This position is located within an Engineering Service at Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Veterans Health Administration. This position works as an Engineering Technician/Quality Assurance, in a variety of work situations aligned with and/or supporting professional engineering and architecture fields. Specializations of technical engineering work may include architecture, civil, drafting, electrical, materials, and mechanical.

Duties

DUTIES : Performs technical evaluation and analysis using many different and unrelated processes and methods requiring ingenuity, and experienced knowledge and skill, including in emerging practices and methods, to identify, evaluate, assess unusual circumstances, and recommend appropriate solutions to a broad range of complex interrelated problems. Develops innovative methods, approaches, or procedures. Teams with engineer(s) to analyze evolutionary research, and testing requirements and objectives to plan, implement, and configure experiments. Conducts evaluations of existing conditions, safety inspections, and investigations of incidents. Identifies problems or issues and recommends solutions. Advises on work efforts to resolve operating problems by working collaboratively with a diverse array of individuals and groups. Delivers presentations or briefings on technical documentation. Serves as the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) to implement and administer a variety of assigned contracts, including construction contracts. Initiates timely actions and technically monitors the contract/agreement to ensure that they are carried out to completion as outlined in the contract/agreement. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm. Work schedule subject to change based on agency needs. Telework: Ad-Hoc. VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Engineering Technician/PD11096O, PD11097O, and PD11098O

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/30/2024. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-08. For a GS-10 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9 level. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-10 level. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Basic Requirement: Individual Occupational Requirements You must have the following basic requirements: Specialized Experience (for positions GS-4 or equivalent and above): Examples of qualifying specialized specialized experience include technical work in: drafting, surveying construction estimating, physical science, mathematics, aerospace, architecture, chemicals, electrical or mechanical systems, mining, petroleum, or nuclear systems. Experience in trade or craft may be credited as specialized experience when the work provided intensive knowledge of engineering principles, techniques, methods, and precedents. Examples are trade positions with substantial developmental, test or design responsibilities such as: Planner and estimator who analyzed designs for production purposes. Instrument maker or model maker who performed design or development work on devices fabricated. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience GS-09 You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-08 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Practical knowledge of related disciplines such as hydrology, electrical, mechanical, soil science, and economics to work cooperatively with professionals, specialists, and technicians of these disciplines when performing technical engineering support assignments. Skill in installing, calibrating, testing, and reading instruments for data collection. Knowledge of common engineering data collection methods. Skill in identifying and assessing the data needed for technical engineering assignments. Skill in drafting original drawings, preliminary layouts for renovations, or updates to drawings based on specifications provided and an understanding of design intent. Skill in reviewing drawings, the basis for the design, and the design analysis to determine conformance with established engineering standards and project requirements. Or Two full years of graduate education or a master's degree that directly relates to the work of the position meets the requirements for GS-9. NOTE: One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. Specialized Experience GS-10 You must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Practical knowledge of related disciplines such as hydrology, electrical, mechanical, soil science, and economics to work cooperatively with professionals, specialists, and technicians of these disciplines when performing technical engineering support assignments. Skill in installing, calibrating, testing, and reading instruments for data collection. Knowledge of common engineering data collection methods. Skill in identifying and assessing the data needed for technical engineering assignments. Specialized Experience GS-11 You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-10 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Skill in applying technical engineering methods, techniques, procedures, and practices related to the test and evaluation of items, materials, systems, and equipment associated with research and development projects or other similarly complex assignments. Skill in fabricating, adjusting, calibrating, modifying, and improving test systems, test articles, materials, and instrumentation, and skill in advising on the capabilities of laboratory systems and instrumentation. Knowledge of technical engineering data collection methods. Skill in recognizing data anomalies, analyzing source of the anomaly, and resolving problems resulting in errors. Skill in identifying and assessing the data needed for technical engineering assignments. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Building and ConstructionDatabase Management SystemsDesign 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although there is some walking in offices, production areas, utility plants, maintenance, and work areas. Work may involve carrying lightweight items, such as briefcases, notebooks, test equipment, and work papers or may involve operating a motor vehicle. The work does not require any special physical effort or ability. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Ralph H Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 109 Bee Street Charleston, SC 29401 US
• Name: Barron Lowery
• Email: [email protected]