This position is located in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science & Technology Directorate (S&T). The primary purpose of this position is to provide expert scientific, technical and engineering capabilities to support S&T's efforts in anticipating new operational capabilities and threats introduced by generation-next, emerging technologies. Non-BU: This is a non-bargaining unit position.

Duties

As a Interdisciplinary - General Engineer/Mathematician/Mathematical Statistician, GS-0801/1520/1529-15, your typical work assignments may include: Actively engages the appropriate Department of Homeland Security Enterprise component and mission area, to develop an understanding of mission objectives and a capability inventory of people, infrastructure, methods critical to understand how and where existing and new science & technologies in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI/ML) specifically, as well as underpinning and/or complementary technology areas including data analysis, data analytics and/or quantum computing/networking could pose an opportunity to advance the DHS mission and/or present a threat when these technologies are used against the DHS Enterprise. Determining and developing technical requirements and feasibility of proposed research topics, identifies the appropriate fiscal, human, and facility resources required to execute research projects and as appropriate, seeks to develop strategic relationships with appropriate partners with similar goals to leverage resources and fulfil project needs. Leading research and technical assessments of programs, projects, tasks and initiatives to determine sufficiency of scientific and/or engineering rigor, advancement, risks and appropriateness of the progress towards meeting the define goals. Leading research and development projects involving distributed and high performance computing environments, leveraging big data (text, video, images, speech), evaluating and applying advanced computing, storage, and analytics, and developing new security and privacy concepts. All DHS-HQ announcements have a 5 business day open period due to the number of applications received. View common definitions of terms found in this announcement: Common Definitions.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• You must submit to a pre-employment drug test.
• You may be required to serve a one-year probationary period.
• Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.

Qualifications

Basic requirements for the GS-0801 General Engineer series: An Engineering degree from a program that: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology (ABET); or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced that 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 A combination of 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 was obtained by a Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineers in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (E) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. OR A combination of 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 was obtained by a Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for a professional registration by an engineer licensure board in the various States, District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. OR A combination of 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 was obtained by successful completion of 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under item A above. OR A combination of 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 was obtained by 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 you have had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Basic requirements for the GS-1520 Mathematics series: A. Degree: mathematics; or the equivalent of a major that included at least 24 semester hours in mathematics. OR B. Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major in mathematics (including at least 24 semester hours in mathematics), as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The total course work in either A or B above must have included differential and integral calculus and, in addition, four advanced mathematics courses requiring calculus or equivalent mathematics courses as a prerequisite. Basic requirements for the GS-1529 Mathematical Statistics series: A. Degree: that included 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, of which at least 12 semester hours were in mathematics and 6 semester hours were in statistics. OR B. Combination of education and experience -- at least 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, including at least 12 hours in mathematics and 6 hours in statistics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Courses acceptable toward meeting the mathematics course requirement of paragraphs A or B above must have included at least four of the following: differential calculus, integral calculus, advanced calculus, theory of equations, vector analysis, advanced algebra, linear algebra, mathematical logic, differential equations, or any other advanced course in mathematics for which one of these was a prerequisite. Courses in mathematical statistics or probability theory with a prerequisite of elementary calculus or more advanced courses will be accepted toward meeting the mathematics requirements, with the provision that the same course cannot be counted toward both the mathematics and the statistics requirement. Specialized Experience: You qualify for the GS-15 grade level if you possess one year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-14 grade level in the Federal government, performing duties such as: 1) Maintaining, advancing and sharing deep subject matter expertise in engineering, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, High Performance Computing, Parallel Computing, Cloud Computing, Systems Architecture, Natural Language Processing, Quantum Computing/Sensing/Networking, quantum physics, and related disciplines; 2) Engineering computational environments used to manage and interact with the data resources associated with modeling complex phenomena; 3) Identifying architectural, computational engineering technology gaps, deficiencies, and requirements for new and enhanced technologies and systems, and recommends research and development efforts. Substitution of education in lieu of specialized experience may not be used for this grade level. All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement. 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. Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Education

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications; applicant's resumes and supporting documentation should only reflect education received from schools accredited by such institutions. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following Website: https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home.

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency (a U.S. private organization's interpretation that such education has been deemed at least equivalent to conventional U.S. education programs) with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For more information regarding evaluation of foreign education for federal employment, please visit the U.S. Department of Education webpage on the Recognition of Foreign Qualifications.

Contacts

• Address Department of Homeland Security Headquarters OCHCO/HRMS/MS #0170 6595 Springfield Center Drive Springfield, VA 20598-0170 US
• Name: Jared Tittle
• Phone: (912) 267-3551
• Email: jared.a.tittle@fletc.dhs.gov