Aerospace Engineer

Website NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is seeking an Aerospace, Electrical, or Mechanical Engineer to join the Components and Hardware Systems Branch. This position performs engineering design and analysis work for structures, hardware, equipment and systems; researching, developing, designing, testing, or evaluating navigation guidance or controls systems for aerospace vehicles.

Responsibilities

• Evaluates design objectives and ensures that project requirements are met.
• Performs complex design calculations for planning, design and development of guidance and control systems for aerospace vehicles.
• Coordinates complex engineering assignments to address interacting factors concepts or conditions such as experimental flight research of control systems for advanced vehicles.
• Monitors and provides technical oversight of contractors and provides guidance in developing new systems.
• Conducts thermal analysis, fluid and flight mechanics aerospace engineering work, flight systems aerospace engineering work, and additional data systems and analysis work.
• Addresses technical problems and implement corrective actions.
• Coordinates design development for multi-purpose materials and structure projects.
• Performing quality control and quality analysis methods to determine risks and compliance standards for work.
• Directs the development of leading edge aerospace technology, equipment or systems to meet mission requirements.
• Duties assigned will be commensurate with the grade of selected employee.

Travel Required

Occasional travel – Travel may be required for training or other work-related duties

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Position subject to pre-employment background investigation
• A one-year probationary period may be required
• Position subject to a pre-employment drug test
• This is a drug-testing designated position
• This is a Bargaining Unit Position

Qualifications

In addition to the Basic Education Requirement, applicants must meet one of the following requirements for a GS-11:
(a) One year of professional experience in an appropriate field at least equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to GS-09 level work in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes experience in multi-disciplinary engineering concepts, methods, and processes related to the engineering design and analysis work (e.g. thermal, flight, data) for structures, hardware, equipment and systems for aerospace vehicles; or

(b) Completion of all requirements for a doctoral degree (Ph.D. or equivalent) in an appropriate field; or

(c) Completion of three full academic years of graduate education in an appropriate field; or

(d) An equivalent combination of experience and graduate education.

For GS-12: Applicant must have one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade, equivalent to a
GS-11, which has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies needed to successfully perform the duties of the position described above. Specialized experience at the GS-12 grade level is defined as professional working experience that included the following:

Demonstrates knowledge in optics, solid state detectors, gyroscopic dynamics, electronics, and space craft
sensor engineering. Experience with state-of-the-art space craft control systems and guidance sensors, complex space craft pointing and control actuators and systems for scientific applications and their supporting ground systems. Sensors and actuators include but are not limited to reaction wheels, earth and sun sensors, gyroscopes, global positioning systems, and magnetometers.

Experience with identifying resources and the manpower required to design, develop, and test a space craft control component.

Knowledge in contract management to procure components.

You may lose consideration for the position if your application does not include all the information requested on the vacancy announcement.

The USAJOBS Resume must include a clear and detailed narrative
description, in your own words, of how you met the required specialized experience. Experiences copied from a position description, vacancy announcement or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job.

A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major study in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life sciences, computer science, or other field of science. Degrees in engineering technology are not considered to be qualifying for this position. You must indicate your major as well as your degree in order to receive full consideration.

Please indicate the name of your college, major, degree and completion date in the education section. The degree must have been received in the year of, or any year subsequent to the original date of accreditation. To find out if a school has an ABET accreditation, go to ABET accredited schools
(http://www.abet.org).

The accreditation, type of degree, and course work taken will determine if the basic education requirements
are met.

For GS-11: Required college majors for applicants qualifying on the basis of undergraduate or graduate
education only:
Aeronautical Engineering, Aeronautics, Aerospace Engineering, Astronautical Engineering, Astronautics,
Astrophysics, Electrical Engineering (except power), Electronics Engineering, Applied Mechanics,
Engineering Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Nuclear Engineering Physics,
Physics, Applied Physics, Engineering Physics. Other appropriate physical or computer science,
mathematics or engineering fields are qualifying if the major includes or is supplemented by at least 12
semester hours (or the equivalent) of appropriate physical science or engineering courses including nine
semester hours (or the equivalent) of physics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics or gas dynamics.

You must provide evidence, if your education is completed outside of the United States, that it has been deemed equivalent to that gained in conventional/accredited U.S. education programs to be acceptable for Federal employment. Most foreign education is not accredited by an accrediting body that is recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

Additional information

As identical vacancies are identified, additional selections may be made.

If you have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP), you must:

Indicate your eligibility when applying for a position. The USAJOBS resume asks you to identify your ICTAP eligibility; the NASA Supplemental Information asks you to identify your CTAP eligibility.

Be well qualified for this position to receive consideration. See ‘How You Will Be Evaluated’ for NASA’s definition of well qualified.

