This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/450988300. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
Come work for the USPTO, we have been ranked as one of the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government®!
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been serving the economic interests of America for more than 200 years. We are responsible for granting US intellectual property rights for patents and trademarks. Our efforts have provided inventors exclusive rights over their discoveries. It's an effort that continues to contribute to a strong global economy, to encourage investment in innovation and to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit for the 21st century.
The USPTO is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, and has over 12,000 employees, including engineers, scientists, attorneys, analysts, IT specialists, etc. all dedicated to accomplishing the USPTO’s mission, vision, strategic goals and guiding principles. For more information about the USPTO, please visit the USPTO Careers Website.
The incumbent exercises full signatory authority and final authority for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce, and the executive branch of the government to determine the approval/disapproval of patent applications. In addition, the incumbent performs the full range of supervisory duties, (Supervisory Design Patent Examiner (SPE)) reviewing the performance of all design patent examiners in the art unit for compliance with standards, recommendation for the initiation of major projects, and the allocation of unit staff to these projects. SPEs serve as advisors to the group director and other higher level management officials on proposed changes to patent examining practices and procedures. The incumbent is expected to work on patent examining issues with their subordinates, group directors, senior-level managers, patent attorneys, inventors, corporate officers, and other high-ranking officials of federal, state, municipal, and/or foreign governments. The SPE will negotiate, justify, and resolve highly controversial/complex matters involving diverse viewpoints and goals.
The Office of Human Resources strongly encourages applicants applying for positions to read the vacancy announcement in its entirety before submitting application materials for this position. If you have any questions or concerns about the application procedure or processes, please contact the individual listed under "Contact Information." Failure to follow instructions in the announcement may result in your application not receiving consideration.
09/19/2016 to 08/17/2017
$136,519 - $160,300 per year
GS 15
Not required
No
Permanent - career/career-conditional appointment in the competitive service.
Full-time - This is a full-time, permanent
15
Yes
TC2900-2016-0003
450988300
The incumbent serves as head of a design patent examining art unit under the general administrative direction of the group director. Incumbent is responsible for the authoritative interpretation of legal precedents for making a wide variety of decisions involving the subject matter of TC 2900, such as product design, industrial design, architecture, applied arts, graphic design, studio/fine arts, and art teacher education.
The incumbent will be performing a number of related duties such as determining whether two or more applications contain interfering subject matter. The incumbent exercises the full range of supervisory and managerial duties associated with the direction of work in the art unit, developing and training employees, reviewing and evaluating the work and performance of subordinates, and determining the staffing needs of the unit.
SELECTIVE FACTORS: Candidates must possess the following for consideration: 1. Applicant must have full signatory authority.
All requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.
Applicants applying for this position must be a United States Citizen.
If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System. If you are exempt from registration under Selective Service Law, you must provide appropriate proof of exemption. Please visit the Selective Service System website for more information.
This is a non-bargaining unit position.
This is a Public Trust position and has a risk level designation of “moderate”.
Background Investigation - If selected for this position, you may be required to complete a Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306), which includes a fingerprint and credit check, to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation.
The USPTO participates in E-Verify. For more information on E-Verify, please visit the Department of Homeland Security Website.
Supervisory Probationary Period- If selected, you may be required to complete an initial one-year supervisory probationary period.
All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice.
Relocation Expenses are not authorized and will not be paid.
Individuals who have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) will be eligible if they achieve a score of at least 85 on the self assessment. Information about CTAP eligibility is on the Office of Personnel Management’s Career Transition Resources website
CTAP documentation requirements are listed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.
More than one selection may be made from this announcement if additional identical vacancies in the same title, series, grade, and unit occur within 90 days from the date the certificate was issued.
All application materials become the property of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors. If you believe that you have been discriminated against and would like to file an EEO complaint, you must do so within 45 days of the date of the alleged discriminatory act. Claims of employment discrimination must be submitted to the attention of the USPTO’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity via email (oeeod@uspto.gov) or phone (571-272-8292).
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Your eligibility for consideration and qualifications for the position will be determined based upon a review of your detailed resume and your responses to job specific self-assessment questions. Your resume will be evaluated based on evidence of your ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for this position, possession of any specialized experience, and how well your background and experience relates to the self-assessment questions in the job announcement.
The self-assessment questions relate to the following knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies:
The self-assessment questions relate to the following knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies (KSA's). You do not have to respond to the KSA's.
