This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. About the Position: As Chief of the Hydraulic and Coastal Design Section you will work under the supervision of the Chief of Hydraulics and Hydrology Branch, supervising a group of engineers carrying out the design and prototype testing of hydraulic and coastal features.

Duties

Responsible for the general direction leadership and supervision of a wide range of analysis and design studies for hydraulic and coastal structures, including numerical and physical modeling and field studies. Carries out personnel management responsibilities including, but not limited to, workload management, performance appraisals, managing section training, counseling and overhead programs, and ensuring personnel comply with regulations and policies. Provides technical direction/review of hydraulic and coastal design products including spillways, navigation locks and channels, flood control channels, outlet works including flood control and power conduits, gates, and other hydraulic structures. Responsible for design and operational aspects of fish bypass systems including adult fish ladders and juvenile bypass systems on the Columbia and Willamette River Projects. Responsible for the direction of the coastal design projects, including design of facilities such as flood protection levees, sea walls, erosion/sediment control jetties, harbors and beach nourishment measures. Responsible for appropriate review of the technical aspects of hydraulic and/or coastal design products to ensure compliance with USACE standards. Ensures that written correspondence, such as study reports, design memoranda, and briefings to summarize methods, results, and recommendations for hydraulic and/or coastal design studies for management and customers. Reviews the technical aspects of the model studies (numerical and physical) and confirm accuracy of study and results meet the design needs of the project. Ensures appropriate analysis of hydraulic and/or coastal model study output from Hydraulic Engineering Center Software, Research and Development Center Software and Commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics Software for quality assurance purposes. Responsible for the direction of the planning and performance of field prototype hydraulic tests at multiple purpose projects for design or operational conditional assessment purposes. Directs the formulation of study programs to determine the type and amount of field data necessary for physical and/or numerical model studies required for design or conditional assessment purposes. Advises on solutions to technical work problems presented by team leaders, Product Development Teams and contractors.

Requirements

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• May be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
• May be required to travel up to 25%.
• Must possess a valid State Drivers License.
• Must possess and submit proof of PE License at time of application.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. Basic Requirement for Civil Engineers: A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (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), 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) examination, or any other written test required for professional registration, by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or 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 A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program. 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 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. In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes preliminary and final design of hydraulic and/or coastal features such as spillways, stilling basins, navigation locks, outlet works, adult fish ladders, juvenile fish bypass systems, pile dikes, navigation structures and use of physical or numerical modeling tools to analyze hydraulic and/or coastal structure design problems and dredging disposal site design. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-12 or equivalent). Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted. Selective Placement Factor: This position requires a current and valid Professional Engineer (PE) license in a state, the District of Columbia, or a territory of the United States.

Education

FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show 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. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/

Contacts

• Address RH-W2SJ01 USARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT-PORTLAND DO NOT MAIL Portland, OR 97208 US
• Name: Army Applicant Help Desk