This position is located in the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, Division of Engineering, Instrumentation, Controls and Electrical Engineering Branch The supervisor is Christopher Cook This  position is in the Bargaining Unit with the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 208. This position is subject to Confidential Financial Disclosure reporting requirements.

Duties

As a Digital Instrumentation and Controls Engineer, you will serve as an NRC expert responsible for a variety of electrical and electronic engineering duties to develop, plan, organize, manage, and coordinate research activities dealing with technical issues associated with the lifecycles of complex instrumentation and the control of systems needed for the safe operation and safe shutdown of nuclear facilities subject to the NRC Regulatory Program. You will also provide specialized technical assistance and advice to other Divisions, Regions, and Offices supporting research on digital instrumentation and control systems or components in operating reactors, design and construction of new and advanced reactors, and quality assurance programs of vendors.

Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship Required
• This is a Drug Testing position.
• Background investigation leading to a clearance is required for new hires.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for this position, you must have at least one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level (13) in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector.   SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE is defined as experience that demonstrates knowledge of I&C systems and the Commission’s I&C policies and guidance for NRC-licensed facilities. The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:  Demonstrated knowledge, skill, and abilities applying theories, principles and practices to evaluate the safety and security of digital instrumentation and control systems and components (e.g., embedded digital devices) at NRC-regulated facilities. (Maximum length of 10000 characters.) (EXAMPLE: Describe qualifications and substantive experience in applying knowledge to assure and evaluate the safety and security of digital instrumentation and controls and components such as embedded digital devices or software for NRC-regulated facilities or similar high-criticality cyber-physical systems and components in other application sectors (e.g., aviation). Include experience with specifying technical criteria to assure the safety of such high-criticality systems and components, based on the applicable state-of-the-art. Include experience with identifying methods to perform such assurance, evaluation, and supporting validation and verification activities. Include experience with identifying hazards and hazard-contributing conditions which could degrade the performance of the safety system (e.g.: unwanted, unspecified interactions; emergent behaviors; unwanted propagation of their effects; incomplete, incorrect, ambiguous or inconsistent requirements; incorrect flow-down of the requirements). Include experience to analyze uncertainties, their causes, and their effects on the safety or security of the system or component, system engineering and model-based approaches to assessing or evaluating the safety or security performance of digital systems, and analysis of design or operational factors contributing to common-cause failures of digital systems. Demonstrated ability to independently plan, direct, coordinate, and manage complex, highly technical research projects associated with digital instrumentation and control systems and components at NRC-regulated facilities. Demonstrated ability to anticipate problem areas and/or emerging technical issues and develop research projects/tasks leading to issue resolution. (Maximum length of 10000 characters.) (EXAMPLE: Describe specific training/education and experience that demonstrate your ability to plan, direct, coordinate and manage complex, technical research projects in the area of digital instrumentation and control systems and components (see EXAMPLE 1 above). Include relevant technical research projects or tasks that you have developed and managed with a focus on identification of problem areas, emerging issues, processes used to achieve resolution, impact of the work, and your specific role in the project or task.) Demonstrated ability to work effectively with internal and external organizations and provide leadership in conducting research related to digital instrumentation and control systems and components. (Maximum length of 10000 characters.) (EXAMPLE: Discuss specific experience and accomplishments communicating effectively with individuals across various organizations to conduct research. Examples should discuss your role and responsibilities in interfacing with other organizations to develop research and/or recommended solutions.) Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing with a broad range of audiences on technical issues, challenges, and resolutions. (Maximum length of 10000 characters.) (EXAMPLE: Discuss specific experiences and accomplishments communicating effectively orally and in writing with a diverse and broad range of audiences on technical issues, challenges, and resolutions.)      Demonstrated knowledge of NRC regulations, principles and policy, regulatory guides or equivalent industry codes, inspection procedures, and/or    standards applicable to digital instrumentation and control systems and components at NRC-regulated facilities. (Maximum length of 10000 characters.) (EXAMPLE: Discuss specific experiences and describe your NRC-related experience. Include any examples that show understanding of risk-informed, performance-based, or technology-inclusive approaches (e.g., applying the Be riskSMART framework). Include any examples where you evaluated the impact of future technological advances related to digital instrumentation and control systems and components currently in use (or anticipated to be used) at NRC-regulated facilities.) A description of how you possess the specialized experience as well as how you meet the qualifications desired in an ideal candidate should be addressed in your resume and additional space provided for supplemental response. To qualify for this position, you must meet BOTH basic education/professional knowledge requirements that apply to Federal engineering positions at all grade levels AND the specialized experience requirements outlined in this announcement.

Education

This position has a positive education requirement. Therefore, you MUST provide documentation supporting any education claims in your application.

Education Requirements: 

You must include an unofficial or official copy of your college and/or university transcripts with your application.  Education 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 credibility of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency.   If selected, official transcripts may be requested.

GG-0850 (Electrical Engineering Series):

Basic Requirements:

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

1. 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:
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.)

More detailed information about these alternatives are described in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Qualification Standards Operating Manual which may be accessed at the following website: https://www.opm.gov/policy-dataoversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/general-engineering-series-0801/

Contacts

• Address NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Chief Human Capital Officer Attn: Darlene Negrin Washington, District of Columbia 20555 United States
• Name: Darlene Negrin
• Phone: 301-287-0559
• Email: [email protected]