ENGINEER/SCIENTIST

Duties

• You will serve as the Virtual Test Environment (VTE) Lab Operations Lead in the Integrated Combat Systems Department, Advanced Infrastructure Branch (Code V32) of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division.
• You will maintain and manage operations of builds, upgrades, external sites, troubleshooting statuses and general lab management for all Virtual Test Environment (VTE) machines.
• You will participate in and coordinate the upgrade of the VTE systems to latest Windows environment to meet compliance for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) simulations.
• You will work with the virtualization build team to coordinate the next iteration of VTE as original hardware has reached End of Life (EOL).
• You will work with Assessment and Authorization to build the package to support utilization of new VTE systems.
• You will ensure all VTE and the Virtual Combat Computing Center (VC3) software licenses are renewed yearly.
• You will work with sponsors on future virtualization development work.
• You will be involved in the planning of future lab states and development of Rough Order Magnitude (ROM) for engineering efforts.
• You will lead in various Test Readiness and Mission Readiness (TRM) and Mission Readiness (MRR) to ensure labs will be able to meet objectives of testing.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• Must be a US Citizen.
• Must be determined suitable for federal employment.
• Must participate in the direct deposit pay program.
• New employees to the Department of the Navy will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov
• Within the Department of Defense (DoD), the appointment of retired military members within 180 days immediately following retirement date to a civilian position is subject to the provisions of 5 United States Code 3326.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• You will be required to obtain and maintain an interim and/or final Secret security clearance prior to entrance on duty. Failure to obtain and maintain the required level of clearance may result in the withdrawal of a job offer or removal.
• This is a Cyberspace Workforce position, work role code 661 (Research and Development Specialist). You will be required to obtain and maintain qualifications in DoDM 8140.03 Cyber Workforce Qualification and Department of Navy policies.
• This position may require travel from normal duty station to CONUS and OCONUS and may include remote or isolated sites. You must be able to travel on military and commercial aircraft for extended periods of time.

Qualifications

This is an interdisciplinary position and may be filled by a Computer Engineer (0854-series), a Mathematician (1520-series), or a Computer Scientist (1550-series) depending upon the qualifications of the candidate. Applicants in positions with occupational series other than those listed (0854, 1520 and 1550) may apply; however, you must apply directly to the series listed in this vacancy that is most applicable to your qualifications.

TO QUALIFY FOR ND-4: Your resume must also demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the ND-3 pay band (GS-9 through GS-11 equivalency) in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector. Specialized experience must demonstrate the following: As a professional engineer or scientist applying systems engineering principles in support of maintaining operations in support of builds, upgrades, external sites, troubleshooting statuses for general lab management and Virtual Test Environment (VTE) machines. The incumbent will display a working knowledge of tactical computers, various associated data collection devices, and simulation support equipment across the spectrum of NSWC DD Lab environments and will be directly responsible for maintaining laboratory network architectures, including virtualized and distributed test environments.

TO QUALIFY FOR ND-3: Your resume must also demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the ND-2 pay band (GS-5 through GS-8 equivalency) in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector. Specialized experience must demonstrate the following: As a professional engineer or scientist applying basic systems engineering principles in support of builds, upgrades, external sites, troubleshooting statuses for general lab and Virtual Test Environment (VTE) machines. The incumbent will display a working knowledge of tactical computers, various associated data collection devices, and simulation support equipment across the spectrum of NSWC DD Lab environments.

Additional qualification information can be found from the following Office of Personnel Management website:

Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR):

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (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.

Education

Applicants must meet at least one of the following positive education qualifications requirements of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualifications Standards Manual:

• Professional Engineering Series (08XX) - Degree: A professional engineering degree from an ABET-accredited college or university; OR a degree with curriculum in differential and integral calculus, with additional courses 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
• Professional Engineering Series (08XX) - Substitution of Education/Experience: A combination of education and 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. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: (a) professional registration, (b) evidence of successfully passing the Engineer-in-Training (EIT) examination; (c) successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and in engineering that included the courses specified above; or (d) successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in engineering technology or in an appropriate professional field, e.g., physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a degree in engineering provided that it included at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. (Note to Applicants: Please see the Qualifications & Education sections of this announcement for a link to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Individual Occupational Requirements. OPM guidance indicates that there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience. This training plan or experience must be well documented and provided at time of application.); OR
• 1520-Mathematics Series: A degree in mathematics; or a combination of education and experience - courses equivalent to a major in mathematics (including at least 24 semester hours in mathematics), plus appropriate experience or additional education. The total coursework described above must have included differential and integral calculus and, in addition, four advanced mathematics courses requiring calculus or equivalent mathematics courses as a prerequisite; OR
• 1550-Computer Science Series: A degree in computer science; or a degree with at least 30 semester hours in a combination of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. At least 15 of these 30 semester hours must have been in a combination of statistics and mathematics that included differential and integral calculus.

TO QUALIFY FOR ND-3: Education may be substituted for specialized experience as follows:

• A master's or equivalent graduate degree; OR
• Two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's or equivalent graduate degree; OR
• A combination of experience and graduate education as described above that equates to one year of experience.

Additional information

This position is part of the Warfare Centers Personnel Demonstration Project. The ND-3 pay band encompasses positions equivalent to GS-9 through GS-11; the ND-4 pay band encompasses positions equivalent to GS-12 and GS-13.

This announcement uses the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Science and Technology Reinvention Laboratory (STRL) Direct Hire Authority for Scientists and Engineers with Bachelor's or Advanced Degrees to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service.

This position is covered by the Department of Defense Priority Placement Program.

Several vacancies may be filled.

A tentative offer of employment will be rescinded if the selectee fails to meet the pre-employment requirements, including failure to report to any of the scheduled appointments.

Federal annuitant information: The selection of an annuitant is subject to the Department of Defense and Department of the Navy policy on the employment of annuitants. Policy information may be found at: .

Veteran's preference does not apply when selecting individuals under this specific hiring authority. However, if you claim veteran's preference, you will be required to submit supporting documentation with your application as described in the Required Documents section below.

Vacancies filled from this announcement may be filled at any grade level listed.

If selected below the full performance level, you may be noncompetitively promoted to the next higher grade level after meeting all regulatory requirements, and upon the recommendation of management. Promotion is neither implied nor guaranteed.