Duties of the Program Director are guided by the goals of NSF’s Strategic Plan: (1) Transform the Frontiers of Science and Engineering, (2) Stimulate Innovation and Address Societal Needs through Research and Education, and (3) Excel as a Federal Science Agency. The incumbent Program Director will be knowledgeable in the scientific areas covered by the program and will help identify emerging opportunities. In addition, the incumbent will be required to undertake the design, development, analysis, documentation, management and implementation of programs and activities within the program and across disciplinary boundaries.

The responsibilities of the Program Director in AGS includes long-range planning and budget development for the areas of science represented by the program or program cluster, the administration of the merit review process and proposal recommendations, the preparation of press releases, feature articles and material describing advances in the research supported, and coordination and liaison with other programs in NSF, other Federal agencies and organizations. Additional duties and responsibilities includes:

PROGRAM PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

The Program Director:

• Maintains a healthy balance of support for all the needs of the research and education enterprise through program, division, directorate, Foundation, or interagency activities.
• Manages program resources to provide optimal appropriate scientific judgment to insure integrity and consistency in the grant/declination process without conflict of interests, and with balance among appropriate sub-fields and institutions, and participation of all qualified scientists.
• Incorporates cross-directorate responsibilities into program administration.
• Manages an effective, timely merit review process, with attention to increasing the size and quality of the reviewer pools and insuring participation by women, minorities and disabled scientists.
• Provides scientific expertise, evaluation and advice for other programs in NSF, including international programs, and other research programs, and cross-directorate programs.
• Advises and assists in the development of short-and-long range plans, establishing goals and objectives for research programs.
• Plans the budget for the program/programs considering past, present and future fiscal years, allocates resources within the budget by distributing scarce resources among major competitive programs, and manages post-award evaluation.
• Controls waste, fraud and abuse.

• Represents the Program, Division and the Foundation within the scientific community, with other NSF Divisions, with other appropriate agencies and organizations, and with the public, accurately reflecting NSF policy and positions.
• Creates and maintains linkages to other NSF units and other Federal agencies in pursuit of the overall NSF mission.
• Participates in staff, panel, committee and other meetings, providing input relevant to program area and/or Division.
• Pursues affirmative action and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) goals.
• Pursues and/or is responsive to assignment on special projects and temporary function teams across the Foundation to solve problems, improve staff communication, and effect coordination for special programs.
• Contributes ideas and effort to improving the quality of policies and NSF's performance of the overall mission.
• Develops policies and plans for strengthening research and education programs. Provides information to the community on how NSF is pursuing its mission and gathers data and impressions from the community on the effectiveness of NSF's performance of its mission.
• Prepares and disseminates a variety of informational documents which may include data on progress being made toward NSF goals, trends and opportunities papers, and budget plans.

• Establishes contracts and maintains active involvement in Program and related areas through participation in professional activities.
• Maintains familiarity with salient current research developments.
• Pursues individual research as workload and travel funds permit.
• Expands administrative capabilities through training courses or assumption of new management.

Conditions of employment

• Background investigation.
• Preview questions at bottom of Qualifications & Evaluations--see tab above.

You will need to successfully complete a background security investigation before you can be appointed into this position.

Please preview "Evaluations" section and "Qualifications" for additional requirements and Quality Ranking Factors.

Qualifications

The incumbent of this position serves as a recognized authority in the area of magnetospheric physics.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in atmospheric or geospace sciences plus after award of the Ph.D. six or more years of successful research, research administration, and/or management experience pertinent to the position.

The successful applicant should demonstrate not only knowledge in atmospheric or geospace science but also a commitment to high scientific standards, considerable breadth of scientific interest and receptivity to new ideas. Also necessary, are a strong sense of fairness, good judgment, and a high degree of personal integrity and ethics, decisiveness, and an ability effectively to lead individuals and teams across a variety of institutional cultures within Federal and state government agencies, legislative bodies, and private sector organizations.

This position is outside of the competitive service.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated on the extent and quality of your experience, expertise, education, and research activities relevant to the duties of the position. We strongly encourage you to specifically address the Quality Ranking Factors below. This will ensure that you receive full consideration in the evaluation process.

Quality Ranking Factors

1. Knowledge and understanding of the mission and goals of the National Science Foundation (NSF) as well as how NSF interacts with the scientific community.
2. Demonstrated ability to cooperate and work with peers in other scientific disciplines and to advocate program plans and policies to individuals in the Foundation, other government agencies, and academic institutions.
3. Ability to organize, implement and manage a proposal-driven grant program, allocating resources to meet a spectrum of goals, including ensuring integrity and consistency in the grant award/decline management process..
4. Demonstrated ability to provide intellectual leadership to achieve results that significantly enhance the strength and potential of the national geospace science research community.
5. Proven expertise in managing research-related projects and/or programs, including strategic planning, development of budgets and schedules, resource management, identification and mitigation of risk, and program evaluation.
6. Demonstrated research, analytical, and technical writing skills that evidence the ability to perform extensive inquiry into a wide range of significant issues related to research programs and facilities and make recommendations based on findings.