Summary This position is located in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), Division of Reactor Oversight (DRO), Quality Assurance and Vendor Inspection Branch. The supervisor is Kerri Kavanagh. This position is Bargaining Unit with the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 208. This position is subject to Confidential Financial Disclosure reporting requirements. This position is subject to security ownership restriction reporting requirements. Responsibilities The successful candidate will perform the full range of duties. The successful candidate will serve as a Senior Reactor Operations Engineer in the Division of Reactor Oversight, with responsibility for 1) the inspection of vendors of safety related items for nuclear power plants and 2) development of Commission QA policy nuclear power plants. Such duties include but are not limited to: Reviews highly complex submittals relative to regulatory requirements and guidance associated with QA program descriptions, Part 21, and ASME conformity assessment and prepares safety evaluation inputs and/or technical reports to support licensing, license amendments, certifications, and exemptions from the regulations. Plans and leads multi-disciplined team inspections of safety related vendors for nuclear power plants, focusing on implementation of regulatory requirements, and preservation of component functionality. Coordinates the development of new inspection approaches and revisions to the existing inspection programs to ensure that the program is performance based and conforms to current agency policies and practices. Reviews new or revised NRC regulations and develops changes to existing inspection procedures and the QA program review methodology to assure consistency with agency policies and practices. Oversees preparation of generic industry guidance of QA programs as it applies to nuclear power plants. Prepares and presents complex technical information or innovative approaches at Commission meetings, ACRS meetings, ASLB meetings, and to other high-profile organizations or audiences with top management executives. Requirements Conditions of Employment U.S. Citizenship Required This is a Drug Testing position. Background investigation leading to a clearance is required for new hires. You must meet the qualifications for this position by no later than 30 calendar days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position. Qualifications In order to qualify for this position, you must have at least one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector. The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate the following: 1. Demonstrated knowledge and experience in an engineering or scientific discipline, QA principles it applies to applicants, licensees, vendors of safety related items for nuclear power plants. Examples may include specific training, education and work experience that demonstrate your knowledge as a subject matter expert in an engineering or scientific discipline, or QA principles related to technical assessments of applicants, licensees, vendors of safety related items for nuclear power plants. For example, completing safety evaluations, supporting inspection programs, enforcement, licensee amendments, and exemptions. Have extensive experience with the Vendor Inspection Program, the Reactor Oversight Process, or NRC Enforcement Policy and Allegations Process. 2. Demonstrated knowledge of NRC regulations, regulatory guides, industry codes and standards applicable to QA programs, including licensing reviews of QA program descriptions associated with all Part 50 and 52 applications, operating reactors, and research and test reactors, and assessment of Part 21 reports and programs. Examples may include work experience and training, gained through industry, NRC, or other organizations, that demonstrates your knowledge of the above. Provide several examples of work assignments that required you to apply your knowledge of the regulatory instruments and standards listed. 3. Demonstrated ability to work effectively with internal and external organizations on projects on a variety of subjects related to quality assurance and inspection programs, as it applies to applicants, licensees, vendors of safety related items for nuclear power plants. Examples may include specific experience and accomplishments, including your role and responsibilities, communicating effectively with individuals of diverse backgrounds in various organizations to resolve problems and/or recommended solutions to these problems. Examples may include experience, training, and accomplishments that demonstrate your ability to communicate and present complex technical information clearly and effectively to professional societies, peers, management, general public, governmental agencies, or others. Specialized Experience is defined as extensive experience in conducting licensing reviews for 10 CFR Part 50 and Part 52 applications in the area of quality assurance, vendor oversight plans of digital I&C upgrades, or complex operating fleet quality assurance program description reduction in commitments. Demonstrates an ability to independently review, analyze and develop of policy and criteria pertaining to the oversight of vendors supplying safety-related components, commercial-grade dedication, or industry developed guidance on the aforementioned topics. Provides expert technical and programmatic support on vendor inspection activities. Extensive experience performing lead roles in complex, multi-disciplined, or multinational team inspections. A description of how you possess the specialized experience as well as how you meet the qualifications desired in an ideal candidate should be addressed in your resume. Education You must include an unofficial or official copy of your college and/or university transcripts with your application. Transcript must include the School Name, Student Name, Degree and Date Awarded (if applicable). Education must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of credibility of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. If you have multiple degrees (e.g., BS, MS, PhD) please submit transcripts for each degree. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: https://www.ed.gov/accreditation. GG-0801 (General Engineering Series): Basic Requirements: A. 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 B. 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: 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. 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. 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 A. 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.) You must meet OPM’s basic education and professional knowledge requirements that apply to Federal engineering and sciences positions for the grade levels to which you are applying. This knowledge is met by having a bachelor's or higher degree in a relevant professional engineering/science discipline from a school of engineering with at least one engineering curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) (or by documenting how you meet the minimum OPM qualification standards for the 800 Occupational Series. Additional Information The duty location of this position is Rockville, Maryland. In general, employees are expected to be in the office at a minimum of 4 days per pay period. Telework schedules, including full-time telework, are approved, on a case-by-case basis. If selected, telework will be determined in accordance with Agency policy and the Collective Bargaining Agreement, if applicable.