Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens

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The Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response (CESER) plans, coordinates and conducts an applied, customer-driven national research and development program to improve decision-making by EPA, state, tribal and local agencies when faced with challenging environmental problems in the built environment. CESER develops and applies scientific and engineering solutions, technologies, and cutting-edge innovations to protect and remediate our air, land, water resources, and critical infrastructure challenged by systemic and acute environmental contamination.

Specific duties of the Deputy Director include:

• As the alter ego of the Center Director, sharing fully in planning for, administering, and utilizing resources and materials effectively and efficiently in the Center. 
• Assuming full responsibility, in the absence of the Center Director, for the management of the organization's financial and material resources, including resource management systems in place.
• Providing the Center Director with objective, independent counsel on the Center’s compliance with Federal, EPA, and ORD regulations and policies concerning financial management, human resources, property, health and safety, scientific quality assurance, and other administrative processes.
• Providing the Center Director with expertise and advice on compliance with the Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act, Chief Financial Officers Act, OMB Circular A-123 internal controls, and other related financial laws, regulations, and policies.
• Directing and overseeing the review and evaluation of acquisition activities.
• Serving as a member of the Management Council (MC) in ORD to ensure that there are consistent policies and procedures in place that support the work of ORD.
• Establishing, implementing, and maintaining a quality assurance program to assure that environmental measurement programs provide data of the type and quality needed to support the intended decisions.
• Coordinating activities with representatives of foreign, State, and municipal governments, other federal agencies, industry, academia, and private organizations sharing a mutual interest of responsibility within the major program areas assigned to the Center.
• Supervising a large staff of employees organized into units headed by subordinate managers and supervisors.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen.
• You must submit resume and required documents (see How to Apply section).
• You may be required to travel less than 25% of each month.

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a Federal job announcement includes the requirement that applicants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to E.O. 14043, that requirement does not currently apply. Federal agencies may request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

If you are selected, you must complete a 1-year SES probationary period, if not previously completed.

The Ethics in Government Act, P.L. 95-521, requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a financial disclosure statement, OGE-278, prior to assuming the SES position, annually, and upon termination of employment.

This position is designated as High Risk and requires a background investigation. Unless an appropriate background investigation is already on record with the Office of Personnel Management, you must undergo a background investigation. All conditions of the pre-employment security process must be met before an official letter of employment can be issued with a report for duty date.

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Qualifications

The work of this position is classified in the Program Management, 0340 series where the qualifications include both general management skills and characteristics that are applicable to all SES positions and technical or program responsibilities specific to this position. Applicants must have substantive general experience which provides a good basic or general knowledge of the principles of organization, management and administration; and substantive specialized (operating administrative or managerial) experience in a type of work or a combination of functions directly related to this position.

All applicants must have one year of specialized experience at a level close to the work of this job that demonstrates the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform in this role. Typically this experience can be found in work within this field or a field that is closely related. 

As a basic requirement for entry into the Senior Executive Service, applicants must also provide evidence of progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior level management capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under the Executive Core Qualifications and Technical Qualifications listed below.

A. Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) - Mandatory for competitive applicants - Failure to address these factors individually will result in your application being disqualified, unless you are a noncompetitive eligible applicant. 

ECQ 1 - LEADING CHANGE. Involves 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. Involves 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. Involves 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. Involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.
ECQ 5 - BUILDING COALITIONS. Involves 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.

Your responses should be clear and concise and show a level of accomplishment and a degree of responsibility. Leadership competencies for each ECQ can be found at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/reference-materials/guidetosesquals_2012.pdf 

B. Technical Qualifications (TQs) - Mandatory for all applicants - Failure to address these factors individually will result in your application being disqualified.

 TQ 1 - Demonstrated experience managing the operations of an environmental scientific research or technical organization, including developing and implementing the human resources, financial, administrative, and communications functions of the organization. 

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job 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 basic qualification requirements, your application will be evaluated based on your narrative statements addressing the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and Technical Qualifications (TQs). It will then be forwarded to a three member Rating Panel consisting of SES members for further review. The Rating Panel will decide which Best Qualified applicants will be issued to the Selecting Official by the Human Resources Office.