Chemical Engineer
What you'd do
This vacancy is for a Chemical Engineer in the Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Division, Office of Nonproliferation and Treaty Compliance (NPTC), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Export Administration (OASEA), Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) within the Department of Commerce.
Major duties
As a Chemical Engineer, you will perform the following duties: The duties described below are at the highest grade advertised. Duties assigned at lower grade levels will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity; duties will be commensurate with the grade of the selected employee. Conduct studies of major categories of commodities and technical data in terms of their potential for unwanted technology transfer, and of technology transfer mechanisms of controlled commodities and technical data to identify effective control techniques and strategies. Perform Senior Licensing Officer functions such as adjudicating complex export license applications, from interagency referral, final review and sign off on each assigned case, and managing case workload. Initiate and/or review export control proposals under consideration by multilateral organization. Recommend amendments to the Export Administration regulations, including recommendations to add or remove export license requirements to certain items and transactions. Monitor developments in chemical related research, development and production equipment and other goods, software, and technologies. Explore new theories, basic information, and scientific treatises from several disciplines to gain insight into problems and the effect on export control. Serve as a liaison for Commerce to the biotechnology and chemical industry communities, research institutions, academia, and associations. Provide technical advice in support of advisory opinions in response to requests from U.S. exporters for guidance about the application of the Export Administration Regulations applicable to their specific commodities and transactions. 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. This Job Opportunity Announcement may be used to fill other Chemical Engineer GS-0893-13/14, Full Performance Level (FPL) GS-14 positions within the Department of Commerce in the same geographical location or local commuting area with the same qualifications and specialized experience.
What you need to qualify
Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/ Basic Requirements: 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: 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. 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. 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. 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: COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS IS REQUIRED). AND In addition to meeting the basic education requirement, candidates must also meet the additional specialized experience requirement. Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. 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; knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. To qualify at the GS-13 level: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: Providing technical expertise in the field of chemistry/biology, chemical engineering and/or manufacturing of industrial chemicals; and Preparing technical analysis, summaries, reports, and/or communicating technical information to leadership, internal stakeholders, external stakeholders, or other relevant audiences to explain engineering concepts, and/or assessment results. To qualify at the GS-14 level: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as: Providing technical expertise and/or advising on technical portions of guidelines/policies in the field of chemistry/biology, chemical engineering and/or manufacturing of industrial chemicals; and Analyzing developments related to new or emerging technologies and/or developments in the field of chemistry or biology; and Preparing technical analyses, summaries, or reports and/or communicating technical information to leadership, internal stakeholders, external stakeholders, or other relevant audiences to explain engineering concepts, assessment results, and/or policy-related considerations.
Before you apply
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