Supervisory Interdisciplinary (General Engineer/Physical Scientist/Mathematician)

Summary

You will serve as a Supervisory Interdisciplinary (General Engineer/Physical Scientist/Mathematician) with Bureau of Reclamation. You can make a difference in the West by assisting in meeting increasing water demands while protecting the environment. Duty Location: Sacramento, CA Engineers are on a Special Rate Table: $133,359 - $160,638 All other series fall under the Sacramento Pay Table: $117,984 - $153,382

Duties

• Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: - Leads development, calibration, validation, and application of water resources models including CALSIM 3, DSM2, SCHISM, HEC-RAS, water temperature, hydrology, and water quality models for CVP and Delta operations. - Provides technical authority and policy guidance on systemwide water modeling issues to senior leadership and interagency partners. - Designs and reviews complex studies incorporating hydrology, water supply, water quality, temperature, climate change, environmental standards, and compliance requirements. - Oversees the entire modeling program including system operations, hydrologic, groundwater/surface water, temperature, power, and fisheries modeling systems. - Establishes, maintains, and enforces modeling standards, technical adequacy requirements, QA/QC processes, and complete documentation practices. - Identifies modeling capability gaps, evaluates modeling systems used by external partners, and ensures alignment and integration across programs. - Applies statistical analysis, optimization, scenario evaluation, and decision-support methodologies to generate defensible analytical outputs.- Translates complex scientific modeling results into executive-ready materials, policy recommendations, and operational decision information. - Supervises engineers, scientists, and technical specialists through performance management, workload planning, training, hiring actions, discipline, and staff development. - Ensures equitable access to training, recognition, promotion, and development opportunities through active implementation of EEO and inclusive leadership principles. - Resolves workplace issues, grievances, and process barriers to improve organizational efficiency and mission delivery. - Represents BOR in technical negotiations with Federal, State, local, tribal, NGO, and contractor partners on sensitive water operations and modeling issues. - Develops technical specifications and contract requirements for model development or enhancement and oversees contractor performance. - Monitors scientific literature, incorporates emerging modeling techniques, and ensures application of state-of-the-science methodologies. - Represents BOR in public meetings, interagency forums, regulatory settings, and litigation support requiring defense of modeling assumptions and results.

Qualifications

Qualifications: All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-09/24/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. To receive credit for experience, 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. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected. This is an interdisciplinary position that may be filed in any of the following series: GS-0801 General Engineer, GS-1301 Physical Scientist, or GS-1520 Mathematician depending on the qualifications of the selected candidate. QUALIFICATIONS FOR GS-0801, GENERAL ENGINEER SERIES: 1. 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- 2. 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)1, 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) 2 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 1. 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.) QUALIFICATIONS FOR GS-1301, GENERAL PHYSICAL SCIENCE SERIES: 1. Degree: physical science, engineering, or mathematics that included 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science such as mechanics, dynamics, properties of materials, and electronics. -OR- 2. Combination of education and experience: education equivalent to one of the majors shown above that included at least 24 semester hours in physical science and/or related engineering science, plus appropriate experience, or additional education. QUALIFICATIONS FOR GS-1520, MATHEMATICS SERIES: 1. Degree: mathematics; or the equivalent of a major that included at least 24 semester hours in mathematics. -OR- 2. Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in mathematics (including at least 24 semester hours in mathematics), as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. In addition to meeting the educational requirements above: To qualify for this position at the GS-13 grade level: 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 leading development, calibration, and application of water resources models such as CALSIM 3, DSM2, SCHISM, HEC-RAS, and water temperature or water quality models. Experience producing regulatory and operational analyses incorporating hydrology, climate change, environmental performance measures, and compliance requirements. Experience establishing modeling standards including assumptions, Quality assessments/Quality checks processes, documentation standards, uncertainty analysis, and defensible methodologies. Experience managing a multi-model technical program involving hydrologic, operational, groundwater/surface water, power, or fisheries modeling. Experience applying statistical methods, optimization techniques, and scenario analysis to support operational and policy decisions. Experience preparing executive-level briefs that translate complex technical modeling results into policy or operational decisions. Experience supervising engineers, scientists, or modelers including assigning work, evaluating performance, conducting hiring actions, and supporting training and development. Experience in implementing recruitment, development, and recognition programs. Experience conducting interagency negotiations and resolving disputes on modeling assumptions, methodology, or technical standards. Experience developing technical specifications and managing contracts related to model development or enhancement. Experience presenting and defending modeling work in interagency forums, regulatory settings, public meetings, or legal proceedings. 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.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. Citizen or National. Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service. Direct Deposit participation required. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit www.dhs.gov/EVerify/. Must have and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment. A financial disclosure report will be required within 30 days of appointment. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated. This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will 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. Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. This is a supervisory position that may require completion of a supervisory probationary period. *Additional Requirements located under qualifications*

Education

This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | U.S. Department of Education. https://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-of-foreign-qualification

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the 09/24/2026--unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement to receive consideration. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. To PREVIEW the application questionnaire, select the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13042122 Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status, visit https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status. Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other Bureaus/Offices within the Department of the Interior (DOI) who have vacancies within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s), including within the same metro/commuting area. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.