Utility Systems Repairer - Operator

Summary

This position serves as a Utility Systems Repairer Operator within the Engineering Service at the Kansas City VA Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo. This position operates and maintains high-pressure boilers, chillers, HVAC/R systems, and electronic controls to ensure safe, efficient utility service across the medical center. Performs troubleshooting, repairs, preventive maintenance, emergency response, and system monitoring to support critical clinical, laboratory, and life-safety environments.

Duties

• The duties of the Utility Systems Repairing-Operating includes but is not limited to: Plant Operations - Boiler & Chiller Plants Operate, maintain, and troubleshoot centralized chilled water systems, including multiple 1000-ton chillers, pumps, cooling towers, and chemical treatment systems. Monitor and control steam and chilled water systems using Schneider Electric Facilities Energy Management System and BAS/SCADA platforms. Regulate temperature and humidity for critical spaces (ORs, labs, ICUs, IT, research areas) requiring precise environmental control. Perform field repairs, isolate defective equipment, and take corrective action during abnormal or alarm conditions to ensure uninterrupted hospital operations. Conduct daily water and condenser water analyses and adjust chemical concentrations for optimal system performance and corrosion control. Inspect, lubricate, adjust, and repair air handlers, fans, motors, valves, strainers, belts, coils, ductwork, dampers, and HVAC/R components. High-Pressure Boiler Operations Operate high-pressure steam boilers producing up to 76,225 lbs/hr, including associated fuel systems, feedwater equipment, condensate systems, and auxiliary components. Perform combustion analysis, adjust fuel-air ratios, regulate pressure systems, and ensure compliance with safety, environmental, NFPA, and ASHRAE standards. Troubleshoot malfunctions in burners, safety devices, regulators, flue gas recirculation systems, steam traps, expansion joints, and condensate return systems. Execute emergency shutdowns/startups, respond to fuel supply interruptions, power outages, and equipment failures, ensuring continuous operation. Electronic Industrial Controls Maintain, repair, and calibrate electronic control systems for boilers, chillers, feedwater systems, fuel delivery systems, and auxiliary equipment. Diagnose complex faults in analog/digital circuits using oscilloscopes, multimeters, signal generators, and software diagnostic tools. Interpret and update P&IDs, wiring diagrams, schematics, and technical manuals to support troubleshooting and repairs. Develop and implement custom control logic for PLC/DDC systems and integrate legacy equipment with modern BAS platforms. Preventive Maintenance & System Testing Perform scheduled preventive maintenance on boilers, chillers, pumps, motors, refrigeration units, air handlers, water treatment systems, VFDs, exhaust systems, and distribution loops. Collect and analyze water samples from boilers, condensate tanks, deaerators, and softeners; adjust chemical feed rates and perform blow-down procedures. Complete repair and replacement of piping, steam traps, valves, gauges, pump motors, and related components. [ Maintain accurate operating logs detailing steam generation, boiler pressures, temperatures, fuel consumption, and system performance. Emergency Response & Independent Shift Leadership Work unsupervised on night, weekend, and holiday shifts; act as lead operator ensuring safe operation of all plant systems. Respond to emergency trouble calls for all Medical Center utilities and coordinate corrective actions, including calling in off-duty personnel when necessary. Make critical decisions such as boiler shutdown/startup, load transfers, and system bypassing to maintain medical center operations. Compliance, Documentation & Collaboration Ensure work complies with VA standards, NFPA codes, ASHRAE guidelines, environmental regulations, and Joint Commission requirements. Maintain records in CMMS (e.g., Maximo/TMA) and prepare documentation for internal audits and external inspections (EPA, Joint Commission). Collaborate with engineers, contractors, and maintenance personnel on upgrades, retrofits, commissioning, and SOP revisions. Work Schedule: Position requires shift work to support 24/7 boiler plant operations. Tours of duty may include days, evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. Position Description Title/PD#: Utility Systems Repairer - Operator/PD00618A Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/15/2026. EXPERIENCE: A specific length of training and experience is not required, but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standards. SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligible are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements: Equipment Assembly, Installation, Repair Inspect Interpret Instructions, Specifications (includes blueprint reading) Technical Practices Without more than normal supervision 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Subjected to sustained physical effort in the operation of power boilers, chillers, HVAC/R equipment, steam distribution systems, chilled water distribution systems; physical requirements may include working from ladders, scaffolds, and platforms where parts of the system are in hard-to-reach places. Work is carried out in tiring positions such as standing, crouching, stooping, kneeling, and prone for long periods of time. Occasionally, the incumbent will be required to lift items in excess of 50 pounds and 100 pounds with assistance. The incumbent frequently lifts, carries, and sets up parts and equipment that weighs up to 50 pounds. Working Conditions: The work is performed inside and outside with exposure to all kinds of weather. The work area may be dirty, wet, dusty, and greasy, with inadequate lighting, heat, or ventilation. Incumbent is subject to cuts, abrasions, burns, broken bones, electrical shock, infections, bites, exposure to inhalation or harmful chemical fumes, irritation of eyes, skin and respiratory tract, and the hazards of operating power tools and equipment. Discomfort is encountered when wearing protective clothing, gloves, or eye goggles.

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Subject to background/security investigation Pre-employment physical required Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

How to apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 09/15/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13056153. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified, you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.