Engineer

The PALACE Acquire Program offers you a permanent position upon completion of your formal training plan. As a Palace Acquire Intern you will experience both personal and professional growth while dealing effectively and ethically with change, complexity, and problem solving. The program offers a 3-year formal training plan with yearly salary increases. Promotions and salary increases are based upon your successful performance and supervisory approval.

Qualifications:

BASIC REQUIREMENTS for GS-7 and GS-9:

A. Degree: Professional engineering. To be acceptable, the curriculum must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; 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 professional 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.

You may qualify if you meet one of the following:

1. GS-7: You must have completed a 4 year course of study leading to a bachelor's from an accredited institution AND must have documented Superior Academic Achievement (SAA) or one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least a GS-05 at the undergraduate level in one of the following:

a) Class Standing - upper third of the graduating class based on completed courses in the college, university, or major subdivision;

b) Grade Point Average - 2.95 or higher out of a possible 4.0 as recorded on your official transcript or as computed based on 4 years of education or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of curriculum; OR 3.45 or higher out of a possible 4.0 based on the average of the required courses completed in your major field or the required courses in your major field completed during the final 2 years of your curriculum. If more than 10 percent of total undergraduate credit hours are non-graded, i.e. pass/fail, CLEP, CCAF, DANTES, military credit, etc, you cannot qualify based on GPA;

c) Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society (note: freshman honor society cannot be used to meet the requirements of this position). (If qualifying based on class standing or honor society membership, provide appropriate documentation). OR 2. You have one full year (18 semester hours or the equivalent) of graduate level study, or possess a master's or higher degree, e.g., LL.B., J.D., LL.M., Ph.D., in a field that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the work of this position. Such fields include business administration, industrial management, industrial engineering, industrial psychology, public administration, political science, or government.(Submit copy of transcripts).

OR

3. You have at least one year (12 months) of specialized experience, that provided knowledge of to perform successfully the duties of the position. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower qualifying pay band or equivalent grade under the General Schedule (GS) or other pay systems. Equivalent experience may be at the level of the lowest GS grade covered by the applicable pay band; however, the experience must demonstrate KSA's to successfully perform the duties of the position being filled.

OR

4. You must have a combination of graduate education as described above and the type of specialized experience as described above, which when combined would equate to 100%. (To compute, first determine your total qualifying graduate level education as a percentage of the graduate education required; then determine your total qualifying experience as a percentage of experience described above; add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal to at least 100 %.) (Submit a copy of your transcript.)

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:
GS-0801/0806/0830/0840/0850/0854/0855/0861/0893/0896

• Performs general engineering tasks of limited scope and difficulty which are screened by a higher-grade engineer. Some knowledge of work processes, and the capability to apply standard general engineering practices, required to directly apply varied rules, procedures and precedents to the assignments.
• Performs engineering work of limited scope and complexity in support of projects assigned to higher grade engineers. Plans work procedures and selects standard practices and data to be applied to work projects and identified problems. Uses accepted engineering work processes to search for information to bear on a problem and recognizes situations which may require referral to others.
• Uses engineering manuals, standard publications and technical material to obtain information pertinent data to be used by higher level engineers, contractors and /or customers.
• Keeps abreast of emerging technologies and professional developments to maintain current in the field and for application to work assignments. Uses computers/computer software such as analysis tools and project tracking programs to solve engineering problems and facilitate work.

GS-0858

• Professional knowledge of biomedical engineering concept, theories, and principles and standard engineering practices, methods, and techniques to perform difficult, but well-precedented assignments which are normally minor phases of a larger project.
• Knowledge of automated technology and practices used to prepare engineering designs/drawings.
• Skill in analyzing problems, identifying significant factors, gathering and interpreting pertinent data, and applying established rules and procedures in order to recommend solutions.
• Skill in gathering and interpreting pertinent data, preparing recommendations, and making calculations by applying standard formulas; preparing graphs, curves, or tables; and recording factual data or information from studies.
• Ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and with technical accuracy, both orally and in writing, as well as work in a professional manner with peers and management.
• Ability to learn and apply analytical investigate techniques to accomplish work in the subject-matter field.

PART-TIME OR UNPAID EXPERIENCE: Credit will be given for appropriate unpaid and or part-time work. You must clearly identify the duties and responsibilities in each position held and the total number of hours per week.

VOLUNTEER WORK EXPERIENCE: Refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service Programs (i.e., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student and social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge and skills that can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Responsibilities:

GS-0801/0806/0830/0840/0850/0854/0855/0861/0893/0896

• Performs (general, material, computer, mechanical, electrical, electronics, aerospace) engineering tasks of limited scope and difficulty which are screened by a higher-grade engineer.
• Performs general engineering work of limited scope and complexity in support of projects assigned to higher grade engineers.
• Uses engineering manuals, standard publications and technical material to obtain information and pertinent data to be used by higher level engineers, contractors and/or customers.
• Keep abreast of emerging technologies and professional development to maintain current in the field and for application to work assignments.

GS-0858

• Uses professional knowledge of biomedical engineering to perform difficult, but well-precedented assignments which are normally minor phases of a broader project assigned to a higher-grade engineer.
• Participates with senior personnel in planning, monitoring, and conducting special studies, projects, and initiatives.
• uses computer/computer software such as information management programs, computer aided design and drafting (CADD) programs, and tracking programs to assist senior personnel in solving engineering or scientific problems and facilitate the work.
• Uses engineering manuals, standards publications and technical material to obtain information and pertinent data to be used by higher level engineers, contractors and/or customers.