Description
JOB TITLE : General Engineer
This position is in the Power Student Services (P), at Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application.
HOW TO APPLY: External Application Link(s):
26-BPA- 51509-12995104-RG: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/876165800
Open & Close date: Open: 07/13/2026 Close: 07/22/2026
LOCATION(s) Portland, OR:
SALARY: $ 71,846 - $125,478 per year
DUTIES:
Recent graduates who have completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution. Preference eligible veterans who were precluded from applying due to their military service obligation begin their two-year eligibility period upon release or discharge from active duty.
As a General Engineer, you will:
Participate in the BPA engineering rotation program and completes assignments in at least two different functional areas.
Modify standard practices and adapt equipment or techniques to solve a variety of engineering problems and adapts precedents or makes significant departures from previous approaches to similar projects in order to provide for the specialized requirements of some projects.
Plan and carry out engineering studies, analyses, and calculations for the solution of problems associated with the overall planning, design, or operation of a high-voltage power generation and transmission system.
Adapt, modify, or compromise with guidelines and precedents in consideration of ecological or aesthetic factors which affect the approach to engineering problems.
Perform design and layout of plans for systems and equipment.
Perform design and engineering functions for older or well-established systems and equipment when new requirements or changed requirements are imposed.
Requirements
REQUIREMENTS: Conditions of Employment
In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answer to these questions is not scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration.
When you apply you will be asked a series of questions to determine your eligibility for employment and your qualification for this position specifically. You must answer all of these questions completely and truthfully.
Key Requirements:
- You must be a United States Citizen.
- This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
- Males must abide by Selective Service registration requirements.
- You will be required to report in person to the official duty location.
- After employment, this position may be subject to periodic physical examinations, as prescribed by competent medical authority and at BPA expense, if exposed to health hazards.
- A preliminary background check must be completed before a new employee can begin work. Current Federal employees or other individuals with an existing completed background investigation may not be required to undergo another background check.
Pathways Recent Graduates Program Requirements:
- Recent Graduate participants will be on a trial period for the duration of the appointment.
- A Pathways Recent Graduate Participant Agreement is required.
Conversion: Pathways Recent Graduates are converted to a term or permanent position upon program completion. This is not automatic nor guaranteed; it is at the discretion of the employing office.
To be eligible for conversion, a Recent Graduate must: (1) complete at least one year of continuous service; (2) be a U.S. citizen; (3) demonstrate successful job performance (4) meet the qualification standards for the position to which converted; (5) receive a recommendation for conversion from the first-level supervisor; and (6) meet agency-specific requirements, as specified in the Participant Agreement.
QUALIFICATIONS:
To be eligible for the Recent Graduate program you must be a:
Recent graduate who has completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying associates, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution. -OR-
Student who within 90 days of the closing date of this announcement will meet the education requirements and will graduate with a qualifying associates, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution. A student may not be appointed to a position until they have graduated. -OR-
Preference eligible veteran who was precluded from applying due to their military service obligation begin their two-year eligibility period upon release or discharge from active duty. Eligibility for these veterans cannot exceed six years after degree or certificate completion
BASIC REQUIREMENT:
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) 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).
SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is defined as:
GS-7: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-5) in the Federal service. Specialized Experience is defined as: Routine engineering work that required and was characterized by (1) knowledge of engineering; (2) ability to apply such knowledge to engineering problems; and (3) continuing development of engineering knowledge and ability.
GS-09: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-7) in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Non-routine engineering work that required and was characterized by (1) professional knowledge of engineering; (2) professional ability to apply such knowledge to engineering problems; and (3) positive and continuing development of professional knowledge and ability
GS-11: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-9) in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: 1) assisting with engineering studies, analyses, and calculations for power systems under the guidance of senior engineers; 2) contributing to the design, layout, and evaluation of systems or equipment by applying standard engineering principles and practices; and 3) supporting project management functions by performing assigned tasks and coordinating with other technical personnel..
You may substitute education for specialized experience for the GS-7, GS-9, & GS-11 levels – See Specialized Experience section for full details.
You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
EDUCATION:
This vacancy has a positive education requirement. In order to be rated as qualified, you must provide copies of your college transcripts. Education must be obtained from an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. See Department of Education Accreditation Search to verify school accreditation.
Foreign education must be reviewed by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For special instructions pertaining to foreign education and a list of organizations that can evaluate foreign education, see the Department of Education website.DO NOT email or mail in any of your application documents. Documents will not be accepted outside of the online application system.
Failure to provide copies of your college transcripts may result in a rating of "Ineligible".
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:
To apply for this position, you MUST provide a complete application package.
(See Required Documents section on application).
