Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens or Nationals

WHAT DOES A STATISTICIAN DO? Statisticians design, develop, and implement statistical projects, studies, and proposals that affect the programs and policies of the Internal Revenue Service. They provide professional assistance to senior staff members or management.

WHAT IS THE TAX EXEMPT & GOVERNMENT ENTITIES DIVISION?  Tax Exempt & Government Entities Division serves Employee Plans which examines the returns of qualified pension benefit plans compliance. Exempt Organizations ensures not-for-profit organizations meet tax-exempt status requirements.  And, Government Entities ensures organizations meet their tax withholding and employment tax payment requirements. 

As a Statistician you will:

• Assume responsibility for the initiation, planning, implementation, controlling, modifying and executing of all or part of an entire research project, including such tasks as formulation of workload estimates for program segments, specification of the methodology to be used, preparation of appropriate specifications and procedures, and review computer systems specifications and materials and instructions needed for assuring the adequacy of a study's design.
• Prepare recommendations relating to strategic planning, oversight, and monitoring of budget, acquisitions, and human resources activities.
• Recommendations adopted facilitate management decisions in the
  arena of human capital investment strategies and, ultimately, impact overall organizational efficiencies.
• Assist the supervisor in determining the scope, goals and schedules for future programs in the Office. Act as a troubleshooter in resolving bottlenecks at any step in a program or research project.
• Resolve very complex problems requiring in-depth statistical and subject-matter knowledge.
• Participate in executive-level meetings as a representative of the supervisor.
• Produce tables and graphical materials using standard computer software packages.
• Review statistical literature for data and research methodology appropriate for inclusion in the research process and also as a means of helping to evaluate the reasonableness of data.
• Perform in-depth review and analysis for reasonableness and accuracy of all material produced for a given study, and provide guidance in this task to lower grade professionals based on in-depth knowledge of research requirements.

If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties, and will receive training to help you grow in this position.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OTHER IRS CAREERS? If you want to find out more about IRS careers, visit us on the web at www.jobs.irs.gov

Conditions of employment

• Refer to Other Information.
• Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National

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Qualifications

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement:

BASIC QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: (All Grades)
You must have a Bachelor's degree that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology, etc. Credit toward meeting statistical course requirements should be given for courses in which 50 percent of the course content appears to be statistical methods, e.g., courses that included studies in research methods in psychology or economics such as tests and measurements or business cycles, or courses in methods of processing mass statistical data such as tabulating methods or electronic data processing. OR

Combination of education and experience -- courses as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. The experience should have included a full range of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance.

In addition to the above, you must meet the requirements described below:

GS-11 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: experience applying statistical theories and techniques that relate to experimental design, data analysis, sampling, forecasting, quality control, and operations research; Experience using the research and study design and administration processes from the formulation of concepts through specification and analysis of output to the presentation of conclusions; experience in planning and the execution of a variety of projects and in developing authoritative recommendations requiring technical and administrative judgment; experience preparing reports and conducting statistical analysis to provide recommendations on results; experience working with project planning techniques that can be used to plan develop and evaluate programs; experience with systems analysis techniques and cost benefit analysis and experience in the use of statistical software packages and computer database tools and of other types of mainframes and personal computer software. OR

You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a related field of study such as mathematics or statistics. OR 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a related field of study such as mathematics or statistics. OR

You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. Options for qualifying based on a combination will be identified in the online questions

GS-12 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: experience applying statistical and mathematical theories and techniques that relate to experimental design, data analysis, sampling, forecasting, quality control, and operations research. Experience applying this professional knowledge to IRS program concerns; experience in researching and gathering pertinent data from a variety of sources, and using them in analyzing complex and highly technical program areas and experience explaining technical terminology and making recommendations on the results; Experience in the research and study design and administration processes from the formulation of concepts through specification and analysis of output to the presentation of conclusions; experience assisting in the planning and execution a variety of projects and in developing authoritative recommendations requiring technical and administrative judgment. Experience gathering facts related to findings, negotiating resolution of problems, and recommending new approaches to various levels of management; experience in project planning techniques to be used in planning the develop and evaluation of programs; experience working with systems analysis techniques and cost benefit analysis and in the use of statistical software packages and computer database tools and other types of mainframe and personal computer software.

- The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-timework; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis.
- To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your application includes your resume, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a "not qualified" determination.

This position will be filled through the Direct Hire Authority. Under this authority, competitive rating, ranking, and veterans' preference procedures do not apply. Your application will be considered based on education, training, and quality of your experience. For more information on Direct-Hire Authority visit: OPM Direct Hire Fact Sheet.

Referral:  Applicants who meet the basic qualification requirements may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview (telephonic and/or in person at the discretion of the Selecting Official in accordance with hiring polices). We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)), you must be determined “WELL QUALIFIED" to receive special selection priority.