Electronics Engineer

Summary

You will serve as a Electronics Engineer with Bureau of Reclamation. Serves as a senior Electronics Engineer, providing engineering expertise in the development and coordination of a comprehensive program for upgrading and operating communications systems, operations support systems, and data distribution systems. You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.

Duties

Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Serves as the subject-matter expert on the industrial control systems (ICS), remote terminal unit (RTU), and programmable logic controller (PLC) interface(s) to sensors, automation equipment, and data communications systems of water and power facilities within the Region. Applies electronics engineering to communications, switching, and control systems as required for total system design and integration. Performs in-depth analysis of ICS and SCADA systems to determine improvements towards system optimization, performance, and operational reliability. Prepares testing and implementation of electronics engineering plans for industrial control systems to ensure optimal performance, reliability, and compatibility with the existing telemetry systems. Performs technical analysis of electronics equipment operations to verify proper communications system operation, the need for special maintenance techniques, the adequacy of existing equipment, or the need for additional facilities. Prepares system documentation in accordance with office and agency standards. Utilizes knowledge of digital electronics, systems software, software engineering practices, communications, and power system control equipment to provide the electronics engineering technical guidance needed to effectively troubleshoot systems in support of hydroelectric power operations. Participates in system acceptability testing and implementation. Meets frequently with engineers, IT Specialists, operators, and contractor personnel to coordinate work. Serves as a member of the continuity of operations response and recovery teams. Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 10/29/2026-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 Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying. 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.) To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level: Experience: To qualify, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is defined as: experience in conducting preliminary investigations and analyses relating to systems integration in connection with systems installations; preparing design criteria for smaller or less complex electronic equipment portions of facilities; developing technical data for formal specifications regarding materials, sizes, dimensions, quantities and costs; designing and constructing electronic systems and components; assist in troubleshooting existing installations and providing technical operational support for the industrial control system. -OR- Education: Successful completion of at least 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. -OR- Combina