Electrical Engineer

Bureau of Reclamation•Yuma, AZ

24d•Onsite

About The Position

The Electrical Engineer serves with the Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Basin Region, Yuma Area Office, Technical Support Office, in Yuma, Arizona. The position provides electrical engineering support for water facilities, including the Yuma Desalting Plant (YDP) and the Water Quality Improvement Center (WQIC). Duties may be developmental below the full performance level. The position may require on-call work, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime, and shift work. The engineer performs engineering analyses, technical planning, data collection and management, design, modeling, troubleshooting, and risk assessment. The role supports YDP electrical distribution, instrumentation, and industrial control systems, including distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, human-machine interfaces, and data historians. It coordinates operational changes, outages, and calibrations with operations and maintenance staff and vendors, and documents control changes and configuration baselines. The engineer also manages configuration and quality assurance for control-system software and firmware updates and supports the reliability and integration of control networks and field control units. The position provides technical oversight of construction and operations and maintenance work, including contractor work inspection and acceptance. It plans and coordinates scheduled and emergency maintenance, repairs, and modifications; reviews performance standards and maintenance methods; conducts diagnostic tests; and assesses test results and corrective actions. The engineer plans and conducts facility examinations, condition assessments, and inspections; identifies deficiencies; estimates repairs; documents and presents findings; investigates incidents and root causes; and identifies future asset investment needs. The role supports regulatory oversight and compliance, develops and manages project plans, and conducts technical and peer reviews of designs, drawings, analyses, specifications, reports, and contract correspondence to ensure accuracy and quality assurance. Work is typically in an office, with periodic field visits to outdoor or industrial sites. Field work may involve varied terrain, weather, safety hazards, noise, fumes, and moving machinery, and may require personal protective equipment. Overnight travel may occur for training, meetings, and site visits. Telework may be allowed with supervisor approval.

Requirements

Meet the engineering education or qualifying education-and-experience basic requirement, including an acceptable engineering degree or one of the stated alternatives such as qualifying licensure, FE examination, specified coursework, or related curriculum with professional engineering experience.
For GS-11, meet the specialized experience requirement through at least one year equivalent to GS-9 performing at least two qualifying engineering activities, or qualifying graduate education, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
For GS-12, meet the specialized experience requirement through at least one year equivalent to GS-11 performing at least two qualifying engineering activities.
Possess and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
Be a U.S. Citizen or National; pass a background investigation and favorable adjudication; and satisfy applicable Selective Service requirements.
Participate in Direct Deposit and successfully pass E-Verify employment verification.
Meet applicable time-in-grade requirements if a current federal employee.
Submit required transcripts if using education to qualify; foreign education must be evaluated as described in the announcement.
Serve a one-year probationary period if required as a condition of appointment.
Be available for on-call work, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime, and shift work as required.

Responsibilities

Perform and coordinate engineering analyses and technical planning, including data collection, validation and management, design, modeling, site analysis, troubleshooting, and risk estimation.
Provide electrical engineering support for YDP electrical distribution, instrumentation, and industrial control systems, including DCS, PLCs, HMIs, and data historians.
Coordinate YDP operational changes, planned outages, and instrumentation calibrations with operations and maintenance personnel and vendors; document changes in control narratives and configuration baselines.
Manage configuration and quality assurance for ICS/DCS software and firmware updates in accordance with agency standards and YAO procedures.
Support integration and reliability of control networks and field control units at YDP and the WQIC research facility.
Provide technical oversight of construction and operations and maintenance work, including inspection and acceptance of contractor work.
Plan, coordinate, and direct scheduled and emergency maintenance, repairs, and modifications; review performance standards and maintenance techniques; conduct diagnostic tests and evaluate test data and corrective measures.
Plan, schedule, coordinate, and conduct facility examinations, condition assessments, and construction and transfer inspections; identify deficiencies, estimate repairs, coordinate with partners, and document and present results.
Conduct root-cause analyses, analyze unexpected event reports, investigate accidents and incidents, and identify future asset investment needs.
Provide engineering support for regulatory oversight, policy and rulemaking, compliance reviews, and resolution of engineering issues.
Develop, monitor, and manage project plans defining scope, schedule, and budget.
Review and check designs, drawings, analyses, specifications, technical documents, and contract correspondence for accuracy and quality assurance.