Series 0806

Materials Engineering

Materials engineers who study and test metals, plastics, composites, and other materials and choose the right ones for aircraft, ships, and equipment. Many jobs are with the Navy and NASA.

Plain-language description based on the OPM series definition.

0800 Engineering and Architecture Group · General Schedule

See open 0806 jobs on USAJOBS Compare with another series Back to Series Directory

At a glance

Job postings, last 12 months: 84
Open now: 5
Trend (last 3 months vs. 3 before): Rising (+33%)
Demand score: 57/100
Remote opportunity score: 60/100
Veteran opportunity score: 96/100

What these scores mean

Grades and pay

Typical grades

GS-7 to GS-15

Most common promotion potential: GS-13

GS pay plan, used by 58% of this series' postings.

Typical posted salary range

$106,942 to $187,093 per year

Median of the yearly salary ranges in posted announcements.

Who can apply

Share of job postings in the last 12 months, by who the announcement was open to.

Open to the public: 55%
Federal employees and other special groups only: 45%
Listed a veterans hiring path: 48%
Telework eligible (open now): 60%
Fully remote (open now): 0%

Who is hiring and where

Top hiring departments

Department of the Navy (33)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (18)
Department of the Army (10)
Other Agencies and Independent Organizations (6)
Department of Commerce (5)

Top states

Maryland (30)
District of Columbia (14)
California (12)
Alabama (10)
Virginia (10)

Hiring patterns

Based on job announcements since Mar 2017. How patterns are calculated

When this series usually posts jobs

Postings are spread fairly evenly through the year, so there is no clear best month to look.

Typical postings for series 0806 by calendar month, compared with an average month
Month	Compared with an average month
January	5% below average
February	About average
March	10% above average
April	10% above average
May	About average
June	About average
July	About average
August	10% above average
September	About average
October	About average
November	12% below average
December	16% below average

Postings by fiscal year

The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Fiscal years 2025 and 2026 include the government-wide hiring freeze that began in January 2025.

Job announcements for series 0806 by fiscal year
Fiscal year	Postings
FY 2018	157
FY 2019	139
FY 2020	149
FY 2021	138
FY 2022	158
FY 2023	156
FY 2024	153
FY 2025	68
FY 2026	75

Postings by month, last 12 months

Job announcements for series 0806 opened each month
Month	Postings
Dec 2025	2
Jan 2026	2
Feb 2026	4
Mar 2026	7
Apr 2026	11
May 2026	10
Jun 2026	8
Jul 2026	6
Aug 2026	7
Sep 2026	12
Oct 2026	13
Nov 2026 (month to date)	2

0801 General Engineering 3,680 postings in 12 months
0810 Civil Engineering 1,496 postings in 12 months
0830 Mechanical Engineering 1,428 postings in 12 months
0850 Electrical Engineering 1,230 postings in 12 months
0802 Engineering Technical 1,075 postings in 12 months

About this data

Job numbers come from the USAJOBS API: 244,223 job announcements opened from December 1, 2025 to November 15, 2026, plus 12,260 announcements open on November 15, 2026. Canceled announcements are not counted. Series descriptions summarize the OPM Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families.

These figures describe posted job announcements, not hiring outcomes. Always read the official announcement and its qualification requirements before applying. How the scores are calculated.