Mechanical Engineer

Summary You will serve as a Mechanical Engineer with Bureau of Reclamation. These 3 vacancies are located within the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Mechanical Piping & Systems (8410) or Mechanical Structures (8420) Responsibilities Bureau-Wide (Bureau of Reclamation) - This is a Merit Promotion announcement for career and career conditional Bureau employees, Career Transition eligibles (CTAP), Current or former time-limited employees eligible under Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) and those who are eligible under the hiring paths listed above. Refer to Required Documents section for more information. Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Directs, plans, develops, and prepares procedures, policies, and/or protocols for mechanical engineering studies and special projects that require advanced engineering analysis that extends or modifies theories, concepts, and assumptions or resolves unique or novel problems, conditions, or issues. Plans and coordinates programs or projects which are innovative and original. Advises senior leadership, program officials, and colleagues on engineering analysis, recommendations, and study conclusions. Provides technical reviews, peer reviews, and checking of designs, drawings, engineering analysis, technical documents, specifications, cost estimates, and contract correspondence, ensuring documents are accurate and quality assurance processes were followed. Directs the preparation of and prepares for final review or action technical documentation such as technical memorandums and reports, engineering analyses and results, correspondence, publications, design criteria, calculations, design summaries, design standards, designer's operating criteria, drawings, job plans, forecasted capital budget plans, operating procedures, evaluation and oversight reports, value studies reports, inspection and assessment reviews, impact assessments, permit applications, emergency action plans and exercises, construction plans and reports, quantity estimate worksheets, specifications, constructability reviews, solicitation packages, required planning, final design, and/or procurement construction cost estimates such as IGCE and contract correspondence including responses to submittals and Request for Information (RFI). Directs, guides, plans, schedules, coordinates, and conducts mechanical engineering facility examinations, reviews, and/or inspections which include conducting condition assessments and construction and transfer inspections; commissioning and testing mechanical equipment and protection systems. Project Management: Develops, monitors, and manages project plans that outline the scope, schedule, and budget of assigned projects. This includes: coordinating and communicating with other groups and offices throughout the organization such as program and project managers, engineering, finance, maintenance, permit compliance, and acquisition; managing changes to the project plans with external stakeholders, transmission owners, tribes, and regulatory authorities; identifying and addressing issues prior to adverse impacts to the schedule and budget; and leading technical teams. Mentoring, Training, or Leading: Supervisor may assign duties to mentor. Requirements 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. Professional Engineering (P.E.) registration is required for this position. Additional Requirements located under qualifications Qualifications All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 09/16/2026-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. Individual Occupational Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the Individual Occupational Requirements: Basic Requirements: 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. 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)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.) To qualify for this position at the GS-13 grade level: 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: Includes planning, organizing, and managing engineering/science projects or programs, including scheduling, coordinating resources, and ensuring timely, high-quality deliverables. Reviewing or overseeing technical products (such as designs, analyses, reports, or studies) to ensure accuracy, adequacy, and compliance with standards. Applying professional engineering/science knowledge relevant to mechanical engineering in support of water, power, hydropower, pumping plant, or related technical systems. 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 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/Work Environment: The work is typically performed in an office setting with no special physical demands. However, work may also be performed in the field which involves periods of moving about worksites, bending, climbing, or driving motor vehicles to worksites.