General Engineer - Transportation Security Administration - Dallas, Texas - EXPIRED

This General Engineer position is located in the Systems Optimization Support Branch, Mission Analysis Division, within the Office of Security Capabilities (OSC), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If selected for this position, you will be developing design standards, analyzing Baggage Handling systems (BHS), and providing engineering support to internal and external stakeholders. Typical duties include but are not limited to:

• Interacting with a wide range of industry stakeholders ranging from TSA employees to Airport Directors, OEMs for EDS equipment and government officials. Acting as a liaison between the baggage handling industry and TSA to address detailed technical questions and issues pertaining to operational and enhanced system functionality. Communicating complex engineering products and collaborating with OSC Program Offices, other branches with MAD, OSC and additional stakeholders to ensure effective collaboration between the Systems Optimization and Support team and other internal TSA organizations.
• Conducting reviews of proposed CBIS and PSP designs, determining degree of compliance with TSA CBIS standards, and providing recommendations for design modifications.
• Supporting initiatives related to interface design requirements in how they support TSA\'s Risk based security (RBS) efforts.
• Providing expert analysis for the conceptual design for site networking requirements for Transportation Security Equipment (TSE). Supporting the development of an independent test kit and associated software to measure the image quality performance of fielded TSE to ensure proper functioning, and assisting in the troubleshooting of the system faults.
• Providing assessments of integrated CBIS and PSP performance relative to TSA standards for CBIS and PSP performance, recommending system improvements to achieve performance and monitoring and managing the implementation of improvements.
• Maintaining TSA\'s CBIS standards and guidelines, coordinating and collaborating with TSA and external stakeholders to continue to enhance TSA\'s Planning Guidance and Design Standards (PGDS). Reviewing and approving proposed technical modifications of the PGDS by the airports and equipment contractors.
• Providing OSC leadership and program managers with assessments of state of the art functionality relevant to the OSC mission, maintaining situational awareness of technical matters related to the CBIS program and monitoring and consulting with the transportation security community for program and project awareness and the systems engineering community to remain current in practices, procedures, and innovation.

Basic Requirements for all Engineer Positions (must meet A or B):

A. Bachelor\'s or higher degree in professional engineering. To be acceptable, the curriculum must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; 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 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:

1. Professional Registration-Current registration as a professional engineer 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 Engineer-in-Training (EIT) examination, or the written test required for professional registration, which is administered by the Boards of Engineering Examiners in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Applicants who have passed the EIT examination and have completed all the requirements for either (a) a bachelor\'s degree in engineering technology (BET) from an accredited college of university that included 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences, or (b) a BET from a program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) may be rated eligible for certain engineering positions at GS-5. Eligibility is limited to positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of the engineering technology program. Applicants for positions that involve highly technical research, development, or similar functions requiring an advanced level of competence in basic science must meet the basic requirements in paragraph A. Because of the diversity in kind and quality of BET programs, graduates of other BET programs are required to complete at least 1 year of additional education or highly technical work experience of such nature as to provide reasonable assurance of the possession of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for professional engineering competence. The adequacy of this background must be demonstrated by passing the EIT examination.

3. Specified academic courses-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 in the basic requirements. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum as described in paragraph A.

4. Related curriculum-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 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: You MUST provide transcripts or other documentation to support your education claims. Refer to the Required Documents section of his announcement for details. All materials must be submitted by the vacancy announcement closing date.

In addition to the basic requirements, to qualify for the SV-J Pay Band (equivalent to GS-14), you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the SV-I Pay Band or GS-13 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of this position. Specialized experience includes applying knowledge of engineering concepts and requirements pertaining to security screening equipment and systems; experience analyzing or writing Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Human Machine Interface (HMI) programs as well as database interfaces to manipulate raw data; and experience analyzing security and baggage system controls infrastructure to determine operational effectiveness.

NOTE: Credit for experience is given based on a 40-hour work week. Part-time experience is credited on a part-time ratio, i.e., working 20 hours per week for two months equals one month of experience. No additional credit is given for overtime.


National Service Experience (i.e., 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.


You must meet the qualification requirements for this position no later than the closing date of the vacancy announcement.