Summary Serves as an Aerospace Engineer (Cabin Safety Specialist) in Aircraft Certification Service (AIR). Plans and accomplishes highly complex and challenging projects, programs and other work activities under minimal direction of a manager, project/program manager, team leader, or more experienced engineer. Responsibilities The incumbent serves as a technical specialist for cabin safety policy and standards, which involves applying experience and comprehensive knowledge of engineering principles, theories, and concepts applicable to solve complex problems, identify cabin safety issues, develop policy standards and to improve technical processes. Develops airworthiness standards and guidance material including special conditions, equivalent safety findings, exemptions, and other documents for aircraft designs. Provides policy, guidance and instruction to FAA personnel, aviation industry and others to resolve most technical issues without intervention from more experienced engineers or management. This involves providing guidance to lower-level staff to solve difficult technical issues and working with senior management to solve problems. Plans and accomplishes highly complex projects, programs, and other work activities with minimal direction. This may involve leading or participating on a team or working individually. Accomplishes organizational objectives within established schedules. Represents the FAA as a senior technical point of contact for cabin safety on projects, programs, and other work activities. Communicates results and issues within the FAA and externally as appropriate. Develops mutually rewarding relationships with fellow employees, industry, and stakeholders. Conducts activities to the highest ethical standards by communicating effectively, remaining flexible, respecting different opinions, and exercising patience in challenging situations. Applies systems thinking to resolve issues. Prepares technical presentations, documents, and reports to present to FAA personnel, management and aviation industry and others. Works with counterparts in foreign civil aviation authorities to develop policy, standards and procedures related to cabin safety to assure adequacy and uniformity of certification program issues globally. Develops strategies, implementation plans and responses to safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board, individuals, or organizations within the FAA. Broad policies and objectives provide general guidance for addressing issues but allow considerable discretion for the incumbent to develop new and innovative approaches. The technical specialist draws on engineering experience to solve unusual problems and may create new solutions and policy interpretations as the situation requires. Work is reviewed rarely, typically through status reports and at project completion, to ensure technical compliance and alignment with the requirements of the project or other work activity. The work activities of this position impact directly on the objectives of one or more major subdivisions, LOB/SOs and has an impact on the objectives of the FAA. Requirements Conditions of Employment We are not accepting applications from noncitizens. Qualifications To view the complete OPM qualification standard for the Group Coverage Qualification Standard for General Engineer, Series 801, please refer to: General Engineering Series 0801 Basic Requirements: Degree in 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. To qualify for this position, you must demonstrate in your application that you possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to FV-I, FG/GS 13. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. Specialized Experience is: Experience with the application or development of aircraft certification standards, policies, and procedures used in the design and certification of an aircraft or aircraft system (e.g., 14 CFR parts 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 33, 35; advisory circulars; policy memorandums). Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this vacancy announcement. Interview: If the Agency decides to interview any qualified employee on the selection list, then all on the list who are qualified must be interviewed. If the selection list is shortened to a best qualified list through a comparative process, then the best qualified list shall be considered to be the selection list. The duty location will be an approved FAA AVS Facility. Selection may be made from this announcement or from ACT-AVS-26-AIR624-97295. Education This position has a positive education requirement: Applicants must submit a copy of their college or university transcripts(s) and certificates by the closing date of announcement to verify qualifications. If selected, an official transcript will be required prior to appointment. You may upload these documents with your application in USAJOBS or fax it to fax number provided in the announcement (please include announcement number on each page). Failure to do so will result in loss of consideration. Schools must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Accreditation may be verified at the following website: www.ed.gov/accreditation. Foreign education must be evaluated by a private professional organization specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials or an accredited U.S. educational institution in terms of equivalence to a degree acquired at an American college or university. A copy of the evaluation results must be included, otherwise your foreign education will not be considered. Additional Information We may use this vacancy to fill other similar vacant positions. Position may be subject to a background investigation. A one-year probationary period may be required. The person selected for this position may be required to file a financial disclosure statement within 30 days of entry on duty. FAA policy limits certain outside employment and financial investments in aviation-related companies. www.faa.gov/jobs/workinghere/financial-disclosure-requirements Applications will be accepted from any U.S. citizen. On-the-Spot will be used to fill this position. The 'Rule of Three', Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy. You may also be considered for this vacancy based on eligibility under the 30% or More Disabled Veteran Program, Veterans' Recruitment Appointment, and Persons with Disabilities/Persons with Targeted Disabilities. To be considered for one of these special hiring authorities, you must identify your eligibility in your questionnaire in the Applicant-Preferred Conditions of Employment section. In addition, you must submit documentation that provides evidence of eligibility as indicated in the Required Documents section of the announcement. As a part of the Federal-Wide Hiring Reform Initiative (streamlining the hiring process), the FAA is committed to eliminating the use of the Knowledge, Skills and Ability (KSA) narratives from the initial application in the hiring process for all announcements. Therefore, as an applicant for this announcement, you are NOT required to provide a narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA. In lieu of providing a KSA narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA, in your work history, please include information that provides specific examples of how you meet the response level or answer you chose for each KSA. Your work history examples should be specific and clearly reflect the highest level of ability. Your KSA answers will be evaluated further to validate whether the level that you selected is appropriate based on the work history and experience you provided. Your answers may be adjusted by a Human Resource Specialist as appropriate. Eligible applicants meeting the minimum qualification requirements and selective factor(s), if applicable, may be further evaluated on the KSAs listed in the announcement. Based on this evaluation, applicants will be placed in one of the following categories: score order, category grouping, or priority grouping and referred to the selecting official for consideration. Please ensure you answer all questions and follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may impact your rating or may result in you not being considered for the job. Applicants may be asked to verify information on your application for employment with the FAA. Links to Important Information: Locality Pay, COLA