Be prepared to submit proof that you meet the requirements for CTAP/ICTAP if you are selected for the position. This includes copies of your agency notice, most recent Performance Rating and most recent Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) noting current position, grade level, and duty location

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

This position is announced under Direct Hire authority. A Human Resources Specialist will review your resume to determine if you meet the qualifications and eligibility requirements as listed in ‘Requirements’.

CTAP and ICTAP candidates will be assessed using NASA STARS, an automated system that matches the competencies extracted from your resume to the competencies identified by the selecting official for the position. Based on the competencies you match, you are placed in one of three categories identified as 90, 80, or 70 point quality categories, which are defined as:

90 pt. Category – Tentatively meets (until subsequent confirmation upon referral) the basic qualification requirements identified in the vacancy announcement and has experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated superior proficiency in the primary requirements of the position.

80 pt. Category – Tentatively meets (until subsequent confirmation upon referral) the basic qualification requirements identified in the vacancy announcement and demonstrates satisfactory proficiency in the primary requirements of the position.

70 pt. Category – Fails to meet criteria described in the 80 pt. category.

For the purpose of the CTAP and ICTAP, candidates rated in the top quality (90 pt.) category are considered well-qualified.

Required Documents

NASA’s application process has been specifically developed to ensure that we only ask you for the information we absolutely need to evaluate your qualifications and eligibility. In order to apply for this position, you only need to submit your resume and answer the screening questions and supplemental information. No additional documentation is accepted at the time of application. (For example you need not submit narrative ‘KSA’ statements; they are not required and will not be evaluated.) In this way we allow you to focus on preparing a resume that best describes your background and abilities. For assistance in preparing your resume, consult the Applicant Guide. Nothing further is required until requested by the Human Resources Office. At that point, we may ask you to submit documentation to support statements made in your resume. For example, we may ask you to provide academic transcripts or proof of Federal employment status. If you fail to provide the required documents within the stated time period, we may withdraw a job offer and/or remove you from further consideration.

To receive consideration, you must submit a resume and answer NASA-specific questions. The NASA questions appear after you submit your resume and are transferred to the NASA web site. If you successfully apply, USAJOBS will show your application status as ‘Received’. If your status is ‘Application Status Not Available’, you have not successfully applied. Do not rely on a USAJOBS email to confirm successful application. Only an email from NASA confirms a successful application.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

A career with the U.S. Government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time, or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How to Apply

Before you begin the application process, please read the vacancy announcement carefully and have all required information available. Failure to submit a resume that contains all of the required information may result in loss of consideration. Your application must be received no later than midnight Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement.

You may begin the process of submitting your resume by clicking on the ‘Apply Online’ link. In order to be considered, you must submit a resume completed on the USAJOBS site. When completing your USAJOBS resume, please remember that NASA limits resumes to approximately 32,000 characters including spaces.

NASA does not accept uploaded resumes created outside of the USAJOBS resume builder process. Additionally, NASA does not accept documents attached through the USAJOBS’ document attachment feature.

Once you submit your resume to NASA, you will be transferred to a NASA website and asked to complete a short series of NASA-specific questions. Your answers will not be saved unless you finish the entire application. You may edit a previously-submitted application, if the announcement is still open.

If you successfully apply, USAJOBS will show your application status as ‘Received’. If your status is ‘Unavailable’, you have not successfully applied. Do not rely on a USAJOBS email to confirm successful application. Only an email from NASA confirms a successful application.

If you are unable to apply electronically for this position, submit your resume and supplemental questions to:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
4200 Rideout Road
Resume Operations Center/Mailstop: HS50
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
DO NOT submit your resume directly to the Center advertising this vacancy. Mailed resumes must be received by the close of business on the closing date of the announcement. Hard copy resumes requirements are provided at: Hard Copy Resume Requirements.

If you are a first time applicant, we recommend that you review NASA’s Applicant Guide to ensure that you are providing a complete resume. Failure to submit the supplemental data and a resume that contains all of the required information may result in loss of consideration for positions. All applications must be received no later than midnight Eastern Time on the closing date of the announcement.

Agency contact information

Phone 877-677-2123

NASA’s Resume Operations Center
4200 Rideout Road, Mailstop HS50
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
US

Next steps

If you are found to meet the qualification and eligibility requirements, you will be referred to the selecting official for further consideration. (In some cases, individuals with priority for special consideration must be considered and selected before other candidates.) Whether or not you are contacted for an interview depends upon the location of the position and the judgment of the selecting official. At NASA, we pride ourselves on efficient and timely recruitment actions, and you can normally expect to learn the outcome of the selection process in a fairly short period of time. In addition, to ensure that you can measure progress for yourself, NASA provides you with regularly updated information on the status of the vacancy announcement