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Associate General Counsel for Legal Operations

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Headquarters, NASA
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) is recruiting for an attorney with a diverse background to integrate, manage and operate a consolidated, geographically dispersed enterprise legal operation with a $37M budget and operations across a dozen core legal functions that support the entire Agency.

Closing date has been amended to 2/22/2022.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open date: 01/31/2022
Closed date: 02/22/2022
Location
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—NASA may consider reimbursement of relocation expenses based on Agency discretion and/or organizational needs; relocation expense reimbursement is not guaranteed.
Salary
$188,303 - $194,126 per year
Pay scale & grade
ES 00
Promotion potential
None
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
Yes
Federal service type
This job is in the Senior Executive Service
Drug test
Yes
Security clearance
Sensitive Compartmented Information
Position sensitivity and risk
Special-Sensitive (SS)/High Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Announcement number
HQ-22-ES-11368136
Control number
634158800

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Duties

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The Associate General Counsel for Legal Operations:

- Provides leadership of aligned Chief Counsels and/or Associate General Counsels and supporting staff who have enterprise operational roles on or in support of the OGC Legal Leadership Team (LLT). Provides oversight of the development of strategic plans, integrated management, and daily operations for the OGC legal team.

- Maintains currency with the body of treaty, statutory, regulatory, and judicial requirements relating to areas of responsibility and prepares specific recommendations for proposed changes in statutes, regulations, and policies; provides legal advice and counsel regarding interpretation of statutes. Maintains currency/subject matter expertise on major OGC core legal functions such as Procurement and Fiscal Law, Acquisition Integrity, Federal Personnel Law, Federal Partnership Transactional Law, International/Space Law.

- Integrates drafting and reviewing of proposed legislation, Executive Orders and regulations affecting NASA within assigned areas of responsibility.

- Fosters constructive culture change and continuous improvement within the OGC Enterprise and identifies where and how divergent legal or operational approaches at different locations can be optimized.

- Manages/Chairs OGC's Legal Leadership Board (LLB) which serves as the strategic-level governance, decision-making and advisory body within OGC for decisions that affect the legal enterprise. Sets the goals and objectives of LLB and ensures that they are met.

- Leads the Strategic Working Groups (SWG) and other OGC sub-component groups. Leads the strategic management of workforce enabling an effective enterprise approach to hiring, interns, talent development, retention and training. Ensures risk management is an integral component of strategy, culture, and legal operations.

- Approves and monitors Core Legal Function and Enterprise-level performance metrics.

- Participates with budget SWG to guide and manage development and execution of enterprise budget in context of annual Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process.

- Enables Legal Knowledge Management as an enterprise level function.

- Evaluates and improves quality and efficiency of legal services, optimizing available resources for the benefit of NASA clients and monitors client satisfaction and health of relationships with these clients.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • The individual selected will be required to file an 'Executive Branch Personnel Financial Disclosure Report (OGE-278) in accordance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.
  • Initial Senior Executive Service (SES) Career appointee is subject to a one-year probationary period.
  • Successful completion of a background investigation commensurate with the risk and sensitivity level of the position.
  • Successful completion of pre-employment and random drug testing may be required.
  • Must meet qualifications requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
  • Please see the Additional Information section for important information about COVID-19.

Qualifications

You must have the skill and ability to perform the duties described above as demonstrated by progressively responsible supervisory/leadership experience, normally obtained over several years by serving in positions at the GS-15 level or equivalent.

To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you MUST address each Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) and Mandatory Technical Qualification (MTQ) separately. If you fail to do so, your application will be rated ineligible. We recommend you provide two (2) examples of relevant experience for each ECQ. Responses to ALL ECQs must not exceed ten (10) pages; MTQ responses must not exceed one (1) page per MTQ. Please include your full name on all documents submitted.

If you are currently serving under a career SES appointment, are eligible for reinstatement into the SES, or have successfully completed a SES Candidate Development Program and been certified by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) you MUST address the MTQs, but do not need to address the ECQs.

When preparing your responses to the ECQs and MTQs, you are encouraged to follow the Challenge, Context, Action, and Result model outlined in the OPM's Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualification. For a sample template on how to format your ECQ narrative visit NASA's Executive Leadership Opportunities.

EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS:

ECQ 1 - Leading Change: The ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.

ECQ 2 - Leading People: The ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts.

ECQ 3 - Results Driven: The ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.

ECQ 4 - Business Acumen: The ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.

ECQ 5 - Building Coalitions: The ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals.


MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS:

MTQ 1- Demonstrated experience leading culture change in transforming a legal organization and integrating legal business operations across dispersed operating locations including workforce, budget, communications, DEIA, Legal Knowledge management, and risk management.

MTQ 2- Demonstrated experience leading diverse legal teams operating across broad and complex legal functions and integrating best practices and prioritizing legal resources across operating locations; enabling legal counsel on complex legal matters or litigation support to a variety of clients, across dispersed operating locations and rendering actionable advice to senior legal and non-legal leaders.

Education

This position has a positive education requirement. To be eligible, you must clearly state in your resume the following: degree, major and/or minor, and college/university.

You must possess a J.D. or LL.M from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association and be a member in good standing of a bar in a state/territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs. These education credentials must be deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, click here.

Additional information

If you are selected, NASA may request information regarding your vaccination status for the purposes of implementing workplace safety protocols, such as masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

Due to COVID-19, NASA is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement within 30 days. At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework one or more days a pay period depending upon the terms of the agency's telework policy.

How you will be evaluated

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

All qualifications requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement. You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume and required documents to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you meet the basic qualification requirements, your application will be evaluated based on your narrative statements addressing the ECQs and MTQs. Your application will then be referred to and evaluated by an Executive Resources Panel (ERP) and will be placed in one of the following categories: Not Qualified, Qualified, or Highly-qualified. Candidates may receive an interview and/or be asked to provide a list of references. The ERP will make a recommendation to the appropriate approving authority.

Headquarters, NASA

At NASA, we are united by a common purpose: to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown for the benefit of humankind. Our diverse set of engineering, scientific, aeronautics and space exploration missions are leaving an enduring impact on humanity. As our missions grow more complex, we will rely on leaders with vision, creativity, and programmatic and technical expertise to lead us into the new era of exploration. In addition to programmatic knowledge, NASA's strong leadership cadre also plays a vital role in empowering our diverse workforce to achieve our shared goals. At NASA, the key to our success is our people. Join us and contribute to work that matters, while helping us create and sustain an environment that fosters excellence, teamwork, inclusiveness, safety and integrity. Align your talents with your passion, and find out why NASA is consistently named a best place to work in the federal government. Join us as we explore the extraordinary, every day.

Agency contact information

NASA Executive Staffing
Email
Agency-Executive-Staffing@mail.nasa.gov
Address
NASA Headquarters
300 E St SW
Washington, DC 20546
US

Visit our careers page

Learn more about what it's like to work at Headquarters, NASA, what the agency does, and about the types of careers this agency offers.

https://www.nasa.gov/careers

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