Supervisory General Engineer

This position is with Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Technical Support, Pittsburgh Safety and Health Technology Center. MSHA works to prevent death, illness and injury from mining; promote safe and healthful workplaces for U.S. miners. MSHA carries out the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) as amended by the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act of 2006. Plans, directs, and reviews the work of subordinate staff, comprised of engineers, scientists, and technical specialists. Provides advice, counsel and/or instructions to individual employees on technical and administrative matters. Identifies training needs and ensures that appropriate training is provided. Directs the work of professional and highly technical programs including engineering and scientific expertise in all technological aspects of mine safety and health. Oversees the operation and maintenance of extensive laboratory facilities for precise chemical analysis of samples collected in mines. Reviews and establishes overall program and project objectives in terms of policy and budget. Responsible for the execution of Technical Support programs and policies nationwide. Provides engineering expertise and analyzes highly complex technical problems associated with the health and safety of the mining community. Advises the Director of Technical Support and other high-level Agency officials on a wide range of technical issues specific to the health and safety of enforcement activities and the mineral industries. Serves as a member of numerous high-level committees and participates in short and long-term policy definition and program planning. Serves as principal spokesperson for the center in communications with officials of MSHA or other federal agencies, representatives of state governments, and industry officials. You must meet the basic requirements to qualify for Supervisory General Engineer, as described below. Transcripts must be submitted to verify education requirements. Basic Requirement: A. 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 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, 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.) In addition to the basic requirements as described above, your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience and/or additional education requirements defined below. If qualifying based on experience, be sure these types of examples are evident in your resume. Specialized Experience is the experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position successfully, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level. GS-15: Must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, experience and skills to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience must include all of the following: Provides engineering expertise and analyzes highly complex technical problems associated with mine safety and health. Directs, manages or coordinates a technical program pertinent to the safety and health of miners. Examples of such programs include engineering evaluations of roof control and mine waste dam plans; mine opening design; mine electrical power systems; mine ventilation systems and equipment; the weighing and laboratory analysis of respirable coal mine dust samples; and/or the engineering control and evaluation of noise levels. Facilitates a consensus in the face of opposing viewpoints in critical mine safety and health matters. Plans, directs, and reviews the work of subordinate staff, comprised of engineers, scientists and other technical specialists. There is no substitution of education in lieu of specialized experience at the GS-15 grade level. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: • your performance and conduct; • the needs and interests of the agency; • whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and • whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service. If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum coursework requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.