This position is assigned to the Office of Railroad Safety, Office of Railroad Systems, Technology and Automation, Signal, Train Control and Crossing Division. The employee maintains a current and valid technical foundation for Federal Railroad Administration policy regarding signal and train control safety and translates that policy into regulations and programs affecting the nation's entire railroad system.
As a General Engineer, you will: Provide the staff of the Signal, Train Control and Crossing Division with professional advice relating to signal, train control, and crossing (signal and train control) matters as they affect railroad safety. Apply science and engineering judgment, engineering principles, and administrative skills to plan, coordinate, and implement several complex projects related to reliability, system safety, and design principles.
Identify the scope of work needed, define specific engineering requirements and design criteria, and develop testing and evaluation criteria for projects and research and development (R&D) efforts that address the development of improved concepts for grade crossing protection, communication, and train control technologies.
Participate in the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) rulemaking process, including representing FRA on the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC), analyzing all pertinent issues, and making recommendations for revisions or modifications to the signal and train control regulations when warranted by results of analysis.
Initiate and prepare replies to inquiries from members of Congress, railroads, labor organizations, FRA district personnel, other agencies, and the public pertaining to signals and train control matters.
The ideal candidate for this position has experience in program and project management; provide technical guidance in matters concerning the implementation of a comprehensive research and development program related to railroad signaling, train control, and communication design, testing, and implementation.
MANDATORY EDUCATION 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) 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). All applicants must meet the education requirements under A or B to qualify for applying to an engineering position. Transcripts are required for this position.
transjobs@dot.gov · 000-000-0000
This position is with Federal Railroad Administration, Department of Transportation.
The posted pay range is $106855 – $187093/yr.
This position is eligible for telework.
Applications close on 2026-10-21.
This is a Full Time position.
This position is open under the 'Fed Competitive' hiring path.
Source: USAJOBS.gov — U.S. Federal Government
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