Conservation Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

This position is located in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), State Office in Davis, CA. The incumbent will serve as advisor to the State Conservationist (STC) on all engineering phases of NRCS programs and is responsible for establishing technical engineering standards and procedures, methods of operation, training field personnel, and for the engineering phases of the work.Qualifications:In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.
Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. If education is required or being used to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts.
Basic Requirement: GS-0810:
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
Combination of Education and Experience: 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 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.)
Note: An applicant who meets the basic requirements as specified in A or B above, except as noted under B.1., may qualify for positions in any branch of engineering unless selective factors indicate otherwise.
In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education listed below.
Specialized Experience Requirement
For the GS-13 grade level: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: Providing guidance and direction in administrative and technical functions involved in planning, organizing, and implementing comprehensive soil, water and resource conservation programs and other technical conservation programs for state level operations; Directing all phases of a complete soil, water, and resource conservation program; Providing guidance and direction in quality management; Establishing state policies, standards, and procedures.
For the GS-14 grade level: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in federal service or comparable experience not gained through federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: Overseeing engineering functions that support the design, construction and soil mechanics of large-scale conservation projects (e.g. dams, lagoons, streambanks, etcetera, etc.); Managing a scientific organization to including its policies and regulations, operating budget, acquisitions, special reports and studies, workforce, training, etc.; Providing effective liaison service with engineering partners, other federal agencies and entities needed to coordinate design and construction of complex conservation structures; and Assigning work based on skills; assessing work performance; providing advice, counsel, and instructions to employees.
For more information on the qualifications for this position, click here: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdfhttps://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=GS-PROF
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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Time-in-Grade Requirement: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. You must meet this requirement by the closing date of this announcement.Education:College Transcript: If qualifying based on education, you must submit a copy of your college transcript with course number and department (i.e., Bio 101, Math 210, etc.), course title, number of credit hours, and grade earned. If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g., special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college to ensure proper evaluation.
Your education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited toward qualifications. You may verify accreditation by visiting the U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs website. We will verify your education accordingly.
Foreign Education: You must submit verification that education completed in a foreign institution, was recognized by an accreditation body accepted by the U.S. Department of Education. You must include a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) website. Your transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
You may submit an unofficial copy of your transcript at the initial phase of the application process. However, if selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Please refer to the "How to Apply" section for instructions on submitting transcripts.Employment Type: OTHER