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Refusal to undergo testing or testing positive for illegal drugs will result in withdrawal of the tentative job offer and a six-month denial of employment with DLA from the date of the drug test. Employees in drug testing designated positions are subject to random drug testing.

The DLA drug testing panel tests for the following substances: marijuana cocaine opiates heroin phencyclidine amphetamines methamphetamines fentanyl norfentanyl methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and opioids.

ADVISORY: Use of cannabidiol (CBD) products may result in a positive drug test for marijuana. DLA employees are subject to Federal law and under Federal law Marijuana is a Schedule I drug and is illegal.

Additional guidance on writing a federal resume can be found at: USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.

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.

Required Experience:

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