Clarification from the agency

This College Graduate announcement is open to applicants who received a bachelors or advanced degree within the previous two years (or within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement) or two years from the date of an individual's discharge or release from the uniformed services.

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This is a career ladder progression position; the duties described below are at the full performance level, GS-13. If selected at a grade below GS-13, the incumbent will serve in a developmental capacity, wherein the work is less complex in nature and the supervisor or a senior level employee provides specific instruction and guidance. At the GS-13 grade level, the incumbent:

• Performs a full range of activities on assigned projects, with focus on work involving data manipulations and data mining on information present in the data.
• Obtains, processes, and mines complex data for patterns and clusters in support of agency goals and objectives.
• Creates and refines analytical models, writes algorithms, and transforms data into knowledge (e.g. dashboards) that guide data-informed decision-making and insights.
• Supports the implementation and maintenance of business intelligence and analysis solutions by identifying and gathering data needed; processing and transforming data into needed formats; developing processes for analysis; applying various tools and techniques to produce findings and insights from structured and unstructured data; and communicating the data and analytic results across the organization.
• Provides advice and guidance for leadership and program officials to define data requirements for structured and unstructured data sources to better deliver integrated data to use in a variety of analytical software tools, including but not limited to statistical analysis, geospatial software, visualization software, and natural language processing software.
• Utilizes open-source languages such as R or Python to manage data, assess fitness for analysis, and prepare for and apply quantitative techniques (e.g., descriptive analysis, sampling, correlation, regression, and prediction) using both traditional inferential statistics and their machine learning analogs.
• Identifies trends and patterns in data through statistics, clustering, and data mining in support of data analytic efforts, including proactive data review and modeling. Conducts comprehensive evaluations and assessments of the proposed methodology, suitability of data, and anticipated effectiveness of data science proposals and solutions.
• Supports the development of and adheres to guidelines for data science activities and applications. Ensures implementation of, and compliance with, data ethics and data science-related regulations, policies, and other guidelines issued by Federal, Departmental, and standard setting bodies.
• Maintains knowledge of data science best practices and provides recommendations based on best practices. Identifies opportunities to incorporate the latest technology, techniques, and methodologies
• Uses analytic tools to combine, analyze, and interpret very large and complex datasets to perform exploratory analyses and develop data-informed organizational solutions.
• Conducts comprehensive evaluations and assessments of the effectiveness of data science proposals and solutions to provide findings, conclusions, and recommendations to technical and program staff.
• Performs optimal and appropriate analysis on large and very large data sets.
• Prepares reports on in-depth data analyses using machine learning, statistics, and data visualization skills. Presents and distributes findings appropriately.
• Effectively communicates analytical results and technical methods and constraints to both technical and nontechnical audiences, especially in cases where data may limit rigor or analytical methods produce uncertain results.
• Develops and maintains appropriate methods to track and document data, analysis and tools used in professional work, including but not limited to documentation describing the development, operation and maintenance of data transfer, manipulation, analytical modeling, data quality assessment, and actions taken to ensure appropriate data security and disclosure avoidance.
• Communicates findings, conclusions, and recommendations to technical and program staff.
• Coordinates and participates in meetings and other activities with stakeholders to determine effective and efficient methods to acquire and ingest external data. Identifies trends and patterns in data through statistics, clustering, and data mining in support of data analytic efforts, including proactive data review and modeling.
• Effectively communicates analytical results and technical methods and constraints to both technical and nontechnical audiences, especially in cases where data may limit rigor or analytical methods produce uncertain results.

Conditions of employment

• Must be at least 16 years.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.
• Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.

Qualifications

You must meet the Basic Requirements listed in the "Education Requirements" section and the "Specialized Experience" to qualify for Data Scientist, as described below.

Basic Requirement:

Specialized Experience is the experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform the duties of the position successfully, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level.

For the GS-07:

Your resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-5), in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector performing professional accounting work that demonstrates a substantive knowledge of accounting and financial management.

GS-7 applicants must meet ALL of the following:

1. Experience utilizing open-source languages such as R or Python to manage data and apply quantitative techniques (e.g., descriptive analysis, sampling, correlation, regression, and prediction).
2. Experience identifying trends and patterns in data through use of statistics.
3. Experience visualizing data with tools such as Tableau and/or Power BI.
4. Experience cleaning and joining data from various sources using tools such as Python or Tableau Prep.

OR, I possess 1 full year of graduate level education that provided the knowledge's, skills and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.

OR, I possess superior academic achievement as demonstrated by my class standing. I graduated in the upper third of my class or major university subdivision based on completed courses.

OR, I possess superior academic achievement demonstrated by my grade point average (GPA). I have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 based on 4 years of education.

OR, I possess superior academic achievement as demonstrated by my grade point average (GPA). I have a GPA OF 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 in courses completed during the final two years of the curriculum.

OR, I possess superior academic achievement demonstrated by my election to membership in a national scholastic honor society.

For the GS-09

Your resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-7), in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector performing professional accounting work that demonstrates a substantive knowledge of accounting and financial management.

GS-09 applicants must meet ALL of the following:

1. Experience utilizing open-source languages such as R or Python to manage data and apply quantitative techniques (e.g., descriptive analysis, sampling, correlation, regression, and prediction).
2. Experience identifying trends and patterns in data through use of statistics.
3. Experience visualizing data with tools such as Tableau and/or Power BI.
4. Experience cleaning and joining data from various sources using tools such as Python or Tableau Prep.
5. Experience presenting data analysis findings to an audience.

OR, Posses a master's or equivalent graduate or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B or J.D., if related.

OR, Posses a combination of education and experience.

For the GS-11

Your resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-9), in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector performing professional accounting work that demonstrates a substantive knowledge of accounting and financial management.

GS-11 applicants must meet ALL of the following:

1. Experience utilizing open-source languages such as R or Python to manage data and apply quantitative techniques (e.g., descriptive analysis, sampling, correlation, regression, and prediction).
2. Experience identifying trends and patterns in data through use of statistics.
3. Experience visualizing data with tools such as Tableau and/or Power BI.
4. Experience cleaning and joining data from various sources using tools such as Python or Tableau Prep.
5. Experience presenting data analysis findings to an audience.
6. Experience with and able to use quantitative and qualitative analysis.

OR, Posses a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related.

OR, Posses a combination of education and experience.

How you will be evaluated

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

Applicants meeting the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements will be evaluated against the competencies described below and will be placed into one of the following quality categories, based on responses to the vacancy questionnaire:

You may preview questions for this vacancy here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11985459

The information you provide may be verified by a review of your paid, unpaid, volunteer, and other lived experience, as it demonstrates the competencies or skills required for the position to be filled. Your evaluation may include an interview, reference checks, or other assessment conducted by HR specialists, subject matter experts, or panel members and may include other assessment tools (ex. interview, structured interview, written test, work sample, etc.).

The examining Office of Human Resources (OHR) makes the final determination concerning applicant ratings. Your resume MUST provide sufficient information to substantiate your vacancy question responses. If not, the OHR may amend your responses to more accurately reflect the level of competency indicated by the content of your resume.