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Foreign Affairs Officer

Department of State
Department of State - Agency Wide
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for International Communications and Information Policy (EB/CIP). EB/CIP is principally responsible for formulating, coordinating, implementing, and overseeing international communications and information policy for the U.S. Government.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
07/21/2020 to 07/24/2020
Salary
$121,316 to - $157,709 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 14
Location
Washington, DC
1 vacancy
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Overseas and domestic travel may be required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
14
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Top Secret
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
High Risk (HR)
Trust determination process
Announcement number
HRSC/EB-2020-0021
Control number
573944700

Duties

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  • Performs policy analyses, collects information on program deficiencies and possible solutions, and reports on significant policies, developments, patterns, and trends of critical importance to U.S. foreign policy aims and objectives.
  • Develops authoritative advice, recommendations, foreign policy alternatives, and implementation strategies for information policy, data privacy, and the cross-border data flows, and other issues.
  • Provides authoritative input to and execution of the Bureau's goals, objectives and program plans in support of the President's and Secretary's foreign policy goals.
  • Coordinates interagency policy positions related to information policy, data privacy, and cross-border data flows, and other international telecommunications and information policy issues with relevant USG agencies.
  • Undertakes special policy assignments in the rapidly changing world of international telecommunications and information technology policy; identifies emerging trends, policies and technologies that can impact USG policies.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
  • U.S. Citizenship is required.
  • One year probationary period, unless excepted by regulation.
  • Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.
  • Verification of employment eligibility in the United States is required.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements, including education, and any selective placement factors described below by the closing date of this announcement. If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application. NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements, by the closing date of this announcement. Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F.

Applicants must have the required experience or education as described below and meet any selective factors, when specified.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

Have a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university in international law, international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; OR

Have a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited college or university that included a combination of courses, with at least 24 semester hours in international law and international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; OR

Have 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics / quantitative methods. OR

Have a combination of education and experience where your coursework was equivalent to a major, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, (as shown above), PLUS appropriate relevant experience OR additional education. OR

Have completed at least 4 years of appropriate experience in one OR more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations, problems, or other aspects of foreign affairs. (NOTE: qualifying work experience may have been gained through residence, study, teaching, business or commercial activities, military service, newspaper work, military or civil government activities, missionary or international relief work, or other experience in foreign countries.)

Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position.

IN ADDITION to the basic requirements, this position requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position.

Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

  • Experience advising on foreign policy issues related to international data privacy policy and cross border data flows. 
  • Experience applying knowledge of these topics to advocate for U.S. positions in international bilateral and multilateral engagements and negotiations. 
  • Experience with U.S. commercial and governmental privacy laws and policies.

Education

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click on the link for a list of accredited organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials. 

Additional information

For reasonable accommodation at the U.S. Department of State, please contact the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations at (202) 663-3474 or ReasonableAccommodations@state.gov.

If eligible, applicants to this announcement may be referred to other positions in other Bureaus/Offices in the Department.

EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION PROGRAM (E-Verify) – U.S. law requires organizations to employ only individuals who may legally work in the United States - either U.S. citizens, or foreign citizens who have the necessary authorization. This agency utilizes E-Verify to compare information from the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) records to confirm employment eligibility. If the employee’s information does not match DHS and/or SSA records, the employee is given an opportunity to resolve the problem. If eligibility cannot be verified, employment will be terminated.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs) and other characteristics that are relevant to the duties of this position and must be fully supported by information in your resume:

  1. Ability to orally communicate persuasively.
  2. Ability to communicate in writing.
  3. Ability to negotiate complex issues.
  4. Ability to provide advice, guidance, and consultation.
  5. Ability to establish and maintain liaison with officials throughout the foreign affairs community.

Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable) as it relates to this job opportunity. 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). Your resume should include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week. For assistance with creating a resume, please click here.

Qualified candidates are assigned a score between 70 and 100. Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) candidates must be rated "Well Qualified" for the position and earn a score of at least 85 (when applicants are rated in a range of 70 to 100) to receive consideration for selection priority. If, after reviewing your resume and self-assessment questionnaire responses and a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience, a score will be manually determined that reflects your documented experience. This may result in a lower score, which may also eliminate you from consideration for this position.

Applicants must meet all the qualification requirements and submit any required supporting documentation by the closing date of this job opportunity. Your application package must contain sufficient information to make a valid determination that you fully meet the basic/specialized experience requirements as stated in this job opportunity announcement for each grade level(s) for which you are applying. Applicants found to be among the top qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring official for further consideration and possible interview. Qualified non-competitive candidates must be deemed best qualified based on the applicant assessment in order to be referred to the hiring official for further consideration and possible interview.


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