Boiler Plant Operator

Summary

This position is located in the Maintenance and Operations section (M&O, under Engineering Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), VA Medical Center, in Marion, IL. The primary purpose of this position is to perform a variety of functions, including operating and maintaining the facility's boilers.

Duties

• Major duties and responsibilities will include: Performs all duties required to maintain the safe and efficient operation of a boiler plant, operating steam pressure of boilers, consisting of four (3) fire tube boilers automatic and manually fired combination oil and natural gas burning. Conducts water analyses and applies proper chemical treatments Operates the feed water system, the steam system, domestic water, natural gas, fuel oil, and local control panels at each individual boiler and the main control panel with plant and boiler master controls along with all associated transmitters and recorders. Operates the feedwater system consists of backflow preventers, water softeners, make-up tank, transfer pumps, a Deaerating Feedwater Heater and feed water pumps. Check all equipment to determine that no hazards exist that will endanger equipment or personnel. Starts, operates and stops manually controlled equipment, to include boiler feed water pumps, chemical pumps, condensate return unit, transfer pumps, water softener unit, and oil pumps. Periodically checks equipment to evaluate and determine proper operation and makes adjustment and takes corrective action as required. Periodically checks boilers, tanks and piping for leaks, vibration, soundness and unusual conditions. Performs operator level routine maintenance and repairs to include minor leak repairs, component replacement and safety testing. Responsible for maintaining the oil system free from leaks, identifying leaks and taking appropriate action. Maintains hourly and daily logs, charts and other records as required. Calculates steam production, steam usage, water usage, fuel usage, boiler hours and efficiency for each 8 hour shift and 24 hour day calendar. Performs boiler feed water tests and treats boilers with chemicals as determined by tests. Adjusts continuous blowdowns as required by tests. Regenerates water softening system manually when required. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Operators are subject to working on rotating shifts Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved

Qualifications

To qualify for this position at the WG-9 level, you must meet the following: (SCREEN-OUT) Ability to perform the duties of the Boiler Plant Operator Leader without more than normal supervision. Experience includes safe and efficient operation and maintenance of all Boiler Plant equipment; knowledge of installation, modification, maintenance and repair, and troubleshooting of commercial fire tube boilers; checking inventory of shop supplies and materials to ensure that proper quantity is on hand at all times; ordering needed equipment, parts and supplies to complete repairs; assigning work orders; planning, coordinating and directing the work of personnel assigned to their work section. (Your experience must be documented in your resume to receive full credit.) A Quality Ranking Factor* has been requested by the facility to help determine which of the basically qualified applicants are likely to be better qualified for a position. The quality ranking factor for this position is: " Experience conducting water chemistry tests and applying the correct chemical treatment procedures?" *Quality Ranking Factors are skills, knowledge, abilities, or other worker characteristics which could be expected to result in superior performance on the job. Quality ranking factors will not be used for screening but may be used as ranking criteria. Applicants with higher proficiency levels may rank above those with lower proficiency levels on a quality ranking factor. PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: Frequently work in confined areas in and around boilers. Requires moderate to strenuous effort and long periods of walking, standing, climbing, bending, and crouching. Frequently lift and carry boiler parts and chemical supplies weighing up to 40 pounds unassisted. Occasionally carries items weighing over 40 pounds (with assistance) WORKING CONDITIONS: Mainly works indoors but occasionally work outside for short periods of time. Subject to high temperatures, constant noise, rotating machinery, soot, dirt, grease, chemicals, oil and fumes. Subject to cuts and abrasions from the use of tools and equipment and burns from acids, caustics, hot water, steam and contact with boilers. Work on catwalks and ladders. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualifications. For this position, the job element method is used to match what you, the applicant, can do against what the work calls for. Your knowledge, skills and abilities will be compared to the knowledge, skills and abilities (called job elements) needed for success. Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element (WG-2 and higher only; screen-outs are not applicable to WG-1). Applicants who appear to meet the screen out element are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated from consideration. The potential eligibles are rated against the remainder of the job elements. While a specific length of training and experience is not required, your responses to the questionnaire must be supported by detailed descriptions of your experience on your resume. You will be rated on the following Job Elements as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Dexterity and Safety Equipment Assembly, Installation, Repair Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading) Measuring Instruments Operation of Equipment/Machinery Quality Ranking Factor Technical Practices Without more than normal supervision IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Pre-employment physical required Subject to background/security investigation 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 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, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Education

There is no educational substitute at this grade level.

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 09/22/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13066555. 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. 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. 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/ Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities (i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities), and/or disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (618) 997-5311. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) 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/.