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Investigations Specialist

Department of Transportation
Federal Aviation Administration
Office of Investigations & Professional Responsibility, Investigative Services Division
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located within the Office of Security and Hazardous Materials Safety (ASH) and may be assigned to a geographical location under the purview of the Office of Investigations. The mission of ASH is to ensure aviation safety, support national security, and promote an efficient airspace system through the development and administration of policies and programs.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
04/07/2025 to 04/16/2025
Salary
$85,281 to - $158,981 per year

Salary include a locality pay rate of 33.94%

Pay scale & grade
FV H - I
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Washington, DC
Telework eligible
Yes—Situational telework may be permitted in accordance with agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - The job may require up to 25% travel.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
NA
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Secret
Drug test
Yes
Announcement number
ACT-ASH-25-AXI240-94756
Control number
834608300

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Also open to former permanent excepted service federal employees eligible under an interchange agreement. Current or former permanent federal employees must have met a one year probationary period or trial period in the competitive or excepted service. Applications will also be accepted from preference eligibles and veterans who are honorably discharged from the Armed Forces after completing at least 3 years of continuous active duty service.

Duties

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Primary responsibility is to serve as an Investigations Specialist (Digital Forensics) for AXI in the Investigative Services Division, Digital Forensics Branch, performing a mixture of routine, multiple, and varying assignments related to cyber investigations under the limited direction of a manager or more experienced technical specialist. He/she applies experience and detailed technical knowledge of digital forensics and cyber investigations to accomplish routine tasks and assignments, and regularly conducts digital media analysis providing assistance to Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies.

Typical duties include but are not limited to:

Supports internal investigations within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by planning and performing digital forensic examinations of digital, electronic, and mobile device data from a variety of sources with the goal of developing forensically sound evidence.

Coordinates with managers and other investigators on digital forensics issues to identify methods and procedures for recovery, preservation, and presentation of digital evidence; provide consultation throughout investigations on matters relating to digital evidence or digital investigative analysis.

Conducts digital forensics examinations, creates and reviews digital/computer forensics analysis reports, and documents procedures and policies in support of ASH, the Office of Investigations, FAA Cyber, Insider Threat Detection Mitigation Program (ITDMP), Defensive Counterintelligence Program (DCIP), and other LOB/SO.

Applies sound digital forensic solutions to assignments and investigative tasks related to cyber investigations to include host based forensics, network based forensics, mobile forensics, and other investigative analysis.

Incorporates various forensics techniques to analyze memory, network, mobile, and host-based artifacts.
Researches and applies additional data sources and techniques to augment the effectiveness of the cyber investigations program.

Demonstrates some independence in planning time and using assigned resources to accomplish assignments and small projects. Established policies/procedures provide guidance for most assignments, but allows some discretion to select the most appropriate approach.

Work is reviewed periodically during assignments and at completion to ensure timeliness and technical compliance with the requirements of the project or other work activity. Frequently refers difficult problems and work issues to a manager or more experienced technical specialist when guidelines are not available or applicable.

Responsibilities at the I-band

The incumbent will perform multiple, varying, and complex assignments as an Investigations Specialist (Digital Forensics) for AXI within the Technical Investigations Division. Applies experience and advanced technical knowledge of Information Technology (IT) from enterprise resources while independently performs tasks and assignments related to Cyber investigations to include host based forensics, network based forensics, mobile forensics, memory forensics, and other investigative analysis.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • US Citizenship is required.
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
  • Must submit an SF50 (See Required Documents).
  • Designated or Random Drug Testing required.

Qualifications

To view the complete OPM qualification standard for the Group Coverage Qualification Standard for General Inspection, Investigation, Enforcement, and Compliance Series, 1801, please refer to:

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1800/general-inspection-investigation-enforcement-and-compliance-series-1801/

To qualify for this position at the H-band: you must demonstrate in your application that you possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to FV-G / FG/GS-5/7/9. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.

Specialized experience includes: Experience using investigative procedures, concepts, principles and practices in order to review, analyze, prioritize, and effectively conduct investigations, preparing reports, and providing briefings to all levels of stakeholders. Experience conducting digital forensic collections, processing, analysis, and reporting.

OR


3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree directly related.

To qualify for this position at the I-band: you must demonstrate in your application that you possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to FV-H / FG/GS-10/11/12. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.

Specialized experience includes: Experience using enterprise digital forensics and Information Technology resources to conduct digitalforensics investigations, create examination reports, and peer review reports.

Applicants should include examples of specialized experience in their work history.

Qualifications must be met by the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

Eligible applicants meeting the minimum qualification requirements and selective factor(s), if applicable, may be further evaluated on the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) listed in the announcement. Based on this evaluation, applicants will be placed in one of the following categories: score order, category grouping, or priority grouping and referred to the selecting official for consideration.

All, some, or none may be interviewed.

Preview job questionnaire

Make sure your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications and answers to the job questionnaire.

Additional information

We may use this vacancy to fill other similar vacant positions.
Position may be subject to a background investigation.
A one-year probationary period may be required.

The person selected for this position may be required to file a financial disclosure statement within 30 days of entry on duty. FAA policy limits certain outside employment and financial investments in aviation-related companies. www.faa.gov/jobs/workinghere/financial-disclosure-requirements

Leave Enhancement: FAA organizations may offer enhanced annual leave accrual to newly appointed or reappointed employees. In order to receive consideration for such a benefit, applicants' prior non-Federal service or active duty uniformed service must directly relate to the duties of the position to which appointed. Granting enhanced annual leave is at the sole discretion of the hiring organization, and granting such benefit is not an entitlement nor guaranteed to any newly hired employee.

This position is covered by the Department of Transportation's Drug and Alcohol Testing Program. Any applicant tentatively selected for this position will be subject to pre-employment or pre-appointment drug screening. Persons occupying a "testing designated position (TDP)" will be subject to random drug and/or alcohol testing.

As a part of the Federal-Wide Hiring Reform Initiative (streamlining the hiring process), the FAA is committed to eliminating the use of the Knowledge, Skills and Ability (KSA) narratives from the initial application in the hiring process for all announcements. Therefore, as an applicant for this announcement, you are NOT required to provide a narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA.

In lieu of providing a KSA narrative response in the text box listed below each Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA), in your work history, please include information that provides specific examples of how you meet the response level or answer you chose for each KSA. Your work history examples should be specific and clearly reflect the highest level of ability. Your KSA answers will be evaluated further to validate whether the level that you selected is appropriate based on the work history and experience you provided. Your answers may be adjusted by a Human Resource Specialist as appropriate.

Current/Former Federal employees must submit an SF-50.

Selection may be at the H-band or I-band.

This is not a bargaining unit position.

Links to Important Information: Locality Pay, COLA

How you will be evaluated

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



IMPORTANT: Applicants may be rated on the extent and quality of experience, education, and training relevant to the duties of the position(s). All answers provided in the on-line process must be substantiated. Ensure that your application package/resume supports your responses.

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