Nuclear Engineer (Deputy Director, Reactor Refueling Division)

About the role

This position is part of the Deputy Administrator for Naval Reactors, Department of Energy. The Deputy Administrator for Naval Reactors is also the Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program and the Deputy Commander, Naval Nuclear Propulsion Directorate, Naval Sea Systems Command.

Responsibilities for this Program area are contained in Executive Order 12344 of 1 February 1982, which is codified in 10 U.S.C. § 6102 and 50 U.S.C. § 2406.

What you will do

• Serves as the recognized senior technical expert for all aspects of the initial fueling, refueling, defueling, emergent reactor servicing, highly irradiated and special nuclear material transportation, and used nuclear fuel processing and storage for nuclear submarines, surface ships, moored training ships, and land-based prototype reactors.
• Serves as senior technical consultant and provides direction, leadership, guidance, and advice to Division personnel in their interactions with ships, shipyards, equipment suppliers, and field offices when problems or questions arise relative to administered programs or equipment.
• Ensures Division technical liaison and support associated with any aspect of nuclear, radiological, and personnel safety control needed to safely execute reactor servicing work.
• Initiates and coordinates senior-level prime contractor and shipyard action to deliver and operate reactor servicing systems, and resolve emergent problems with these systems, in order to complete all initial fueling, refueling, defueling, and used fuel disposal of naval reactors required by the Department of the Navy and Department of Energy.
• Provides senior technical review of technical recommendations associated with any aspect of reactor servicing submitted by Government prime contractors and accepts, modifies, or rejects such proposals based on technical merit.
• Provides senior technical review of the budgeting, procurement, delivery, and operational testing of reactor servicing equipment to ensure that the performance requirements are satisfactorily addressed and consistent approaches are being pursued wherever practicable across the Program.
• Oversees activities across the Division to ensure consistent technical standards.
• Develops and secures approval for Division-wide technical standards and associated metrics of progress in support of naval reactor initial fueling, refueling, defueling, emergent reactor servicing, highly irradiated and special nuclear material transportation, and used nuclear fuel processing and storage Develops long-range technical plans to ensure Division and Program goals are met.
• This involves tracking and anticipating changes in the rapidly changing fleet schedules for ship fueling, refueling, and defueling availabilities.
• Provides regulatory oversight of all activities at the Naval Reactors Facility on the Idaho National Laboratory to enable the safe and timely receipt, processing, inspection, and disposal of all naval used nuclear fuel and irradiated test material.

Education

BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR ENGINEER: Bachelor's Degree (or higher) in Engineering OR Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate professional field, provided you have had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance.

OR Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and in engineering that included the courses specified in the basic requirements. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum.

OR Current registration as a Professional Engineer by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico allows eligibility only if your registration is within or closely related to nuclear engineering. EDUCATION: You must provide transcripts to support your educational claims.

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the US Department of Education. Foreign education must be reviewed by an organization recognized by the US Department of Education. Foreign education special instructions: *** For more information on qualification requirements, please click OPM Qualification Standards.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements above.

How You Will Be Evaluated THE APPLICATION REVIEW PROCESS WILL BE IN TWO STAGES: Minimum Qualifications: Once the application process is complete, the Human Resources Office and/or Subject Matter Expert will review the first two pages of your resume and supporting documentation to determine whether you meet the minimum job qualifications.

Structured Resume Review: The Human Resources Office and/or Subject Matter Expert will review your resume to determine your technical qualifications. Additional documentation (e.g., cover letter, links embedded in your resume) may not be considered.

Your application and resume shall demonstrate that you possess the following: Communication Nuclear Engineering Project Management Technical Competence Do not provide a separate narrative written statement. Rather, you must describe in your application how your past work experience demonstrates that you possess the Competencies identified above.

Cite specific examples of employment or experience contained in your resume and describe how this experience has prepared you to successfully perform the duties of this position.

DO NOT write "see resume" in your application.

