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Federal Transit Administration

Lead General Engineer

Department of Transportation · Seattle, Washington

Salary
$141,367 - $183,782 per year
Pay grade
GS-14
Schedule
Full-time
Appointment
Permanent
Opened
Nov 3, 2026
Closes
Nov 16, 2026
Remote
No
Telework eligible
Yes
Openings
1
Security clearance
Other
Promotion potential
14
Announcement
FTA.DH-2027-0002

Who may apply: Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL) · Open to the public

Apply on USAJOBS

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Summary

The position serves as a Lead General Engineer under the leadership of the Regional Director. You will be responsible for guiding and managing the technical work of assigned team members, coordinating tasks to ensure timely completion, and serve as a point of contact for the team members and management. This position requires strong leadership skills, excellent communication abilities, and a proactive approach to problem-solving.

Duties

  • The Lead General Engineer: Gives expert advice and guidance in the implementation and completion of technical studies related to project development. Observes progress, verifies compliance with FTA requirements, regulations, and contract specifications and provides advice on problems and correction of deficiencies to ensure that recipients are meeting project schedules; ensures the implementation of relevant federal statutory and regulatory requirements. Provides senior engineering and project management assistance on a variety of complex capital, operating, recovery, and resiliency projects to ensure that projects remain on schedule and within budget and scope. Reviews and evaluates Project Management Plans, Real Estate Acquisition Management Plans, Contract Packaging Plans, Quality Management Plans, Force Account plans, monthly status reports, etc., to identify potential risks and violations of federal laws, regulations, and policies, and to ensure that projects remain on schedule, on budget, and within an agreed upon scope. Articulates and communicates to the Team the assignment, project, problem to be solved, actionable events, milestones, and/or program issues under review, and deadlines and timeframes for completion. The ideal candidate for this position is an engineer who is looking for an excellent opportunity to join the Federal Transit Administration, work with transportation officials and meet the challenges of advancing transit systems. The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills and the ability to lead and provide specialized engineering assistance to the grantees, program managers, and senior staff to resolve problems and ensure successful delivery of Federal funded projects.

Key requirements

  • Be a U.S. citizen or National and meet specialized experience to qualify
  • Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date
  • Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
  • Direct Hire Authority/SME will be used to fill this position

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Education Requirement for the series, (2) provide a copy of transcripts for verification, AND (3) meet the education and experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration. To qualify for the GS-14, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-13, it must include: Experience leading, coordinating, and/or overseeing a group of individuals or a team by communicating assignments, projects, timeline due dates, and solving program issues. Experience verifying compliance with requirements, regulations, and contract specifications to ensure the implementation of relevant federal statutory and regulatory requirements. Experience analyzing, evaluating and proposing recommendations to engineering and project management problems, and presenting the findings to other employees or senior management officials. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas: Project Management: Knowledge of the principles, methods, or tools for developing, scheduling, coordinating, and managing projects and resources, including monitoring and inspecting costs, work, and contractor performance. Compliance: Knowledge of procedures for assessing, evaluating, and monitoring programs or projects for compliance with Federal laws, regulations, and guidance. Oral Communication: Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/frequently-asked-questions/employment-faq/federal-hiring/how-do-i-apply-for-federal-jobs/ All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

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. <B>OR</b> 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: 1. 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.…

Job data from USAJOBS.gov. Careers.org is not affiliated with or endorsed by OPM. Retrieved Nov 4, 2026, 5:03 AM EST.