This position is located in the United States Mint, Manufacturing Directorate, Philadelphia Mint, Plant Manager, Anti-Counterfeiting Division. The main functions are developing counterfeit deterrence features, counterfeit detection methods, and measuring the counterfeit rate in circulation. The focus is on process and product development that is innovative and involves leading security and forensic related technologies.

Duties

The following are the duties of this position at the GS-14. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this position. As a Physical Scientist/General Engineer (Interdisciplinary), you will: Provide expert advice on and reviews various coin programs, manufacturing practices and equipment specifications for process capabilities, suitability, and reliability potential. Plan and execute bench and pilot tests of new or vastly improved processes, including design and modification of pilot equipment, coordination with budget and procurement offices, field production management, procedures for testing, and reporting of results, conclusions and recommendations. Design and develop forensic testing methods for detection of counterfeits, using methods ranging from simple acceptance criteria to machine learning methods and other advanced mathematical concepts. Prepare preliminary and final work plans, design of experiments (DOE's) or other structured experimentation, engineering plans, specifications, and estimates covering new products, materials and operational improvements to support coin manufacturing. Advise senior program officials on new advances in materials and material manufacturing processes impacting the quality, production and cost of coinage, bullion and numismatic items.

Requirements

Qualifications

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Specialized experience: For the GS-14, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: -Experience independently leading research and development projects related to ferrous or non-ferrous metals that directly contributed to the development of advanced engineering concepts; AND - Experience independently utilizing Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF) to conduct elemental analyses and support research and development; AND - Experience applying advanced statistical methods to large sets of data such as; analysis of variance, covariance studies, and multiple regression to design, analyze and solve multi-variable factor research and development challenges. Specialized experience: For the GS-13, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as two (2) of the following three (3) choices: -Experience researching and developing projects related to ferrous or non-ferrous metals that directly contributed to the development of advanced engineering concepts; AND - Experience utilizing Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF) to conduct elemental analyses and support research and development; AND/OR - Experience applying advanced statistical methods to large sets of data such as; analysis of variance, covariance studies, and multiple regression to design, analyze and solve multi-variable factor research and development challenges. Specialized experience: For the GS-12, you must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as at least one (1) of the following three (3) choices: -Experience researching and developing projects related to ferrous or non-ferrous metals that directly contributed to the development of advanced engineering concepts; AND/OR - Experience utilizing Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction Spectrometer (XRF) to conduct elemental analyses and support research and development; AND/OR - Experience applying advanced statistical methods to large sets of data such as; analysis of variance, covariance studies, and multiple regression to design, analyze and solve multi-variable factor research and development challenges.

Education

Individual Occupational Requirements for General Engineer

A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelors 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 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. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

Individual Occupational Requirements for the Physical Scientist:

A. Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics.
or

B. Combination of education and experience -- education equivalent to one of the majors shown in A above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

The education generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to the OPM instructions.

Contacts

• Address Mint-Phi/Man/Anti-Counterfeit Div Administrative Resource Center Parkersburg, WV 26101 US
• Name: Applicant Call Center
• Phone: 304-480-7300
• Email: [email protected]