INTERDISCIPLINARY
What you'd do
This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD Workforce to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. About the Position: Serves as the Seattle District Upper Columbia Senior Water Manager, responsible for water management at three critical projects: Libby Dam, Albeni Falls Dam, and Chief Joseph Dam. This is a highly impactful role that combines technical oversight, team leadership and communication.
Major duties
Direct the day-to-day operations of major multi-purpose reservoirs, translating complex forecast modeling and hydrologic data into actionable, risk-informed system operations. Represent the Seattle District in high-level regional forums, collaborating directly with federal partner agencies, international counterparts, and Tribal sovereign nations to align water management initiatives across the basin. Lead advanced technical studies to resolve operational conflicts, finding the necessary balance between established flood risk management, hydropower objectives, changing regional priorities, and Endangered Species Act requirements. Collaborate with the Northwestern Division on highly technical issues, ensuring Seattle District projects integrate seamlessly into the broader coordinated Columbia River system. Serve as the senior technical authority for the section. You will provide hands-on training, guidance, and mentorship to a team of engineers and scientists to build an independent, highly capable regulation team. Travel regularly throughout the Pacific Northwest to conduct in-person coordination, build working relationships with local communities and partners, and clearly communicate complex water management decisions.
What you need to qualify
Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR: This position requires a current Professional Engineering License OR Hydrologist Certification issued by any State in the United States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. (You must upload a copy of your current PE license or Hydrologist Certification within your application package) Basic Requirement for Civil Engineer (Hydrologic) (0810): A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (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, or 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 A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program. 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 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. Basic Requirement for Hydrologist (1315): A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in physical or natural science, or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in any combination of courses in hydrology, the physical sciences, geophysics, chemistry, engineering science, soils, mathematics, aquatic biology, atmospheric science, meteorology, geology, oceanography, or the management or conservation of water resources. The course work must have included at least 6 semester hours in calculus (including both differential and integral calculus), and at least 6 semester hours in physics. OR B. Combination of Education and Experience: Course work, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Acceptable experience must have included performance of scientific functions related to the study of water resources, based on and requiring a professional knowledge of related sciences and the consistent application of basic scientific principles to the solution of theoretical and practical hydrologic problems. In the absence of water resource experience, professional scientific experience may be acceptable if such experience was preceded by appropriate education in hydrology or by professional hydrology experience. In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes planning, coordinating, advising, and providing leadership on projects, data analysis, modeling, complex studies, and life-safety considerations related to river and hydrologic engineering of multi-purpose dams and reservoirs. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-12). Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.
Before you apply
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