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Physical Science Administrator (Program Director)

National Science Foundation
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The National Science Foundation is seeking qualified candidate for a Physical Science Administrator (Program Director) position for the Marine Geology and Geophysics program in the Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) within the Directorate for Geosciences, Alexandria, VA.

For more information on GEO please click here.

For more information on OCE please click here.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
04/28/2021 to 06/28/2021
Salary
$148,933 to - $190,947 per year
Pay scale & grade
AD 04
Location
Alexandria, VA
FEW vacancies
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—Relocation MAY be paid contingent upon the availability of funds.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
04
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)
Trust determination process
Announcement number
OCE-2021-0005
Control number
599779800

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from all US citizens who meet citizenship and eligibility requirements. Please see the "Other Information" section for further information.

Duties

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NSF Program Directors bear the primary responsibility for carrying out the agency's overall mission to support innovative and merit-reviewed activities in basic research and education that contribute to the nation's technical strength, security, and welfare. To fulfill this responsibility requires knowledge in the appropriate disciplines and a commitment to high standards, a considerable breadth of interest and receptivity to new ideas, a strong sense of fairness, good judgment, and a high degree of personal integrity.

The Marine Geology and Geophysics (MGG) Program seeks candidates with experience and expertise in marine geophysics. The Program Director will work closely with other Program Directors who collectively manage the Marine Geology and Geophysics Program. The MGG Program supports research on all aspects of the geology and geophysics of ocean basins and margins and those of the Great Lakes.

The Program Director's core duties and responsibilities are administering the merit review process, proposal recommendations, and coordinating and working with other programs in NSF and other Federal agencies and organizations.

The Program Director's responsibilities are:

PROGRAM PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

  • Maintain a healthy balance of support for all the research and education enterprise needs through Program, Division, Directorate, Foundation, or interagency activities.
  • Manage program resources to provide appropriate scientific judgment to ensure integrity and consistency in the grant/declination process without conflicts of interest, a balance between appropriate sub-fields and institutions, and all qualified scientists' participation.
  • Incorporate cross-directorate responsibilities into program administration.
  • Manage an effective, timely merit review process, with attention to increasing the reviewer pools' size and quality and ensuring participation by women, minorities, and disabled scientists.
  • Provide scientific expertise, evaluation, and advice for other NSF programs, including international programs, other research programs, and cross-directorate programs.
  • Advise and assist in developing short-and-long range plans, establishing goals and objectives for support of research programs
  • Plan the Program's budget considering past, present, and future fiscal years, allocate resources within the budget by distributing scarce resources among major competitive programs, and manage post-award evaluation.
  • Control waste, fraud, and abuse.

REPRESENTATION, COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP

  • Represent the Program, Division, and the Foundation within the scientific community, with other NSF Divisions, other appropriate agencies, organizations, and the public, accurately reflecting NSF policy and positions.
  • Create and maintain linkages to other NSF units and other Federal agencies to pursue the overall NSF mission.
  • Participate in staff, panel, committee, and other meetings, providing input relevant to program area and/or Division.
  • Pursue affirmative action and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) goals.
  • Pursue and/or be responsive to assignment on special projects and temporary function teams across the Foundation to solve problems, improve staff communication, and affect special programs' coordination.
  • Contribute ideas and effort to improving the quality of policies and NSF's performance of the overall mission.
  • Develop policies and plans for strengthening support of research and education programs.
  • Provide information to the community on how NSF is pursuing its mission and gather data and impressions from the community on the effectiveness of NSF's performance of its mission.
  • Prepare and disseminate various informational documents, which may include data on progress being made toward NSF goals, trends and opportunities, and budget plans.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Establish contacts and maintain active involvement in Program and related areas through participation in professional activities.
  • Maintain familiarity with salient current research developments.
  • Pursue individual research as workload and travel funds permit.
  • Expand administrative capabilities through training courses or assumption of new management.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Background investigation.
  • Selective Service registration required for male applicants, unless exempt.

It is NSF policy that NSF personnel employed at or IPAs detailed to NSF are not permitted to participate in foreign government talent recruitment programs (Foreign Talent Definitions). Failure to comply with this NSF policy could result in disciplinary action up to and including removal from Federal Service or termination of an IPA assignment and referral to the Office of Inspector General.

You will need to successfully complete a background security investigation before you can be appointed into this position.

All online applicants must provide a valid email address.  If your email address is inaccurate or your mailbox is full or blocked, you may not receive important communication that could affect your consideration for this position.

This position is in the bargaining unit.

Please preview "Evaluations" section and "Qualifications" for additional requirements and Quality Ranking Factors.

Qualifications

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in Marine Geology or Geophysics, plus after award of the Ph.D., six or more years of successful research, research administration, and/or managerial experience pertinent to the position.

This position is outside the competitive civil service.

You must meet eligibility and qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

Additional information

Relocation expenses MAY be paid contingent upon the availability of funds

This announcement is open to All US Citizens who meet citizenship and eligibility requirements.

Federal Appropriations Law requires that Non-Citizens meet certain eligibility criteria to be considered. Therefore, Non-Citizens must certify eligibility by signing and attaching this Citizenship Affidavit to their application. Non-citizens who do not provide the affidavit at the time of application will not be considered.

This announcement may be used to fill like positions in other organizations within the National Science Foundation.

NSF has determined that all of its positions are eligible for telework. Work suitable for telework depends on job duties; therefore, employees must receive approval from their supervisor for telework and have a telework agreement in place. Entering into a telework agreement is voluntary.

The Selected Candidate(s) may be subject to a background investigation.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated on the extent and quality of your experience, expertise, education, and research activities relevant to the duties of the position. In some cases, additional assessment processes may also be used.

We strongly encourage you to specifically address the Quality Ranking Factors below.  This will ensure that you receive full consideration in the evaluation process.

Quality Ranking Factors 

  1. Knowledge and understanding of scientific principles and theories applicable to disciplines of ocean science and technology as demonstrated by publications, invited talks, and/or professional recognition.
  2. Ability to manage and externally reviewed proposal driven grants program, allocating resources to meet a spectrum of program goals.
  3. Professional analytical and technical writing skills which demonstrate experience in presentation on inquiry into a wide variety of significant issues related to the ocean sciences community and the ability to make recommendations and decisions based on finding.
  4. Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with members of the Geosciences community, representatives of other federal agencies, foreign national programs and peers to effectively present, advocate and advance program policies, plans and goals.

To preview questions please click here.

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