Civil Engineer (Hydrologic)/Hydrologist
What you'd do
You will serve as a Civil Engineer (Hydrologic)/Hydrologist with Bureau of Reclamation.
Major duties
Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Serves as one of five (5) regional water operations experts for the CVP providing written and verbal technical advice, guidance, and direction in water management decisions. Applies expert, broad-based knowledge of the complex interrelated aspects of CVP facilities, California hydrology, Bay-Delta conditions, historical water-year patterns, operational parameters, current issues, and potential controversies associated with water supplies and deliveries. Develops and implements new operating policy as needed to adapt CVP operations to the changing water resource environment in the State of California. Uses current data acquisition applications and data management systems to review and evaluate the most complex near- and real-time hydrologic, meteorological, and operational data. As a Regional subject matter expert, serves as a team technical advisor, member, or team member, or team leader for CVP operations, hydrology, water supply, water quality, water requirements, water use, water rights, or reservoir storage related modeling and studies. Directs and/or conducts the development of methods for analysis and performs, or coordinates the performance of, studies to evaluate the impacts of proposed constraints, standards, additional project demands or other changes to the CVP. In a leadership capacity, participates in meetings, briefings, hearings, and/or other gatherings with Departmental, Reclamation and other Regional staff, representatives of other agencies, stakeholders, the media and the public. Provides expert-level technical information on the CVP and related issues to senior Reclamation officials and staff, explains policies and agreements, and seeks to resolve conflicts and gain cooperation from concerned entities.
What you need to qualify
All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 08/28/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, your resume must state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications: Basic Educational Requirement AND/OR Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying. 0810 Civil Engineering Series Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following: 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.) 1315 Hydrology Series Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following: A. Degree: 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. To qualify for this position at the GS-13 grade level: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: experience performing engineering work in support of the management of complex and difficult water resources issues; water resources/hydrology project/program development, and planning; formulation and execution of comprehensive operations related to water resource activities; maintaining contact and collaborative working relationships with state, federal and local agencies, and Indian Tribes in implementing water resources management projects; providing counsel to higher organizational levels concerning water resource management issues. These examples are not all inclusive. Volunteer Experience: 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.
Before you apply
Federal applications are different: your resume should be 3–5 pages and mirror the language of this announcement. Read our federal resume guide first — it's the #1 reason qualified people get screened out.
Don't miss the next one.
Get an email the moment a similar federal job opens — postings can close in as little as 5 days.