https://www.faa.gov/jobs/career_fields/aviation_careers/asi/

The jobs listed there might be good for anyone looking to be fat, dumb and happy.

I thought about applying but the pay is so low.

I bet there will sadly be plenty of applications in about 6 months.

But deferred pay through pension...

Back in the early to mid 1990s, it was explained to me that military service gets translated to civil service points, so an entry level position might be filled with a person with prior military service, but their pay gets bumped to a higher level when the military service is translated over, and the payroll is budgeted by taking that into account.

ETA: The person that explained this to me, was working in a federal facility that had better than 75% of the staff with prior military service.

So could a civilian negotiate a higher pay rate or is it accept what’s advertised?

I was asked to apply for an ASCI position in 2015, your travel schedule at the time was 80%.
Almost 42 weeks on the road...

There is also mandatory geographic living requirements, typically in large metro areas.

Gotta love some of the requirements.  

Not more than 2 flying accidents during the last 5 years in which the applicant's pilot error was involved

View Quote

So basically, if you have only crashed twice in the past 5 years, you are good to go as a safety inspector.

I've had people (inside the system) encourage me to apply, a couple times, but I never bothered to even ask for an application, so I don't know what options there may be.  

Back when it was initially explained to me, there was an entry level position opening posted, and the person explaining the situation laid out the qualifications that were listed as required (education, previous work experience in the field, etc).  They then stated that the pay scale for that position was only slightly higher than what someone fresh out of a high school in that area would expect, if they went looking for an entry level job that didn't require anything more than a high school diploma and passing a drug test (which is why so many of the people working at that facility had prior military experience).

One of the guys that encouraged me to apply, started his career with a goal of collecting his paycheck from the FAA.  He 'networked', while getting a few years of work experience in aviation, then applied for a position.  He's been in long enough to apparently be fairly comfortable with his income, but a few comments he has made over the years, gave me the impression that the FAA is very much like the airlines, in that there are times to look at starting a career there (if you are interested in that sort of thing), and times to look elsewhere.

If you have a guy in the shop, who has never had an 'oops', you know he has probably never really done anything.

If you have a guy in the shop, who can spend quite a bit of time telling you how many ways he has had an 'oops', you start keeping an eye on where he is, so that you don't get caught up in his next 'oops'.

There's a balance somewhere in the middle.

That’s why you should do it Now.  This very day. No joke.   We all need a friend on the inside anyway.  

I'm not a GS kind of guy but I was reading something else on the topic could you could use your resume to negotiate within the band so instead of GS12 you'd be able to be a GS12 step 7 or whatever then that gets multiplied by locality and differential pays.

Gents, no offense...and I mean that... but nothing in this thread is factually correct.

This is my 10th year with the agency and I have no plans to ever leave. I've known a few that didn't make it past string or quit within a year or two but it was almost always something they did or they couldn't adjust to the bureaucracy that comes with any gov job.

When a job gets posted, the pay grade listed in the offer has VERY LITTLE room, if any, for negotiation.  The FAA HR just isn't comparable to a civilian HR dept.

Trust me, if the job is listed at a GS13 step 5, you aren't negotiating to a step 7. You either take it or not.

The FAA has done some things very recently to attract potential inspectors that I thought I'd never see. That goes to show how short staffed we are. Especially for OPS Inspectors.

ETA
In general, as an OPS inspector new hire (with air carrier, 135, 91k, or military) you can almost guarantee starting at GS-13 Step 5 plus the applicable locality pay.
Some openings may be listed at the GS-12 level. If so, you could expect a promotion to GS-13 after your first year.

@esa17
You take what the job opening offers or you don't

That’s what I thought.

See, like I said I'm not a GS guy. No idea how the system works. Although once I get my good time I've thought about trying out something different on the technical side.

Every pilot I know has a story.  Maybe not all were ‘crashes’ but some were damn close.  

I called the local FSDO about being an ops inspector and they only wanted heavy 121 time. I don’t have a CFI so there went that idea!

@Mazawakhan

It totally depends on the need of the agency and/or particular office.

I don't have a CFI either and it has never been an issue.

What type of experience and type ratings do you have?

ATP 8000+ hrs 4000 of which was in King Air and  LR-JET and CE-680 types.