Clarification from the agency

This position is open to current employees of the Administrative Offices of the U.S. Courts.

The Solutions Architect will provide architectural support for applications in the Probation and Pretrial Systems (PPS) portfolio leveraging services provided by internal Administrative Office (AO) departments and external agencies. The incumbent will coordinate with other FJDS architects on architectural standards, policies, and procedures. The Information Technology Specialist - Solutions Architect is responsible for the implementation of application services based on the architectural standards, policies, and procedures as defined by the Division Chief and Enterprise Architect. The incumbent is also responsible for researching new technologies, products, and standards which can be incorporated into the CMSO suite of applications. The current technical environment includes Informix, Microsoft SQL, .NET, Java, Perl, cloud infrastructure, mobile and web technologies. The Solutions Architect position is a hands-on position. It will require interactions with other AO departments to deliver services and may require interaction with courts, defenders, probation and pretrial services offices, and administrative staff from both a technical and business perspective.

The duties of the position may include, but are not limited to:

1. Determining the solutions architecture to be used for each application with consideration given to such things as centralized versus decentralized methods, use of service-oriented architecture (SOA), and use of a single database versus distributed databases for each court unit.
2. Designing non-functional elements of each system, e.g., response time, system availability, backup requirements, and interface needs.
3. Performing research into new technologies, products, standards which can be incorporated into CMSO applications.
4. Working with the CMSO and PPSD IT security staff on assessing and meeting the security standards of each application as defined by the agency Chief Information Security Officer.
5. Ensuring compliance and conformity of software, architecture, and technology standards based on the architectural roadmap as defined by PPSD Chief and Enterprise Architect.
6. Improving the solutions architecture process efficiency through effective leadership, individual and group training, and process improvement.
7. Working closely with other divisional Enterprise Architects to ensure system design follows the industry best practices and standards that aligned with the Judiciary framework.
8. Working closely with other AO technical staff and external government agencies.
9. Providing regular status updates to senior management and in related status meetings through reports, dashboards, and presentations.

Conditions of employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

1. All information is subject to verification. Applicants are advised that false answers or omissions of information on application materials or inability to meet the following conditions may be grounds for non-selection, withdrawal of an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.
2. Selection for this position is contingent upon completion of OF-306, Declaration of Federal Employment during the pre-employment process and proof of U.S. citizenship for competitive status positions or conversion to a competitive status position with the AO. If non-citizens are considered for hire into a temporary or any other position with non-competitive status or when it is confirmed by the AO Human Resources Office there are no qualified U.S. citizens for a competitive status position (unless prohibited by a law or statue), non-citizens must provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. and proof of entitlement to receive compensation. Additional information on the employment of non-citizens can be found at USAJOBS Help Center | Employment of non-citizens/. For a list of documents that may be used to provide proof of citizenship or authorization to work in the United States, please refer to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
3. All new AO employees will be required to complete an FBI fingerprint-based national criminal database and records check and pass a public trust suitability check.
4. New employees to the AO will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights/responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/.
5. All new AO employees are required to identify a financial institution for direct deposit of pay before appointment.
6. You will be required to serve a trial period if selected for a first-time appointment to the Federal government, transferring from another Federal agency, or serving as a first-time supervisor. Failure to successfully complete the trial period may result in termination of employment.
7. If appointed to a temporary position, management may have the discretion of converting the position to permanent depending upon funding and staffing allocation.

Qualifications

Applicants must have demonstrated experience as listed below. This requirement is according to the AO Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment Systems which include interpretive guidance and reference to the OPM Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions.

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience which is in or directly related to the line of work of this position. Specialized experience is demonstrated experience in performing application architecture related activities in an open-source model leveraging cloud services and defining and enforcing pre-defined architecture for large scale systems.

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 supporting documentation and compare this information to your responses on the occupational questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for this job. If you meet the minimum qualifications for this job, we will evaluate your application package, to assess the quality, depth, and complexity of your accomplishments, experience, and education as they relate to the requirements listed in this vacancy announcement.

You should be aware that your ratings are subject to evaluation and verification. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume and/or narrative responses, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Failure to submit the mandatory narrative responses will result in not receiving full consideration and/or rating credit. Deliberate attempts to falsify information may be grounds for not selecting you, withdrawing an offer of employment, or dismissal after being employed.