If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses you provided in your online questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation before the vacancy closes, you may be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified'.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date (11/13/2026) of this announcement.

Shared Certificates: The Department of Energy shares lists of applicants among its internal Departmental Elements and organizations. You may be referred for consideration to other DOE Hiring Managers throughout the Department for more than one position based on this application.

By applying to this announcement, you understand your application materials may be shared with multiple Hiring Mangers throughout DOE. If additional positions are filled from this announcement conditions of employment may differ. You will be notified if you are referred for additional positions.

To preview the Assessment Questionnaire, click ***

Documents you must provide

• duties performed; full name and address of the each employer; start and end dates (month/day/year); work schedule (part-time, full-time, number of hours if intermittent); salary; and any completed education and training (program title, subject area, number of hours completed, and completion date).
• If more than two pages are submitted, only the first two pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.
• Your full resume will be made available to the hiring manager if you are referred.
• 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.
• See "Guidance for Applicants on 2-Page Resume" and visit the USAJOBS Help Center for more information.
• Cover Letter, optional, expressing additional information not covered in your resume.
• Transcripts, if specific educational requirements are indicated in this job announcement.
• Unofficial transcripts or any report listing institution, course title, credits earned (semester or quarter hour) and final grade is acceptable.
• It is your responsibility to provide adequate proof that you meet the educational requirements.
• Veterans' Preference documentation, if applicable, DD-214 Member Copy 4 showing type of discharge/character of service; current active duty members- certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions dated within 120 days; SF-15 Form and related documentation; VA letter.
• For more information visit the USAJOBS Help Center & OPM CHCOC website for VOW information.
• Military Spouse, if applicable, Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders authorizing you to accompany the Military member to the new duty permanent station; OR verification of the member's 100% disability (VA Letter); and/or verification of the member's death while on active duty (DD-1300 and Death Certificate) AND verification of the marriage to the service member (i.e., a marriage license or other legal documentation verifying marriage).
• For more information visit the USAJOBS Help Center.
• For more information about what to include in your resume, please view this USAJOBS Resume Tutorial video on YouTube.Naval Reactors will accept a resume in the format of your choice (as an attached document or as a USAJOBS Resume Builder format).
• You will be notified at the time you click 'Apply Online' which type of resume is acceptable.
• It is important that you are complete and thorough in your resume.
• If any of the above information is not included in your resume, we may not be able to fully credit you for your experience.
• If specific educational requirements are indicated for this vacancy: Documentation verifying your educational claims which can include unofficial transcripts or any report listing institution, course title, credits earned and final grade.
• Please see the Education section for more information.
• For Professional, Scientific and Engineering Positions: If qualifying on the basis of an alternate method, i.e., professional license, you must submit official documentation to support your claim with your application package.
• If selected for the position you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to onboarding.
• Failure to submit any of the above mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package.
• It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.
• Do not provide photos or list a Social Security Number or date of birth on any attachment.

What to expect next

Once your online application is submitted you will receive a confirmation notification by email. The status of your application will be updated in USAJOBS as it is evaluated. You can check the status by logging into USAJOBS.

You may also sign up to receive automatic emails anytime the status of your application changes by logging into your USAJobs Account and editing the Notification Settings. You will be contacted directly if an interview is required.

Additional information

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional similar vacancies across DOE. As needed, additional positions may be filled using this announcement. In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to the four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire.

Answers to these questions are not scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration. The Fair Chance Act prohibits specific inquiries concerning an applicant's criminal or credit background unless the hiring agency has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant.

An applicant may submit a complaint to the agency within 30 calendar days of the date of alleged noncompliance by completing the Fair Chance Act Intake Form and submitting it to the Administrative Investigations Program at ***. EEO Policy: Click HERE. Reasonable Accommodation Policy: Click HERE.

Veterans Information: Click HERE. Telework: Click HERE. Selective Service Registration: Click HERE.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.