A complete application consists of:
A resume or any other written format you choose to describe your job-related qualifications; optional cover letter: Your resume should indicate your citizenship and should list your educational and work experience including titles, salary, employment dates, duties, experience and how it relates to the specialized experience in the job announcement.
Please Note: Responses to job questions that are not fully supported by the information in your resume may result in adjustments to your rating. Any experience claimed in a cover letter should be substantiated by information contained in your resume. A HR Representative will validate the qualifications of those candidates eligible to be referred to the hiring official.
Supporting Documents:
PLEASE NOTE: Applicants who meet the minimum eligibility and qualification requirements for this position may be contacted via email within 7 business days of this announcement closing to submit follow-up supporting docs if applicable. Applicants applying as current/former Federal employees OR as VEOA eligibles who fail to submit supporting documents within 5 business days of receiving the email request will lose further consideration for this position. Applicants claiming CTAP/ICTAP or Sch A eligibility who fail to submit supporting documents within 5 business days of receiving the email request will not lose consideration for this position, however they will not be entitled to special or priority consideration. Supporting docs that may be requested of applicants after the closing date of this announcement are:
1. Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50) - For current and/or former Federal employees, your status eligibility and highest permanent grade/step/salary held in the Federal service will be validated with a copy of your most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" so that we may verify your time-in-grade.
2. Performance Appraisal - Recent performance appraisal with supervisor's signature showing the official final rating of record, and copy of incentive award(s). In cases where the performance appraisal is incomplete or unavailable, applicants may provide explanation of the reasons.
3. Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) documents - Applicants will be asked to submit:
(1) A copy of your specific RIF notice, written notice of your expected separation or other documents of priority consideration status;
(2) A copy of your latest SF-50 noting current position, grade, and duty location;
(3) A copy of your last performance appraisal; and
(4) Any documents from your agency that shows your current promotion potential.
You can choose ONE of the following methods to submit Supporting Documents:
1) You can upload your documents when you register or update your information on the Dept. of Commerce site which you access through the USAJobs site.
OR
2) You can fax your documents to 571-258-4254 using the system generated fax cover sheet.
Your application and all required documents must be received by 11:59 pm ET on the closing date of this job announcement.
NOTE: The preceding documents requirement are based on job requirements and individual applicant eligibility. Not all documents are applicable to all applicants; if you are unsure which documents apply to you, contact the HR Specialist listed on this announcement.
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is defined as information that can be traced back to a specific individual and potentially compromise their security or privacy. Examples of PII include: date of birth, Social Security Number, and place of birth.
Please ensure that you have removed all Personally Identifiable Information from all documents prior to submitting or uploading your applications material.
You MUST apply online. If you experience difficulties with the application process or do not have access to a computer, please contact the HR Specialist listed as the point of contact before the closing date of this job announcement.
If you are a new user to the USAJobs Site and have never registered for an account; you will first need to create an account profile with your basic contact information and a resume to begin applying. You must be a registered USAJobs user AND you must be signed-in to your account in order to apply for this position. For help setting up an account or for general help using USAJobs, go to USAJobs Help Page.
Once you have gathered all of the required information and are ready to begin the application process, click the "APPLY ONLINE" button at the right side of the page. You will then be directed away from USAJobs to the Department of Commerce application site for USPTO.
If you experience any difficulties with the application site, help is available! If you have problems completing your on-line application, contact the Monster Hiring Management Help Desk at 1-866-656-6831 or by e-mail at MGSHELP@monster.com. The help desk is available Monday - Friday 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. You may call and leave a voice mail message at all other times.
All required supporting documents will be collected electronically via the USAJobs “Saved Documents” feature.
You will receive a notice generated by the USAJobs System when you have successfully submitted your application.
You will also receive notification through USAJOBS at each of the following points during the application process: (1) application received; (2) applicant assessed for qualifications; (3) applicant referred or not referred; and (4) selected or not selected.
After all application packages have been received, we will review your application and transcript(s) (if you are qualifying based on education) to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. We will evaluate each applicant who meets the basic qualifications on the information provided and you may be contacted for follow-up supplemental documentation. It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide any supplemental documents or information requested by the Office of Human Resources within the allocated timeframes. Failure to submit requested documents or information within 5 business days of receiving the request may result in your application not receiving further consideration.
You can check the status of your application by logging into USAJOBS. You may also sign up to receive automatic emails anytime the status of your application has changed by logging into your USAJobs Account, editing your profile and changing the"Notification Settings" to indicate that you want to be notified by email when the status changes. Information regarding the status of your application should be updated in the system within 2 weeks after the closing date of this job announcement.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/450988300. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
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